Who knows about cameras?
Not me, that’s who.
If you’ve ever read my other blog (let me know if you want the link to that one), you’ve probably noticed the “why technology drives me to drink” and the “WHY TECHNOLOGY DRIVES ME TO DRINK: IN CAPS” tag on many a post of mine.
I’m not good with techy things. I curse at my blackberry at least once a day (but that’s more because the thing is on it’s last leg than my ignorance, I swear). I get the blue screen of death on my lappy at least once per week and I don’t know what to do about it. I had to buy a whole nursing textbook package for school this semester, to put on my itouch, and in doing so, I wiped out 1,000+ songs. And then I died.
In short, I’m bad with technology, and it all just kind of pisses me off.
So, on to cameras.
I have a nice little camera. It’s a Canon PowerShot, that little Digital Elph one. And it’s blue! It’s telling me it has 8.0 megapixels. I don’t understand that, but I’m just trying to give you an idea of what I’m working with here. Oh, it’s also saying that it’s an “SD1100 IS.” So, there’s the facts.
what my little badass camera looks like!
And here’s my issue, and where I’m begging you for some help.
I want a new camera for Christmas. I don’t know what kind to look for. I need your help.
Can you give me some suggestions? And please, I beg you, dumb it down for me. I don’t know what a point and shoot is, I don’t know much about megapixels other than… they’re good? The more the better? Maybe it’s the other way around?
Here’s what you should know first, in order to help me. The thing that I love MOST about my little camera is just that, it’s little. I can fit it in my purse and even in a small wristlet.
I take pictures constantly. I’m the one in my group of friends known for always having the camera, even if it isn’t the top of the line camera, I still get some pretty good shots. And my camera does take good pictures, but… I want it to take better ones. Sometimes I feel like the photographs are a little grainy. Do I need more or less megapixels? Is megapixel one word or two? Maybe I need a point and shoot? Maybe I need to get a life?
Does what I’m looking for exist? Something small and compact, that takes good, quality, crisp shots? Or does this mean that I need to suck it up and get the touristy kind of camera that all you food bloggers and elite photographers that I envy so much carry around with you to events? You guys always take the best pictures, but what I’m saying is, I don’t know if I can do the big camera thing. Do I have to? Should I?
Help me.
I love the Olympus I use. I even bought one to give to Karl for xmas (or his bday, I haven’t decided when to give what, since it’s only 3 weeks apart).
I got him this camera: http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1483 And though I haven’t tried it yet, it’s basically an updated model of my camera.
Why do I like it so much? WATERPROOF (I can even take underwater pictures!) and SHOCKPROOF (so I can run and take pictures, and if I drop it, big deal). Sure, it gets a couple of scratches, but it still works fine. Plus, it’s still pretty small.
I love my camera, and the majority of my pictures are taken with that.
“Point and Shoot” means anyone can use it — you don’t need to change settings and the auto mode will get you great pictures. Little cameras are usually point and shoot. The big ones with interchangeable lenses, are called SLR.
The higher number of megapixels the better, BUT after you have 5 or 6 megapixels, you’re all good. That usually means you can blow up your pictures into posters (the better the megapixels, the bigger your poster can be without losing quality). Believe me, 6 megapixels is enough for everyone who’s not professional (said that, having more is not bad, just don’t use that when trying to decide “oh, that one has 12, and this has 10, so obviously the 12 is better” — you won’t notice those extra 2MP)
What else? Image stabilization is a good thing, zoom the higher the better (optical zoom only, digital zoom is useless, and it’s like cropping a picture in the computer — you lose quality. Optical zoom is the actual lenses moving to create the zoom, no loss of quality).
For everyday use for a small point and shoot? That’s all you need to know.
Gosh, I wrote too much. Ooops.
And I’m retarded. I actually purchased this one for Karl: http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-Stylus-Digital-Camera-Blue/dp/B0031RGEU4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1289400189&sr=8-3 (the better model)
A point and shoot is what you have now — quite literally, you just aim and shoot. You don’t have to adjust any manual settings or turn on / off a flash… it’s automatic and idiot-proof. The higher the mega-pixels the more detail you can get. But 8 is probably enough, unless you are taking pictures that you want to blow up and frame or something. I’m a big Canon fan. I have a point and shoot similar to yours that I carry in my purse, and then a big badass camera that I had to take a month long class to learn how to use — that is NOT a point-and-shoot, and it is better for artsy photographs and has a ton of manual settings. I think that you don’t want that, plus it is really expensive. I’m a Canon fan myself, but Nikon and Sony make nice products as well.
Hey Meg…
Last Christmas I asked Buzz to get me a new lens for my “badass” camera…an “all in one” so I wouldn’t have to keep changing lenses depending on what I was trying to get a picture of. WELL…I didn’t get that…I got something BETTER. The salesman at Best Buy convinced him to get me the Sony Exmor (10.2 megapixels). IT IS AWESOME!!!! It’s the one that Peyton Manning does the commercials for
I feel it takes better pictures than my badass camera and it fits in my purse…holds a charge forever…and is SOOOO easy to use.
Good Luck…and let me know if you have any more questions!
The reason for the grain you’re seeing is that this camera doesn’t have a great shot in darker settings when you still don’t quite need a flash. I have the same camera and I love its size and hate its flash and inability to take good pics in darker light. Honestly- I would go to a camera store and ask them what to suggest- tell them what you don’t like about your current, give them a price point and let them give you some options- then go online and look at reviews!
Low light shots are difficult for any camera without a high power consuming flash (one that has it’s own batteries). Even the high end P&S (point and shoot) camera have difficulty here because of the lack of a powerful flash and the relatively small lenses (a bigger lens opening can capture more light).
There’s also an issue of flash separation. Small camera have the flash near the lens which means lots of directly reflected light leading to harsh contrasts and red eye effect – that why the pros mount flashes on remote tripods or at least extended 6″ or more away from the lens.
Finally, there’s digital “noise”. As camera try to amplify the little light available in dark situations, they introduce “noise” speckly artifacts that appear as grains or little color flecks. Your best bet here is to turn the ISO (sensitivity) setting on your camera from “Auto” to something less than the maximum. Otherwise, the camera “Auto” goes to super high sensitivity which not only amplifies light, but amplifies noise.
Pixels are the “picture elements” that make up a digital image. A typical web image is 640×480. 640 * 480 / 1,000,000 = 0.3 mega-pixels. (It would actually end up being somewhat smaller because of the algorithms used in encoding a .JPG or other typical compressed image format as opposed to a raw .BMP or bitmap image.)
Camera shops like to sell mega-pixels because newer cameras have more and newer cameras cost more. You really only need a lot of mega-pixels if you want to be printing large images – 8×10 glossy headshots for your audition or poster size blow ups. For most “casual” photogs, 5 or more is plenty.
If you’re still awake… The BEST camera is the one you will use. I have a BIG camera I take to my kids’ sporting events because it’s fast. I have a phone camera I use most often because it’s in my pocket all the time. And I have a tiny 3 mega-pixel Sony cybershot that I use when I travel. That gets it done for me.
I echo what jintorico said above. I think the issue with your photos is that MANY cameras have issues taking low-light photos … even bigger ones with lots of fancy gadgets. And from my own experience, MOST in-camera flashes suck the life out of photos … too much light that leads to whiting out of the humans and objects in the photos. Even my fancy camera takes horrible photos with the in-camera lens. I purchased an external lens that you can control the brightness and what direction it faces in order to remedy that situation. My advice: stick with what you have. Seriously. I had a similar Canon for years and absolutely loved it for all the reasons you stated you love yours. The thing is, if you want to take better pictures, it’s not just the camera that has to be better, but the photographer, too. And from the sounds of it, you have your hands full and might not be able to take the time to improve your photo skills!
I have been waiting to comment on this until I had some time, because you know I could ramble about cameras and photography for-ev-er. But! The saving grace here is that you’ve already gotten some great advice, and answers to some of the issues you’re having. The graniness is, of course, the camera’s ability to adapt to many different lighting situations. A point and shoot, which is what you have (all smaller cameras without interchangable lenses (i.e. not SLR cameras) are point and shoots) has many, many benefits to the casual photographer, mainly the ease of use.
The camera you have now, in my opinion, is a good one. If you’re looking to upgrade from the $100-200 camera, for me that’s where it gets dicy. Here’s why: a $300 point and shoot, to me, is not worth it. The quality is not much better, and you’re still limited by that one lens, and largely only automatic settings whereas with a dSLR that’s about $500 with a kit lens included is going to give you much more capability and experimental opportunities. But, only if you use it.
For me, carrying around a heavy camera has just become part of normal. I take it everywhere, and don’t discriminate based on environment. It’s hung off the back of boats, it gets tossed around on the passenger seat of the car, and sits on the table of almost every restaurant I go to. Sure, it’s thousands of dollars worth of equipment, but for me there’s no reason to have it if you’re not going to use it a lot. My point here is that if you use what you buy, then it’s worth every penny.
That said, there are situations where I just use my iPhone camera, or borrow a friend’s point and shoot and end up with some fantastic photos. Which leads me to the oldest photography rule there is: people make good pictures, cameras don’t. I am sure you’ve heard that before. But it’s true, and keeping in mind the real basic rules of photography (lighting, frame, subject, focus, etc.) always trumps everything else.
So, before I ramble even more, I will mention one of the best things I remember about switching from a digital point and shoot to a digital SLR (a camera with lenses and manual settings). That is, the shutter speed. I always take lots of pictures of moving subjects; animals, kids, sports, etc. And that shutter speed on a dSLR is priceless. There’s no delay time like you experience with a point and shoot, and therefore you can get your subject while they are actually looking at the camera (or doing whatever it is that made you want to take a photo in the first place). That, for me, was huge.
What it’s really about is weighing the options. You have to decide if a new $200(ish) is going to do what you need it to do most of the time, or if you’re ready to make a bigger jump in budget for some different capabilities right now, or ever. With both of those some learning is involved, but I’d say the dSLR will take more of your time, not that it necessarily has to right away.
If you want any advice or opinions on types of cameras on either style, just let me know. There’s a lot out there, and i know it can be overwhelming.
Shutting up now.