When you first start taking photos, it sometimes seems that there is too much to learn all at once. Here are some things you may want to know right off.
The first time you use the camera, or if the batteries have been removed or dead for an extended period, you should enter the date and time. The date and time will help you organize, locate, and identify your images later.
Always check camera settings on the control panel and in the viewfinder. Notice how many pictures you can take at the current settings and the status of the battery charge. Also, learn what the icons mean because it's not at all unusual to change a setting, then forget you have done so.
If an image is being stored when you turn the camera off, the image will be completely stored before the camera powers down.
Most shutter buttons have two stages. When you press it halfway down, the camera sets focus and exposure. When you press it all the way down, you take the picture. To capture action shots, hold the button halfway down while focused on the scene. When you then press the button the rest of the way, the camera shoots immediately because focus and exposure have already been calculated. On some cameras you can also press the shutter button all the way down in one action, but there will be a delay before the photo is taken and it may be out of focus.
If the viewfinder appears blurry, see if the camera has an diopter adjustment that makes it sharper.
To take pictures, hold the camera in your right hand and support the camera or lens with your left. Don't block the flash, autofocus port, or lens.
As you take photos, they are first stored in the camera's internal memory called a "buffer". When the buffer is full you'll have to wait until one or more of the images has been transferred to the memory card before taking any more pictures.
Don't open the battery or memory card access covers while an image is being saved. Doing so can not only damage the image being saved, it can also damage the card.
Some cameras will briefly display the image you just took as it is being saved. Usually you can turn this feature on or off.
You can usually adjust the brightness of the monitor. Make it brighter in bright light and dimmer in dim light.
Many cameras have a tripod socket so you can attach it to a tripod when you want sharper pictures.
Take as many shots of a given scene as you can think of; changing positions, distances, and angles. You may be surprised later at what works and what doesn't.
When done shooting, turn the camera off.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
using your digital camera
Camera Controls & Creativity
Serious digital cameras give you creative control over your images. They do so by allowing you to control the light and motion in photographs as well as what's sharp and what isn't. Although most consumer digital cameras are fully automatic, some allow you to make minor adjustments that affect your images. Many cameras, including high-end point and shoots and digital SLRs, offer a wide range of controls. However, regardless of what controls your camera has, the same basic principles are at work "under the hood". Your automatic exposure and focusing systems are having a profound effect on your images. However, even with your camera on automatic mode, you can indirectly control, or at least take advantage of the effects these systems have on your images.
In this chapter, we'll first explore how you use the camera in various automatic modes and see what effect each of the settings has on your images. In the chapters that follow, we'll explore in greater depth how you take control of these settings, and others, to get the effects that you want.
Taking Photos in Automatic Mode
All digital cameras have an automatic mode that sets focus and exposure for you. All you have to do is frame the image and push the shutter button. You'll find that this auto mode of operation is great in the vast majority of situations because it lets you focus on the subject and not on the camera. Here's a brief guide to using auto mode on almost any camera.
Getting ready. Turn the camera on and set it to automatic mode—usually spelled out or indicated by a camera icon. To conserve your batteries, turn off the monitor and compose your image through the optical viewfinder if your camera has one. (Digital SLR cameras don't let you compose the image on the monitor and some point and shoots don't have optical viewfinders). If the camera has a lens cap, be sure to remove it.
Framing the image. The viewfinder or monitor shows you the scene you are going to capture. To zoom the lens to frame your image, press the zoom-out button or lever to widen the angle of view and the zoom-in button or lever to enlarge subjects. If using an SLR, you zoom by turning a ring on the lens. If the image in the viewfinder is fuzzy, see if the camera has a diopter adjustment you can use to sharpen it.
Autofocus. Cameras have one or more focus zones or areas, each of which is often indicated in the viewfinder with cross hairs, boxes or brackets. The part of the scene that you cover with one of these focus zones will be the sharpest part of the photo. Many cameras will focus on the center of the scene but others will focus on the closest part of the scene covered by any of the focus zones. How close you can focus depends on the camera and lens.
Autoexposure. The camera's exposure system measures light reflecting from the scene and uses these readings to set the best possible exposure.
Autoflash. If the light is too dim, the autoexposure system will fire the camera's built-in flash to illuminate the scene. If the flash is going to fire, a flash lamp usually glows when you press the shutter button halfway down.
Automatic white balance. Because the color in a photograph is affected by the color of the light illuminating the scene, a camera automatically adjusts white balance so white objects in a scene are white in the photo and other colors are free of a color cast.
Serious digital cameras give you creative control over your images. They do so by allowing you to control the light and motion in photographs as well as what's sharp and what isn't. Although most consumer digital cameras are fully automatic, some allow you to make minor adjustments that affect your images. Many cameras, including high-end point and shoots and digital SLRs, offer a wide range of controls. However, regardless of what controls your camera has, the same basic principles are at work "under the hood". Your automatic exposure and focusing systems are having a profound effect on your images. However, even with your camera on automatic mode, you can indirectly control, or at least take advantage of the effects these systems have on your images.
In this chapter, we'll first explore how you use the camera in various automatic modes and see what effect each of the settings has on your images. In the chapters that follow, we'll explore in greater depth how you take control of these settings, and others, to get the effects that you want.
Taking Photos in Automatic Mode
All digital cameras have an automatic mode that sets focus and exposure for you. All you have to do is frame the image and push the shutter button. You'll find that this auto mode of operation is great in the vast majority of situations because it lets you focus on the subject and not on the camera. Here's a brief guide to using auto mode on almost any camera.
Getting ready. Turn the camera on and set it to automatic mode—usually spelled out or indicated by a camera icon. To conserve your batteries, turn off the monitor and compose your image through the optical viewfinder if your camera has one. (Digital SLR cameras don't let you compose the image on the monitor and some point and shoots don't have optical viewfinders). If the camera has a lens cap, be sure to remove it.
Framing the image. The viewfinder or monitor shows you the scene you are going to capture. To zoom the lens to frame your image, press the zoom-out button or lever to widen the angle of view and the zoom-in button or lever to enlarge subjects. If using an SLR, you zoom by turning a ring on the lens. If the image in the viewfinder is fuzzy, see if the camera has a diopter adjustment you can use to sharpen it.
Autofocus. Cameras have one or more focus zones or areas, each of which is often indicated in the viewfinder with cross hairs, boxes or brackets. The part of the scene that you cover with one of these focus zones will be the sharpest part of the photo. Many cameras will focus on the center of the scene but others will focus on the closest part of the scene covered by any of the focus zones. How close you can focus depends on the camera and lens.
Autoexposure. The camera's exposure system measures light reflecting from the scene and uses these readings to set the best possible exposure.
Autoflash. If the light is too dim, the autoexposure system will fire the camera's built-in flash to illuminate the scene. If the flash is going to fire, a flash lamp usually glows when you press the shutter button halfway down.
Automatic white balance. Because the color in a photograph is affected by the color of the light illuminating the scene, a camera automatically adjusts white balance so white objects in a scene are white in the photo and other colors are free of a color cast.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Professional modular digital camera systems
Professional modular digital camera systems
This category includes very high end professional equipment that can be assembled from modular components (winders, grips, lenses, etc.) to suit particular purposes. Common makes include Hasselblad and Mamiya. They were developed for medium or large format film sizes, as these captured greater detail and could be enlarged more than 35 mm.
Typically these cameras are used in studios for commercial production; being bulky and awkward to carry they are rarely used in action or nature photography. They can often be converted into either film or digital use by changing out the back part of the unit, hence the use of terms such as a "digital back" or "film back." These cameras are very expensive (up to $40,000) and are typically not seen in the hands of consumers.
This category includes very high end professional equipment that can be assembled from modular components (winders, grips, lenses, etc.) to suit particular purposes. Common makes include Hasselblad and Mamiya. They were developed for medium or large format film sizes, as these captured greater detail and could be enlarged more than 35 mm.
Typically these cameras are used in studios for commercial production; being bulky and awkward to carry they are rarely used in action or nature photography. They can often be converted into either film or digital use by changing out the back part of the unit, hence the use of terms such as a "digital back" or "film back." These cameras are very expensive (up to $40,000) and are typically not seen in the hands of consumers.
Video camera
Video cameras
Video cameras are classified as devices whose main purpose is to record moving images.
professional video camera such as those used in television and movie production. These typically have multiple image sensors (one per color) to enhance resolution and colour gamut. Professional video cameras usually do not have a built-in VCR or microphone
camcorders used by amateurs. They generally include a microphone to record sound, and feature a small LCD to watch the video during taping and playback.
Webcams are digital cameras attached to computers, used for VC or other purposes. Webcams can capture full-motion video as well, and some models include microphones or zoom ability.
Video cameras are classified as devices whose main purpose is to record moving images.
professional video camera such as those used in television and movie production. These typically have multiple image sensors (one per color) to enhance resolution and colour gamut. Professional video cameras usually do not have a built-in VCR or microphone
camcorders used by amateurs. They generally include a microphone to record sound, and feature a small LCD to watch the video during taping and playback.
Webcams are digital cameras attached to computers, used for VC or other purposes. Webcams can capture full-motion video as well, and some models include microphones or zoom ability.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
theory
All digital cameras work in a similar fashion. Some digital cameras may work a little differently but they all contain the basic hardware.
One similarity in all digital cameras is they all have a lens that projects an image onto a CCD (charge-coupled device). When a picture is taken software within the camera looks at the image three times-once each for red, green, and blue. Then it combines the three images as one RGB (Red, Green, Blue) image.
Another similarity in all digital cameras is they have a place to store the digital image. Although they all have a medium of storage the way the images are stored may vary. The images are not stored in the CCD. The CCD is analogous to the film in a traditional camera. The CCD is only used to capture the digital image. Pictures are usually stored in EPROM (Erasable, PROgrammable Memory) microchips. But, not all cameras store their images on EPROM. Some cameras may use PCMCIA cards to store pictures so that more memory may be added. Some cameras even use various media, like a 1.44MB diskette. For example, the Sony Digital Mavica stores its pictures on a 1.44MB diskette. One problem with cameras that store their pictures on diskettes is when a picture is taken the user must awhile for the camera to write the image file on the diskette. The user cannot take another picture until the camera is done writing the image on the diskette. All cameras have their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to storage.
Some cameras have a display screen which allows you to view all the pictures you have taken. While most digital cameras have this feature some do not. The advantage to having the display screen is that you can review the pictures you have taken and the ones you do not like you can delete. Without a display screen this feature it not available. Cameras with display screens are more superior to the ones without but, the cameras without display screens carry a very low price.
All cameras take pictures and save the images to a certain resolution. The resolution size for each picture taken may vary. A better camera will save the pictures at a higher resolution. You may be wondering 'What the heck is resolution?'. Well, resolution is the degree of sharpness of an image displayed on a computer screen or quality of printed output from a laser printer or photo or laser typesetter expressed in dpi (dots per inch). Resolution can also refer to the number of bits per pixel. In printing, resolution refers to the space between dots in a halftone screen and is expressed as lines per inch (lpi).
Now that you know the basic theory of how digital cameras work you may still not what digital actually means. Digital refers to the binary representation of data as bits and bytes. The binary representation of data is basically the language computers use to create, manage, and store information, like a picture. This language that the computers use is called binary code. Binary code is made up of two things we named one of there things 0's and the other 1's. When data is transferred through a cable on a computer it sends two different electronic pulses. One of these pulses is the 0 and the other is the 1. I suppose you could say that the computer only has two letters in its alphabet: the 0 and the 1. So, when you take a picture on a digital camera the image it stored as a combination of 0's and 1's.
One similarity in all digital cameras is they all have a lens that projects an image onto a CCD (charge-coupled device). When a picture is taken software within the camera looks at the image three times-once each for red, green, and blue. Then it combines the three images as one RGB (Red, Green, Blue) image.
Another similarity in all digital cameras is they have a place to store the digital image. Although they all have a medium of storage the way the images are stored may vary. The images are not stored in the CCD. The CCD is analogous to the film in a traditional camera. The CCD is only used to capture the digital image. Pictures are usually stored in EPROM (Erasable, PROgrammable Memory) microchips. But, not all cameras store their images on EPROM. Some cameras may use PCMCIA cards to store pictures so that more memory may be added. Some cameras even use various media, like a 1.44MB diskette. For example, the Sony Digital Mavica stores its pictures on a 1.44MB diskette. One problem with cameras that store their pictures on diskettes is when a picture is taken the user must awhile for the camera to write the image file on the diskette. The user cannot take another picture until the camera is done writing the image on the diskette. All cameras have their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to storage.
Some cameras have a display screen which allows you to view all the pictures you have taken. While most digital cameras have this feature some do not. The advantage to having the display screen is that you can review the pictures you have taken and the ones you do not like you can delete. Without a display screen this feature it not available. Cameras with display screens are more superior to the ones without but, the cameras without display screens carry a very low price.
All cameras take pictures and save the images to a certain resolution. The resolution size for each picture taken may vary. A better camera will save the pictures at a higher resolution. You may be wondering 'What the heck is resolution?'. Well, resolution is the degree of sharpness of an image displayed on a computer screen or quality of printed output from a laser printer or photo or laser typesetter expressed in dpi (dots per inch). Resolution can also refer to the number of bits per pixel. In printing, resolution refers to the space between dots in a halftone screen and is expressed as lines per inch (lpi).
Now that you know the basic theory of how digital cameras work you may still not what digital actually means. Digital refers to the binary representation of data as bits and bytes. The binary representation of data is basically the language computers use to create, manage, and store information, like a picture. This language that the computers use is called binary code. Binary code is made up of two things we named one of there things 0's and the other 1's. When data is transferred through a cable on a computer it sends two different electronic pulses. One of these pulses is the 0 and the other is the 1. I suppose you could say that the computer only has two letters in its alphabet: the 0 and the 1. So, when you take a picture on a digital camera the image it stored as a combination of 0's and 1's.
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