Digital Photography - Make the Switch
While many photographers have already made the shift to digital photography, others are still reluctant to move from their trusty old film camera. This article is an attempt to persuade all you readers, photographers of whatever level to make the shift to digital. I guarantee you that you’ll love the decision and never look back. With reliable entry level digital cameras from as low as at Rs. 6000, the time is ripe to make the switch.
The Difference
For those of you who don‘t know, there is almost no difference between a digital camera and a film camera, except the film being replaced by a CCD (Charged Coupled Device) in a digital camera. A 35mm camera film gives an effective resolution of 9.2 mega pixels (varies depending on several factors), which only top-end digital cameras today can rival. There are also other minor differences, but they are irrelevant to beginners.
The Mega Pixel Myth
The thought that more the mega pixels, better the camera is not correct at all. For a 4 x 6’’ print, which is most commonly used, a 2 or 3 mega pixel camera is more than sufficient. Lots of Chinese brands and also the like of Mercury and Tech-Com are offering cameras with more than 5 mega pixel resolution for less than Rs. 10000, but never buy those as color balance, lighting and several other features are as bad as it gets, and the end results are not much better than webcams. When buying a digital camera, always buy from a reputed brand such as Sony, Canon, Casio, Kodak or Nikon.
What about Camera Phones
If you want a camera for taking real photos, that is if you plan to take it on birthdays, vacations, etc. and not use it merely for MMS messaging, then forget about camera phones. Everything about them is not even at par with dedicated digital cameras. There are major problems with the current generation of camera phones :-
- Lower Resolution - Camera phones generally have lower mega pixel counts, and even the higher ones generally use CMOS sensors that do not give the same quality as in digital cameras which have CCD sensors. They also don’t allow to to manually change shutter speed, exposure and other settings.
- Flash - Most camera phones do not have a flash, and even those that do have weak ones not useful beyond a range of 1 feet, far less than digital cameras.
Digital Saves Money
Printing costs for digital cameras are too high in this country (about Rs. 10 for a standard 4 x 6 print), because nobody uses them and therefore replacing printed pictures is not an option many have, although prices are set to fall. But, digital cameras allow you with far greater methods of distribution. Everyone knows about email. Moreover, you can use VCD or DVD for local distribution. Just create movie slideshows and distribute them amongst friends and family, as you did with your albums, but unlike your albums, replication is far cheaper.
Advantages With Digital
Everyone stands to benefit from digital cameras. The advantages are clear :-
- Instantly see what you have clicked and instantly change settings to get the perfect image. Also, you won’t realize at the end of your vacation that something was wrong with the camera.
- Edit, modify, or simply recover bad photos, give special effects and much more. Just ask our in-house photoshop expert, Milind.
- As I’ve said, once you get the hang of it, digital photographs can be far cheaper and easier to distribute. And you’re not wasting expensive film while you click away. I took 800 pictures on my week long trip to Hong Kong recently without hesitation.
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Well, as I see it, the reluctance in accepting Digital Cameras is mainly because of 2 reasons, Cost and Learning Curve.
The main reason is cost, as you yourself mentioned. Digital Cameras giving good quality(not talking about high quality but a bit more than decent quality) photos to somewhat match the film cameras are still quite expensive, especially if you go for brands like Sony, Kodak or Nikon. Cannon maybe a bit cheap but I’ve had bad experiences with it, so I won’t go in with anything Cannon. A good digital camera to somewhat compare with a film camera should be atleast 2-3 megapixel at a resolution of atleast
1024×768 pixels. Now that cameras are not less than Rs.15000 currently if we talk about Sony/Kodak/Nikon. Then there’s the problem of getting the prints. They are quite expensive too, with a 4×6″ print costing Rs.7-8 each in a Kodak Colour Lab. And compare to that the cost of a good quality film camera, you can get a nice Kodak camera for Rs.1000 and cost of the photos comes out to about Rs.3-4 each in a Kodak Colour Lab. So its a huge margin. Ofcourse there are other benefits with Digital Cameras like the MMC card is re-usable and is a long term investment unlike a film roll that costs Rs.100+(Kodak Gold), but then people see it as cheap as an MMC card(256MB) is high priced.
The other reason for the hesitation in embracing Digital Cameras is Learning Curve. Film Cameras normally doesn’t require any reading the manuals etc. as they are point-and-shoot things, but people think that its quite a hassle to operate a Digital Camera!! I call it the fear of technology.
As for camera phones, well, they are improving quite fast. When I look at my Nokia 7250i, I feel a bit outdated given the quality of its camera, but then the new phones have a lot decent quality cameras in them. Nokia 6600 didn’t come out long ago(though even its considered old now) and I found its camera quality to be quite acceptable, a 4×6″ print wasn’t bad. If you don’t look at Nokia, but at SonyEriccsson, then you’ll find quite good quality cameras in its new phones, I particularly like K750i which has 2 megapixel camera and a 262K colour screen. I’ve heard that it gives out quite good photos, though I’ve not seen in yet.
So I’d say that with time the cost of Digital Cameras will come down and the camera phones will also improve quite a lot.
I think digital cameras rock, if you have a good quality/brand camera in your hand. There is no stopping. All the issues about price comparison do not matter because I think the most important thing is picture. As Kajol says “insan phone leta hai baat karne ke liye”, I say that “Insan Camera leta hai Photo khichneke liye”. We want to capture that moment, that landscape. We can only be sure that we have captures it well is by seeing it instantly. Take for instance you have gone on a tour to Kashmir. You are not sure if you can visit this place again in your entire life. You click pictures on a film camera. Just imagine your plight if after you return from your journey you found out that the pictures have not captured the beauty of the place at all. This will never happen with digital camera as you can see the results instantly.
The other thing is about learning to operate them. Every time we bye a new technology we have to learn it. But most of these 3-4 megapixel cameras are all point and shoot types. There is not much to learn. and then there will always be people who are afraid of touching any button for that matter.
I think this is a new technology that we have to embrace. As more and more people are joining this club the prices of all the allied products are coming down drastically. For ex. I got my Nikon Coolpix 3700 from grey market at Rs.14500/- in Feb’04. In August’05, they are selling the same camera for Rs.8500/-. SD memory card 128MB was for Rs.2500/- Now you can get 256MB for Rs.1300/-. Prints are available for Rs.6/-per 4×6 size which is too high from the film development. Actually it come very cheap. Because you don’t have to print the entire 36 photos as in case of film cameras. You can select a single photo that you want to print.
Finally I would like to suggest two sites for people who would like to switch to digital photography. First one is “Howstuffworks.com” They have an excellent article on how digital camera works. The other is “jjmehta.com” There is a camera shop by this name in Dadar, Mumbai. They have published informative articles about most of the digital cameras available currently in the market. It helps to make the decision if you know what are the features available in a particular model.
Bye for now. Tell me your opinion about these sites.
Sharmila
Yeah, digital cameras are easy to use, depending on who you are!! My Kodak LS753 is a breeze to use, I was able to snap pics in different modes & even shoot a video within 1 minute of opening the box, and given that its first time I’m using a digital camera. But its me then!! I can’t say the same for my mom who’s not a techy person & she definitely would’ve taken longer to operate it even with the help of the manual!!
But yes, digital cameras rock, no doubt about it!! If you’ve a good camera, there are very much chances it’ll support video, every digital camera does except some cheap ones!! Now if its got a good lens(atleast 3-4 megapixels), then the video will come out good as well, mine records it really swell with sound!! So you can take still photos & video as well, can’t be said same for film cameras. Besides changing a film in the camera is a hassle, you’ve to take care that sunlight doesn’t fall on it, while changing a memory card in a digital camera is a piece of cake, ie., if you require to change it!!
Well, Digital Cameras are very easy to use as well. I am an vaid photographer, and although I cannot afford one of those Digital SLR’s, my Sony DSC-W5 gives me all the options I need, from Shutter speed, exposure, focus, and everything else.