By Vadzim Vinakur

10 August 2007

Disinformation (as a rule coming from camera manufacturers) have caused unexperienced users to buy inappropriate cameras. And there are plenty of bad habits already forming by users of this relatively young technology.

Mistake #1: "More Pixels Are Better-1"

Are you make really large prints, for example, 3x3' (1x1 m)?

99% of your prints are in album-size (4x6" or 10x15 cm)?

When you give negative answers on both questions, it means you don't need 10 and more megapixels, and unserious 3.2 Mpix are good enough. Look on a table below.

Print size, cm Image size, pixels Sensor size, Megapixels

9 x 13 1063 x 1535 1,6

10 x 15 1181 x 1772 2,1

13 x 18 1535 x 2126 3,3

15 x 20 1772 x 2362 4,2

18 x 24 2126 x 2835 6,0

20 x 30 2362 x 3543 8,4

30 x 40 3543 x 4724 16,7

The photo prints from the lab have resolution about 300 dpi, and in this table made evaluation of theoretical resolution, when number of pixels on a print less or equal with number of pixels on an image. In real life you can make prints at least one grade more then theoretical calculation. And you never find any errors.

If you want to spend big money, it's better to invest on a camera with more useful features like a really good zoom lens or image stabilization.

Mistake #2: "Digital Zoom - Rulezzzz!"

You may have seen cameras described as having "4x optical/6x digital zoom, 24x total zoom power!" Looks good, but for newcomers only. If you try digital zoom at least once, you never want to repeat, because of blurry images.

While a real (or optical) zoom will appear to bring distant objects close, digital zoom simply stretch a part of the image. It's like cutting a document-size photo from a poster-size print.

The problem is that digital zoom enlarge pixels, and as result you got a low resolution image. Maybe on a camera's display such shots looking good, but after printing you will change your opinion.

If you want a zoom lens, I suggest you look at the camera's optical zoom specs, and forget the digital zoom numbers.

Mistake #3:"I can expand a space on my memory card, so I'll just make low-resolution and/or low-quality pictures."

You've been shooting away, happily creating full-sized JPEG images, and notice that you only have ten pictures left on your memory card. So, you dial down the image quality setting and suddenly you have 30 pictures remaining. Unfortunately, all those pictures will look blurry when viewed as the full-res shot.

What I can offer? Buy extra memory cards, and always have more than you think you'll need (I have cards for about 800 shots ant this volume never was exhausted).

Guys, avidity is not the best touch of nature! Now the 1 GB card costs about US $20.

Mistake #4: "I charged the battery this morning. That should be enough."

Well, it is not so easy. Power consumation depends on many parameters. All factors are listed below decrease number of shots with one battery pack

* flash light

* LCD screen

* autofocus (especially continued AF)

* motorized zoom

* transfer the data directly from camera to computer

Another words - any activity and any feature recharged a battery. One day you can make hundreds of shots, next day - much less. Best solution against bad surprises - bring a charged extra battery.

Mistake #5: "I can compose the picture in the optical viewfinder. It shows me everything."

It depends... If you are using DSLR or DSLR-like camera with electronic viewfinder (EFV) this sentence is almost correct. For compact cameras with an optical viewfinder it likely will crop a part of the picture along the edges. In fact, this optical viewfinder shows 60-80% of the whole picture. Compare what you see in the finder with what's on camera's display. If there is a big difference, don't trust your finder.

Mistake #6: "I can just hold my camera at arm's length and shoot."

The compact cameras that only have LCD screens and no optical viewfinder force you to hold the camera around 20-30 cm from your eyes so you can see the image in the LCD screen. It means you have very poor camera support, and many cases to move the camera by taking the picture. As a result - shaky shots.

There is a correct way to hold the camera without viewfinder:

1. Both elbows should be pressed against your body as you hold the camera up to your face.

2. Take a breath and hold it as you press the shutter release.

This turns you into a human tripod, and minimizes shake. Anyway, if you have some army experience, try to remind how to shoot the rifle - the common idea is the same.

Mistake #7: "The picture my the LCD screen looks fine."

It shows the entire photo, but don't rely on your LCD screen to be sure if your picture correctly exposed. Why? The screen may display images brighter or darker than they'll appear on your computer monitor. Another problem is the ambient light in the location where you're looking at the screen affects how the scene looks. Too much ambient light could make the screen image look dark by comparison. If there's too dark, the image could appear misleadingly bright.

Shading the LCD screen with your hand may help, but not everywhere it's possible at all. You can also try adjusting LCD monitor brightness on your camera until it matches your computer monitor.

Mistake #8: "More Pixels Are Better-2"

Achievements of microelectronics make possible to place a millions of pixels onto tiny CCD sensors. Another side of it is producing of image noise. This trouble is better viewed on high ISO values (400 or even more). Sometimes it's only solution to have good shutter speed. But you may found random colour dots on a solid, especially darkest places.

This problem has a long physical explanation about minimal pixel size, but I don't want to go so deep. But this is a problem of compact cameras with large sensors - above 5-6 Mpix. Indeed, cameras with 2-3 Mp have a noise too, but its amount is not so critical.

Well, and what's about DSLR with high pixel number? It is a less problem, because they use larger sensors, and each pixel is also larger.

Mistake #9: "I will fix it in the Photoshop"

Indeed, the Photoshop and other image processors is a great power. But it's always best to start off with the most accurately exposed image...

Mistake #10: "I can print my photos at home on my photo-quality printer and save a money."

Home printing has enough benefits, including control over the final results. But saving money is out of this list.

If all you need is a stack of album-size prints, better to go to the next photo store or download images for online processing. A typical inkjet home-made print costs around 40-50 cents per sheet. If you look around, you can find online print deals for 2-3 times less. It takes time, but cases when shots should be ready "yesterday" in real life happens seldom.

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