Session One:Using Your “Point & Shoot” Digital Camera Effectively

January 19, 2006

Which Digital Camera is Best?

• All major brands take very good pictures -- Sony, Canon, Minolta, etc.

• A camera is only as good as the lens. No-name brands that are very cheap aren’t very good. Larger LCD screens are nice but probably drain the battery a little faster.

• 3 megapixels is a minimum these days. This is satisfactory resolution for most pictures unless you crop them significantly.

• There is some trade-off in size vs. image quality. Mini cameras have mini lenses and limited light capture ability.

Which Digital Camera is Best? (cont)

• Some people prefer cameras that use AA batteries. In case the batteries are drained, you can easily purchase some off-the-shelf replacements.

• Ergonomics are important. How comfortable is it to hold the camera? A smooth box is hard to hold onto. Those with a bulge on one end are much easier to hold.

• Websites like www.dpreview.com, www.steves-digicams.com or www.megapixel.net offer a lot of detailed information about cameras on the market.

Care & Maintenance of Your Camera

• Cameras are extremely fragile

• Always use the wrist strap

• Warranties do not cover dropped cameras

• If your battery is a proprietary size, consider purchasing an extra battery.

• Format your memory card from time to time. It will speed up the camera’s process of writing to the card.

Critical Settings on Your Camera

• Set the date and time! This info is written to the digital picture file and will be stored on your computer if you download the pictures.

• Change time as needed when traveling

• When traveling with others, synchronize time and date settings.

• Carry the instruction booklet until you are thoroughly familiar with your camera.

Set Picture Resolution to Maximum

• Low resolution pictures don’t have much value other than viewing on a computer screen and emailing to others. Good prints come from high resolution pictures.

• The card supplied with your camera is probably 128 mb or smaller

• Purchase a 512 mb card or larger. 512 mb cost $50 or so.

• A 512 mb card holds ~200 pictures for my 5.0 megapixel camera set at the highest resolution

• When traveling, most photo shops will download your memory card to a CD. A CD is 680 mb, so a 1 gb card won’t fit.

Most Commonly Used Settings

• 90% of the time I leave my camera set on “Auto.”

• When set on “Auto” the default is Autoflash, but you can kill the flash if you wish. This is important in museums, etc.

• If you want to force the flash, change the camera to “Portrait” or other setting.

• “Fast Shutter Speed” is useful for sports, etc.

• I use the self timer when camera is on a tripod for group photos.

• Only rarely do I use any other features.

Typical Buttons on a Point & Shoot

Access Menus on the LCD Screen

Taking Fast Action Shots

• Shutter Delay is a frustrating problem with many cameras.

• More expensive cameras have more internal memory and have less delay between shots.

• Some of the delay is caused by the focusing mechanism and flash recovery.

• For a single “fast action shot,” I press the button half-way down and it pre-focuses. I hold it there and press fully when I shoot.

• For a series of “quick shots,” turn off the flash and set the camera for “Burst Mode.” This turns off the LCD screen.

• My camera will shoot about two pictures a second.

Fast Action Shots

Put camera on “Fast Shutter” and pre-focus to capture fast action shots.

Fast Action Shots

Picture by Ken Haley

Optical and Digital Zoom

• Optical zoom is true magnification by your camera lens.

• Typical optical zoom for “point and shoot” cameras is 3x.

• Digital zoom is a software effect created within the camera.

• The camera “resamples” the picture to add more pixels.

• Typical digital zoom for “point and shoot” cameras is 10x.

• Quotation from Canon Camera Manual, “images become coarser the more they are digitally zoomed.”

Optical Zoom Shots

Digital vs. Optical Zoom

Digital vs. Optical Zoom

Macro Mode Pictures

Picture by Ken Haley

Tips for Good Pictures

• Use the Viewfinder

• This helps to steady the camera. Most fuzziness in pictures is caused by camera shake!

• The LCD screen is not very visible in bright sunlight.

• Use the LCD screen to review your shots.

• The flash on “point and shoot” cameras is only good for 10-12 feet. Don’t expect more.

• GET UP CLOSE FOR YOUR PICTURES.

• Travel with a cable that connects your camera to a TV for reviewing your pictures.

Common Mistakes

• Holding the camera with one finger partially blocking the flash.

• Forgetting to check the settings on the camera before taking pictures.

• Expecting the flash to take pictures of large groups.

• Forgetting to keep the battery charged.

• Leaving all of the pictures on your memory card.

Printing Options -- Pros & Cons

Option 1:

• Buy a Printer that prints directly from the camera

• Easy, but slow when printing many photos.

• Limited editing or enhancing of photos.

• Picture quality is only as good as the printer.

• Cost per picture is fairly high -- ranges from 35 cents to $1.00 per picture for a 4” x 6” print.

Printing Options -- Pros & Cons

Option 2: Take your memory card to a Photo Lab

• Allows some limited editing, i.e. cropping, enhancing.

• Prints from large photo processing machines are good.

• Costco charges $0.17 per 4”x6” print and Sams Club charges $0.14 per 4”x6” print.

• Kiosks have small printers with questionable quality

• Prints from kiosks are about $0.29 per 4”x6” print

Printing Options -- Pros & Cons

Option 3: Download the pictures to your computer and send to a Photo Processor via the internet.

• Allows for unlimited editing and enhancing.

• Uploading to a Photo Processor, i.e. Shutterfly, Kodak or Costco is easy. Services allow posting to web for sharing with others.

• Alternatively can burn them onto a CD and carry to photo lab. Helpful if you have a lot of pictures.

• Cost is low (~$0.15 per 4”x6” print) and quality is excellent.

• Requires more user time and intervention.

Downloading Pictures to Your Computer

• All cameras come with software to interface with your computer. You may or may not wish to use it.

• I prefer the software provided by Win XP (camera and scanner wizard) or by Photoshop Elements.

• Whichever software you use, always assign a base name to your pictures e.g. Alaska Trip, Christmas 2005, etc.

• The computer will add unique numbers to your base name to differentiate the pictures.

• The default name of IMG-001, etc. and is not helpful.

Next Steps

• Once you become proficient with your digital camera and learn to easily download and store pictures on your computer, the next big question is:

• “ I have hundreds of pictures spread all over my computer. How in the world do I keep track of them.”

• We’ll address that issue and more in Session 2 in April.

Future Topics

• Editing and Enhancing Photos using Photoshop Elements

• Digitizing Printed Photos, Slides and Negatives.

• Restoring Old Photos.

• Using Pictures to Create Slide Shows on DVD’s, Digital Photo Albums, etc.

• Editing Digital Video Files to create DVD’s.