Manufacturers of compact digital cameras have long used a rather ambiguous way to define the sizes of the sensors in their products. The system used dates back to video camera tubes used in the 1950s, with the 'inch' measurement referring to the outer diameter of the video tube. This system has no relationship to imager sizes and Photo Review endeavours to translate the 'type' measurement provided by camera manufacturers into millimetres to show readers just how small some digicam sensors are. ... [more]Tripods are often quoted as photography's most hated accessory but it's hard to see why so many photographers view them so adversely. It may be because of the bulk and weight they add to a photographer's kit - or perhaps because the high ISO capabilities of many recently-released cameras allow camera users to feel a tripod isn't necessary. But shooting with high ISO settings incurs a cost in the form of increased noise and compromised sharpness. Furthermore, using a tripod can dramatically improve shots like portraits and low-light scenes. Finally, there are situations where you simply can't take the shot unless the camera is on a tripod. ... [more]This articles gives tips and advice on choosing and using flash memory cards. The internal memories in digicams can only store a few high-resolution image files, so a separate memory card is always required. New camera buyers should purchase at least a 1GB memory card with their camera. It's a small investment; at the time of writing you could buy a 1GB CF or SD card for less than $30. ... [more]Anyone looking at the cameras the manufacturers have been offering over the past several years could easily believe that the higher the camera's megapixel count the better. But, as the old jazz standard says: 'It ain't necessarily so!' The only thing more megapixels will give you is the ability to enlarge and crop pictures without individual pixels becoming visible. Other factors are much more important in determining overall picture quality. ... [more]Since a large part of digital photography involves editing images on a computer, we felt it was time we looked at the factors that should influence monitor choice. The ability to see an image file on-screen with accurate colour and tone is essential for a professional digital workflow. To keep wastage to a minimum when printing, photographers need to invest time (and, usually money) to ensure that what they see on-screen is very close to their printed images. With an accurate, properly calibrated and profiled monitor you can get very close! CRT vs LCD... ... [more]Purchasing a digital camera normally locks you to a specific card type, with Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick (MS) and xD-Picture Cards most popular among compact digicams and CompactFlash (CF) cards for enthusiast digicams and DSLRs. A few cameras have two card slots, although this situation is becoming rare. Many cameras come with a card slot plus an internal memory, the latter providing a low-capacity back-up when card space runs out. This article covers the important factors affecting card capacity and shows you how much memory is needed for your camera. ... [more]You've done all the research, set a budget, weighed up the options and decided on a camera model. Now it's just a matter of finding the best deal. ... [more] [Don's Issue 26 Editorial] There is a soft burr-ing noise in the background as I write this. It sounds like a pixie with a pixie-sized jack hammer is chewing through soft coal a metre or so beneath my office floor. But in fact the sotto voce murmer is being produced by Nikon's hefty Coolscan 9000 ED negative and transparency scanner as it digitises a few slides and negatives from my collection. And the reason it's in my office? Well, I had in mind doing an informal review of it from the perspective of a photographer who has a huge backlog of slides. Like everybody else who's been taking pictures in a serious way for several decades, I face the digitalisation dilemma. I have hundreds, if not thousands of images on slide and negative film that I'd like to have in digital form, but a scanner that is going to give me the professional results I want could easily cost the better part of $5000. On the other hand, if I opt to have a scanning service process my work, the per scan charge is likely to range from a low of $1 to $4 or more per 35mm slide or negative. My 120 film originals could easily run to twice that amount for each frame. ... [more] |