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Point-and-Shoot vs. SLR Cameras: What the Author Missed!

Point-and-Shoot vs. SLR Cameras: What Are the Real Differences? Problem with this article: it's written for idiots. The biggest difference between point-and-shoot and digital SLR cameras? DSLRs have larger sensors that capture more light. They'll capture great photos in dimmer light, too. DSLRs also have more processing "horsepower," while p/s cameras ask one chip -- the same one that captures the image -- to do all the computer-type data management and processing. That's why small cameras have shutter lag. All the other differences are aesthetic. If you don't want to carry a four-pound camera, choose a smaller one. Unless you enlarge your photos to fit on the side of a building, you'll probably be pleased with the results from the camera you have with you, rather than the bigger camera you left at home.

Get with the program (and off "Auto")

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For a few hours, Woot.com offered the Samsung HZ30W camera today for $129.99. It sold out fairly quickly. But I read with interest the comments left by Wooters trying to decide whether to buy the camera. About half pointed to online comments from previous buyers, many of whom complained that the camera's images were too noisy. I'd guess those users probably did the following: They charged the battery and added a memory card. They turned the camera on. They shot their photos on Auto, and got poor results. "Auto" is the de fault mode on many cameras. The camera makes all the decisions: shutter speed, aperture, flash, and ISO (or sensitivity to light). More often than not, cameras left in Auto mode select a higher ISO (200 or 400) so the flash reaches further. The higher the ISO, the more likely their will be digital noise in your photos. The way around this? Learn how to use the camera's "Program" mode. It's similar to Auto, but it should allow you to

Layers of sunset: how I made this photo

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This photo had little to do with the model of camera I used, or the lens, or anything very technical. It had everything to do with the calendar and the weather forecast. November, 2009 saw a small hurricane called Ida wander across the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes leave a trail of clouds. A quick consultation of a good calendar told me when the sunset would take place. A few minutes with the Weather Channel told me where the worst of the storm had gone. All I needed was a camera and a wristwatch. And a boardwalk to shoot from. The camera was a Canon Powershot A630 , one of the great underrated Canons that uses AA batteries and lets you manually adjust shutter speed, aperture, and other settings. The current A-series Canons don't offer this level of control. (The camera itself is no longer made, but used models may be found at online auction, or maybe www.KEH.com .) Exposure details: handheld, 1/1000-second exposure at f4.0, with a -0.67 underexposure to deepen the clouds a bit. Tip:

It's the sensor, not the megapixels

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Last week brought thrills galore in my camera collection. One example: I found a name-brand 12-MP digital camera online, with manufacturer's warranty, for $39.99. Even with $5 shipping, it's still a great deal -- especially since I plan to give the camera as a gift later on. At the other end of the spectrum, I visited Wally World for a few supplies, and wandered past the camera bar, where a salesperson was telling someone why he should by a 12-MP camera instead of a 10-MP camera: "You can make larger 8 x 10 prints with the 12-megapixel camera." I wanted to interrupt the conversation with: "When was the last time you printed an 8 x 10 print?" For many of us, photographic prints are an afterthought. I print only a few photos a year, usually as gifts or to frame and display. When I get a frame-able photo, I have Adorama Pix or KodakGallery do the printing. But most people lean toward 4 x 6-inch prints, if they print at all. (The discontinued camera above is a

Sounding off on video

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Pocket video camera in your future? They've become as popular as most "standard" digital cameras, mostly because of their form-factor. Most pocket video cameras often do less than a digital still camera that shoots HD video. The video cameras usually don't have a zooming lens; almost all digital point-and-shoots have an optical zoom lens. Point-and-shoots offer scene modes for nighttime, portraits, etc., while videocams have only a couple of options: stills or different size videos. And I haven't seen a pocket video camera with a flash or fill-in light, which would help improve still photography. But for all the video choices, I don't understand why so few offer a key feature: dual microphones. Video without audio isn't terrible, but video with poor audio is almost intolerable. Canon and Kodak make cameras with two microphones; the Kodak V1253 pictured above does a pretty decent job, captures HD video, and has a fairly nice feature set in a svelt form fac

What whine goes with your camera?

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Every time I read of someone's disappointments with their new digital camera, the whines fall into three categories: The batteries don't last long at all. The camera manual is inadequate. I can't see the LCD in bright sunlight. Quick answers: Batteries : alkaline batteries weren't ever intended to run a high-drain device such as a mini-computer with an always-on LCD (which is what a camera is). Buy some name-brand rechargeables. I use Duracells, and I've heard good things about Sanyo Eneloop AAs. To avoid frustrating yourself, buy a charger that doesn't require 8 hours to charge your batteries. As for the lithium-ion batteries that come with most cameras: they need to be charged first, then completely drained, then recharged before you get optimal performance. Manuals : Funny, hardly anyone read these things when they came with film cameras. Learn how to download the full PDF version from the CD that came with your camera, or the manufacturer's website. Prin

Mavericks don't sell cameras. Quality does.

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Say you're a big company in the camera biz. Your brand's grown a little dusty, and competition heats up. If you're like a few companies, you realize where you've gone off-track. You switch from building awkward, robot-looking cameras, and try to inject a little color, ruggedness and quality into your products. Here I'm thinking of Panasonic, which probably manufactures many digital cameras for other brands, but chose to beef up its own cameras, too. They made water-proof cameras that actually take nice photos. They use Leica lenses in almost every camera. And they often lead the way in innovation, which results in image quality -- which is all that really matters in a camera. What Panasonic didn't do: They didn't sink skillions in a U.S.-only sponsorship for rich white men. They didn't decide to cheapen every camera model in their line with chrome paint and plastic bodies that look like metal, but aren't. They didn't let a maverick marketing VP

Target Photo CD -- is it just capacity?

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Over in Target-Land, I asked the photo department "team member" the difference between a Target Photo CD and a Kodak Picture CD. She replied: "The Kodak CD holds more pictures." Say what? Unless the Kodak CD is actually a DVD, it holds the same 800 MB as every other CD on the planet. Less, perhaps, because Kodak's CD's usually contain viewer software and a file to download and install Kodak's EasyShare photo-editing software. Sure, I could be mistaken. But if there's no premium aspect to the Kodak CD, why is there a $1.50 price premium over the Target CD? Target, are you listening?

POS, or at the bar

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No, not what you're thinking. Here, "POS" abbreviates "point of sale." As in, where you go to buy cameras. I hate the camera bar. Or, as I've described it elsewhere, the "camera anchorage." That semi-circular tier of cameras on display, where every camera is attached to a weighty metal anchor which, in turn, is cabled to the display. This is the worst way to experience a camera. You can't tell how a camera feels in your hands if it's bolted to an anchor. You can't tell if it's lightweight or too heavy. And you probably can't tell whether its tripod socket is in a centered position or off to one side. I want that experience. More to the point: I want to power up the camera and see if it works as I expect. That means the power connector from the camera bar has to operate. Which it seldom does. Target, Walmart, BJ's and Best Buy all have a variant of the camera anchorage, and every one I've experienced has electrical issues

Reviewing the reviewers

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Here's a quick guide to getting information about any camera you're considering: If you understand f-stops, apertures, and aspect ratios, web sites such as dpreview.com, CNET.com and dcresource.com are good online resources. Between the writers' in-depth reviews and the opinions you'll find in the online forums, you'll trip over more details than you need. Do note that dpreview.com has lately acquired a certain ambivalence in its professional reviews, and rarely comes out to say it dislikes a camera. Maybe this has something to do with most digital cameras sharing the same lenses and sensors, to some degree. I also recommend Steve's Digicams and imaging-resource.com, although both tend to get wrapped up in techno-speak. If I want to watch Star Trek, I'll watch Star Trek. If all those tech terms frustrate you, head on over to amazon.com. Almost every camera has user reviews to read. These are real-world people, for the mostpart, who don't dwell on pixel d

How to buy this camera

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I'm going to tell you how to choose a digital camera -- what to look for, and what to ignore. Please pay attention. Many people ask me which camera they should buy. It's easy to suggest one sold by my employer, but different people have different photographic needs. And an $80, 3x zoom camera with a plastic lens might not make you happy if you want to shoot wildlife that's 100 feet away. This isn't to say my employer makes inadequate cameras; it's merely that one size doesn't fit all. I'm currently using a K odak Z950 , which delivers fine performance, feels great in my hands, and costs around $150. First, the items you can ignore: IGNORE "megapixels". Really. If it has more than 8 megapixels, it'll give you the photos you want. If you need a 14-megapixel camera, you'd better be shooting images to display on billboards, because you'll seldom need a 14-MP file. IGNORE "fits in a pocket." Ninety percent of today's cameras fi

Yeah, they're dead

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Spent some time this weekend sorting out my collection of 35mm film cameras. Way too many film cameras. And now there are a couple in the trash can. I'm a fan of 1970's era rangefinders, cameras that allowed you to hold the camera to your eye, look through a viewfinder, and focus on your subject. Some even allowed you to control the aperture or shutter speed. Olympus, Minolta and Canon made the best of these. Konica made some wonderful cameras, but later jobbed out the manufacturing to a company called Cosina. Then Chinon got involved. Ultimately, the move to auto-focus film cameras doomed the rangefinders. Not to mention the corroded electronics. Most of these cameras used mercury batteries, which seem to cause some degradation in circuit contacts. The camera above is a Konica C35EF camera. Happens to be the very first thing Dick Kidder stuck in my hands when I started my first newspaper job. So I'm sorta fond of them. This afternoon, I pitched two Konica C35EF cameras wit

How to sell cameras on Craigslist

Here's a short but handy checklist to help you sell cameras on Craigslist: Don't simply say "Nikon digital camera." Give a model number: Coolpix 5400, L20, whatever it says on the camera body. Get the brand right. Shoppers often search by brand name. There's no "Cybersnap" or "Olympis" brand in digital cameras, but there are a Cybershot and an Olympus. Again, it's probably spelled correctly on the camera. Write a better headline than "Digital Camera 12 Megapixels." The difference between a camera made by Kodak or Polaroid is striking. Again, brand matters. Don't fill your ad with meaningless specs borrowed from a web page. Instead, be sure to tell us whether all the camera's functions work, if the LCD screen is cracked, and whether the essential accessories (battery, charger, connector cord, manual, etc.) are included. Show a photo of the camera. Don't blow this off! If you're selling your only camera, set the cam

Missing two photographers

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When I edited Kodak's now-defunct online magazine, I wanted to do an occasional story on great photographers of the Life magazine era who worked mainly in black and white. The two I focused on were Loomis Dean and Fred McDarrah. Mr. Dean captured the famous photo of the Andrea Doria cruise ship as it sank. Much of his career was spent with Life and, before that, the Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus, as a PR photographer. He had his own small elephant for publicity photo purposes. I interviewed him in the early 2000s, at his home in Venice, Florida, using then state-of-the-art digital audio tape. The tape survives. But we couldn't come to terms over use of his images, for which he owned the rights. So the story never appeared online. Loomis died in 2005. You can see some of Loomis' photos on the www.life.com website, or go here. Fred W. McDarrah captured the Beat poet movement and Greenwich Village life in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some of the earliest g

Slice a little off the top

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KODAK SLICE Touchscreen Camera I really wanted to try this one out. Sort of an iPod Touch for photography. Great concept. Then the specs were published. The lens -- the most important part of the camera, period -- is a 5X zoom. Starts at 35mm, racks out the 175mm. Not bad. Then I glanced at the lens specs. At the widest angle, 35mm, the lens starts at f4.8. (Translation: S-L-O-W.) On some cameras, f4.8 is the spec for the lens at its farthest zoom, not its nearest. The last camera I had with a lens that slow was a 35mm point-and-shoot Nikon. Compare this with my 3-year-old Canon G6, which has a similar lens length. The lens starts at f2.0. It lets in three times as much light as the Slice's lens. PR people tend to tut-tut people like me for dwelling needlessly on "speeds and feeds." But, in reality, a camera with an f2.0 or f2.8 lens needs less light than a lens that's hamstrung at f4.8 at the start. That means you either need to be closer to your subject, use flash

Marketing Digital Cameras to Southpaws

Why aren't there any digital cameras with shutter buttons on the top left of the camera? SLRs, pocket cameras, ... pretty much every camera you can buy today requires actuating the shutter with your right index finger. Less than half the world is left-handed. But among that group are artists, photographers, actors, and directors. All of whom have some influence on the general public. Couldn't a digital camera maker connect with an under-served market segment simply by introducing a camera with power- and shutter buttons on the left side of the camera? Just asking.

Photosmart Cameras? Why not buy a Newton, too?

Best Cameras Deals, Coupon Codes Discount, Rebates at Dell Best Buy, Newegg and More! I cannot stress enough that H/P walked away from digital cameras over a year ago. They bailed. Couldn't compete. Their products were less than reliable, and probably have no customer support. I can't tell you which cameras to buy. But I can provide great rationale for which you should avoid.