It has 10X Zoom And 12.1MP!

Tried as I might I couldn’t fall asleep. There’s this thing bothering me, eating at me, it’s your complete inability to understand how to buy a camera.

Seeing as how I didn’t get much in the way of “Thank you Ben you’re the best!” after my last photography related write up I figured it must just be because you didn’t have the camera yet. I’d say at least three to four times a year someone asks me “Hey, I need a good camera, you take nice photos what should I buy?” Because of this I’ve felt the need to first clarify a few things about digital cameras for you then maybe give you some sweet knowledge you can use to make your own purchasing decision some day.

X Optical Zoom
Thankfully a lot of people out there have learned that digital zoom is worthless, degrades photos and overall just a gimmick. Actually it seems like that’s one of the only things people know because they constantly feel they need to give me that tidbit from their photo knowledge arsenal “Yeah Digital Zoom is doesn’t do anything!” Well booyah, I guess. While Optical Zoom (meaning the lens is moving in and out) is “real zoom” and truly what should be helping drive your decision, the numbers manufactures like to assign to it mean nothing. Just because one camera says it has 5X optical zoom and another says 10X does not mean that the higher number is significantly better some how.

Thing is, X, is a variable – it could really be anything. Zoom is measured in millimeters and what something like “6X” means is six times the widest mm range. Camera makers obviously thought it was far too technical, and rightfully so, to tell you the real specs of a lens. I guess they figured if they said, “It goes six times further in from when you’re zoomed all the way out” you’d get the idea. It works too, when you’re buying things in person. Problem I see though is everyone wants to buy cameras online and they see these X numbers and assume bigger is better but take this scenario for instance…

Your goal is distance, you’re really into birds and have learned they’re not fond of you getting near them. You see two cameras, one is 5X and the other 7X. Under further inspection though you find out the base mm of the 5X is 30mm and the 7X is 20mm. Meaning the 7X goes 20-140mm and the 5X does 30-150mm. The 7x is wider, it’s not further. The shorter the mm number the wider the lens, the bigger the number the more “zoom” you get.

Though not always, you can typically find the real millimeter rating for a point and shoot camera. You don’t have to understand what it means just how it compares to the other camera you’re looking at.

Megapixels
Luckily more and more people are starting to realize that this number does not matter. I feel like I need to cover this a little more anyway though. For those that don’t already know: Megapixels = Size of the Photo not: Megapixels = Quality of the photo. In fact, many point and shoots try to cram too many pixels on their small sensors and it actually makes their photos look worse in full size. It has a very similar effect that you get from digital zoom which we already know sucks. You end up having to shrink the size of your photo so that it looks good when the pixels become compressed. If you’re going to do that, what was the point of that number being high to begin with?

In a recent survey I made up for the sake of writing this 95% of people do not crop their photos. They take a picture, load it on their computer and if the photo is lucky enough maybe they click the “enhance” option in iPhoto before uploading it to Facebook for their friends to see. Sometimes they print them, 4×6 at Walgreens. 2.1MP cameras have been printing wonderful 4×6 photos for years, but for the sake of safety let’s just say anything over 5MP is a safe buy.

Someone is saying right now “I crop all my photos, fu” Well then I’d have to respond with “You’re stupid and obviously your camera doesn’t zoom far enough.” Because that’s the reality. Cropping photos is few and far between. You might do it because Jessica is like totally a huge bitch and we’re not even friends on Facebook anymore and she’s like standing like right next to me in this photo I want to use for my profile picture without her in there. Or maybe some guy is exposing himself just to the left of your group family shot outside Old Country Buffet, whatever the reason you’ll likely still be okay… even if your megapixel count isn’t giant.

Digital SLR
So many people would be better off if they just stuck to buying point and shoot cameras. They go out, buy this SLR camera for $500-800 dollars, it comes with a standard kit lens and they feel like now they’ll finally get those really kickin’ rad soccer pictures of their kids. In general the lens that comes with an entry level SLR is 17-55mm which pales in comparison to some of the optical zoom options available in the point and shoot realm. After you’ve realized that your friend’s $250 Panasonic camera has better zoom than your new Canon Rebel you might be a little distraught and feel the need to go buy another lens to fill that void. That’s when you’ll realize SLRs are the biggest money pit on the planet. Your next affordable option would be a 70-300mm lens which you can pick up for as low as about $150. It also happens to be complete garbage and a total waste of your money. With exception of the 50mm F/1.8 lens there is very little you can buy for under $300 that will really distinguish itself from anything in the point and shoot world.

The second biggest reason you’d be better off not buying an SLR camera is because you’re still shooting in auto. The automatic mode in a P&S makes the bold assumption that the user really has no clue what they’re doing and just wants to press the button and make a pretty picture. They’ll generally do a better job about being shot on automatic mode as the SLR wants to believe you know at least something about photography. For example, your auto modes in a P&S might be Portraits, Night time, Landscape, Macro. However, on the SLR it’s pretty much “Auto”  and it’s left to try and guess at what you’re doing; picking generic ideal settings rather than you telling it how it might want to think.

For $500 dollars (even less) you can get a top of the line point and shoot. It will have modes for all sorts of situations, have more zoom than an entry level SLR, and probably even have nice things like facial recognition all baked right in. With the money you’ve saved you can buy a little case to put it in and maybe some memory cards.

Since I’ve covered my big pet peeves about people’s assumptions on photography I think that’s enough for tonight. I’ll write a follow up later that explains what you should really be looking for come camera buying time.

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You Take Horrible Photos

If the title describes you, read on. To some, a lot of these tips will feel very obvious and repetitive from any photography material you may have read. Most of this geared towards shooting people and the main audience I’m looking to here is actually the point-and-shoot-I-don’t-know-anything crowd. With one small exception, shutter speed, I’m not going to cover anything technical. Everything I write will be stated as fact. A person might read these said facts and say “That’s not true Ben, I’ve shot XYZ this way before and it was perfect, you’re wrong.” For this reason I want to clarify that I will be stating things as true that may not be but they’re about as factual as me saying “You will never win the lottery.” Finally, when I say a photo is “good” I mean in the sense of nice lighting, not blurry, quality shot. Do not think I mean the kind of good that implies it’s an unforgettable moment captured and cherished forever.

Shoot in Full Auto – No Flash

The flash on your Point and shoot camera is garbage. It looks like ass and any picture you take with it will always look like you took it with a flash. Does that mean I’m telling you to never try and take a good picture with your flash indoors? Yeah, that’s pretty much exactly it. Anyone can absolutely still take flash pictures but don’t expect anything, you’ll just be capturing a moment.

Did you buy a camera with a variety of modes that you don’t know what they do? Don’t use them even if you think you have an inkling for what they do. Sure, some shots might look different when you take them in that mode but if you don’t understand the benefits you’ll likely use it at the wrong times. When it comes to the technical part all the camera manufactures have spent countless dollars making their auto feature better and better. The camera’s auto setting is a much better photographer than you in terms of picking the right settings for a shot. Just trust in it.

It’s No Where Near as Bright as You Think

Since I’m telling you to never use a flash you need to be conscious of the light you’re using. When shooting indoors a lot of people think just because they can see relatively well that the light is fine and it’s not. More often than not it’s too dark and too yellow. If your flash is turned off your camera’s auto mode will likely start sacrificing its shutter speed (how fast it takes the picture) to work. The shutter speed is the number you see on the camera and it reads things like 1/200, 1/120, 1/80, 1″, etc. If you’re starting to see anything less than 1/80 (one 80th of a second) reading from your camera your pictures will likely come out blurry. Either find some more light (natural light works best) or give up, turn on the flash and just take pictures. The shutter speed is usually on any details section on a photo you took and vary’s from camera to camera. Don’t worry about any of the other numbers, they’re too confusing.

There’s nothing wrong with not taking good pictures, you do this all the time already. It’s simply not possible to always be taking amazing shots without tons of equipment. This is why you hire a photographer with a lot of gear and not some kid that has an SLR and one lens to do important events. Or maybe you do, but you shouldn’t.

The Right Light

The best time to take photos is outside early in the morning, when everyone is asleep (so maybe it’s not the best time) or in the late afternoon when the sun is not directly overhead. Cloudy days are also excellent though any sky captured in your photo might look depressing. Here’s some general tips for getting good light.

• If it’s the middle of the day find shade for your subject(s) to be in. Try to only photograph the shaded area and avoid letting the bright light bleed into your picture.
• Do not have your subject’s face in the sun. No one likes sun in their eyes and they will squint. It will always be way too bright on their face and look washed out and terrible anyway.
• Avoid having the brightest light right behind your subject. Your camera will put its settings to match the background light and your subject will come out dark. Typically this is a situation where a photographer would run a flash on the subjects to adjust for the light difference but since your flash is a giant pile of crap so we won’t be doing that.

Having the proper light will improve your pictures instantly. The lack of proper light is usually the number one reason your pictures suck so much.

Some Things Will Always Look Like What They Are

Taking a photo in a bar, will look like you took a photo in the bar. Ready for another self portrait in the mirror? Good for you. These photos will never be good, there is nothing you can do to fix this. Either stop doing it or never expect anything from it. Nearing three million times I’ve been asked to take a picture for a group of drunk girls at a bar and thanks to digital they instantly want to know “IS IT GOOD? HOW DID IT TURN OUT?” I know that secretly means “I’m a little fat, can you tell?” and as far as picture quality goes, there isn’t any. If all your pictures are of this variety then I’ve just solved the mystery for you of why my pictures look so much better than yours.

What’s In Your Portrait Picture?

Generally you want to be as zoomed onto your subject as you can be. If you’re taking a picture of two friends together leave just a little space on either side and above them. Fully body shots are often unappealing so avoid that. Regardless of your zoom though be mindful of their rest of the scene. The people in the background, is anyone wearing bright colors? Can you see them in the shot? They’re distracting and people will notice. What about trash cans? A guy picking his nose? Something more interesting than the people you’re shooting? Any time you have a subject you want to make sure there is nothing that will take away from them. It sounds a lot easier than it is and many people are oblivious to anything other than the people standing directly in front of them. To make this as simple as possible here’s some easy things to just flat out avoid in your backgrounds

• Other people or pets
• Vehicles
• Man made objects (trash cans, neon signs, parking meters)

Some man made objects are actually good backdrops though and it’s usually the bigger then better. Objects that are generally good backgrounds are:

• Walls, full wall. Not the entire house.
• Train Cars
• Fences

Ultimately the best background is just the sky. If you can take a picture that looks off into a rather blank horizon (e.g. a beach, a field) that is your best bet.

It’s Not All About the Gear

It’s true, your point and shoot will likely never take better pictures than my nice DSLR camera. I have thousands of dollars of equipment that let me do all sorts of tricks you can’t. I can shoot indoors and it looks nice, I own flashes that cost more than your entire camera and lenses that would make for a nice down payment for a new car. That doesn’t mean your camera is a load of junk though. In the right lighting almost any standard digital camera of today will take sharp, vivid, respectable pictures. Typically in a shoot I take the easy route, if I can do one or all of the things mentioned above I will. So If all goes well, your shots won’t look a hell of a lot different from mine to the untrained eye.

One Final Note

Megapixel count mean very little; don’t be put off just because yours is smaller than everyone else’s. For once it doesn’t matter and it’s really how you use it.

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