Digital Cameras Zoom
There are two types of digital cameras zoom – optical and digital! And guess what? They’re not created equal.
Most people know of optical zoom. Optical zoom uses the lens of the camera to zoom in on the subject. Digital zoom, brought over from digital video cameras, is a ‘software-based’ technology.
What digital zoom does is enlarge a portion of the image by cropping out the area you don’t want, and filling that void with the bigger portion.
Therefore, you lose picture quality! In essence, digital zoom is nothing more than what Photoshop or some other image editing software packages lets you do.
So, if you had a choice between digital zoom and optical zoom, which would you choose? Optical zoom of course! That’s why professionals carry SLR cameras with the gigantic lenses! Optical zoom rocks!
Digital Cameras Zoom vs. Resolution
One of the most confusing things about buying a new camera (or evaluating one you’ve already purchased) is the zoom vs. resolution debate.
Now, if you’ve read the above section, you know that zoom and resolution are two very different things. Resolution is the number of megapixels that are available to capture an image! So a 14 megapixel camera has the ability to cram 14 megapixels worth of detail into an image.
In other words, there will be more details apparent in the picture itself!
So, the real question then goes back to optical or digital zoom? It really doesn’t matter what the megapixel rating is. If you use digital zoom to enlarge a subject on a 10 megapixel camera, you’re just going to get a 10 MP, blurry image!
Do the same with an optical zoom though, and you’re going to get a breathtaking snapshot that will have all your friends amazed…
New Development – Smart Zoom
There’s been some new developments in zoom technology because SLR cameras are still a bit pricey. The new development is Smart Zoom!
Smart Zoom was invented by Sony (who are really focusing on the digital camera and DSLR industries). Smart zone is a type of digital zoom which doesn’t degrade the image quality because of zooming in on a portion. The caveat? You have to save your images as a size smaller than what you’re camera is calibrated for.
For instance, if you have a 10 MP camera, you have to save the images as 8 MP photos. What happens is your image saves at a smaller size, without the camera actually ‘re-enlarging’ the subject!
The Recommendation
If you want awesome digital cameras zoom, optical is the only way to go. Smart zoom is ok for lower priced models, but the only real way to get spectacular shots time and time again is to invest in a higher end SLR camera!
If you have a standard digital camera and are looking to squeeze the best images possible out of it, don’t rely on digital zoom. Wait until you upload your photos to your computer and use Photoshop or a similar software application to crop the images. It’ll save lots of degradation in your photos because your computer is naturally more powerful than your camera!
For more digital photography tips, tricks and training – make sure you check out the Classes in Photography Mini-Course available for free. All you need to do is add your name and email in the upper right of this page and you’ll get your first lesson immediately!
Classes In Photography
Photography isn’t one of those things that you’re just naturally good at. You might line up the pictures just right or have a knack for finding great moments that make amazing pictures in your mind – but capturing that on camera is a different story! You really need to take classes in photography to get good at it…
As we get more and more advanced, digital photography takes on a new shape. Now, not only do you have lenses and light to adjust, you have buttons and settings that you need to learn before you can really get started.
Short of attending a college course, it’s difficult to truly find great photography classes online. Sometimes, the educator is lacking in experience. Other times, the technology side isn’t up to par. Every once in a while though, you stumble upon some really great stuff!
This guide is going to teach you what to look for when you’re looking for your next online photography class! Beware: not all are made equal!
Classes In Photography Outline
The best digital photography courses you’re going to find online break things down into categories to make the learning a little more bite-size. Here are some of the categories you want to pay special attention to.
Fundamentals
This is a necessity. You have to have a fundamental digital photography course to fast track your photography success. These types of courses cover camera operation and complete explanations of how the photography processes work.
Light and Exposure
Another photography necessity is light and exposure. It doesn’t matter how good you are in Photoshop – your pictures will really get the boost they need if you understand lighting.
Now, there’s all sorts of light kits you can buy, but I highly recommend searching for a good tutorial on how to set up your lighting for the best effects.
Composition
Good composition is essential to great photography. Using the Rule of Thirds, Framing, Angle of View, and Balance, it’s possible to truly covey emotion through your digital photos.
You need to learn these simple tricks though! A good place to start is to pick a couple online photography classes..
Photoshop
The old standby, Photoshop. Sometimes I wonder what we’d be doing if we didn’t have Photoshop in our lives!
Adobe Photoshop is the single greatest software invention that photographers have ever seen. In it, you can do almost anything. You can make good photo great. You can adjust brightness, color and light levels at the touch of a button. It won’t turn bad pictures into great ones though!
With that being said, Photoshop will take you a while to learn. If you have 50 or so hours to go in and ‘play,’ be my guest. But if you’re looking for an efficient learning experience, find a class specific to photographers!
People/Nature/Specialty
Most of the courses I’ve been a part of have broken down specific photography disciplines into taking pictures of people, nature and specialty.
Each category has it’s own intricacies and best practices so it’s good to learn them individually!
Choose the right category!
When you’re looking for classes in photography, it’s important to know what you want in advance. If you’re a beginner, find something that fits your needs. If you know the basics of digital photography and need more advanced, landscape type courses – look for a specialty training site!
In our mini-course, we cover each of these topics and recommend where you can go to learn more. So if you find yourself interested in photographing people more than places, we’ll suggest your next course!
To sign up for the ‘Classes In Photography Mini-Course,’ just fill in your name and email in the right sidebar!
Digital Photography Accessories For Beginners
One of the beautiful things about being a photographer is all the digital photography accessories you can try out and play with! There’s no limit! Gear bags, lenses, tripods, remotes, flash kits, lighting… The list goes on and on!
What I’m going to do is list out what beginning photographers need to think about buying to make their lives (and careers) easier in the long run. Think of it as an accessory shopping list!
Digital Photography Accessories For Beginners
When you’re first picking out a camera, be in a standard digital camera or a DSLR, you’re going to need to think about picking up a few things like:
Camera Bag/Gear Bag
It almost goes without saying that if you’re going to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a piece of equipment, you’re going to need a bag or something protective to put it in! I’m not talking about a bookbag or a duffel bag. You want something with lots of padding and a ton of pockets.
If you’re buying an DSLR or a higer-end camera, you’re going to want to check out specialty bags that accomodate the digital SLR zoom lenses. Oftentimes, the bags will come with specialized pockets that you stick your lenses in, and then secure them to the sides of the bag. They’re really, really cool! And they save you from having to buy new lenses…
Tripod
You need a tripod. I don’t care what your friends say or what your Facebook buddies think – you need a tripod. Picking up a tripod is really pretty trivial. As long as you don’t purchase the cheapest model on the shelf, you’re good. It has to be adjustable with locking legs.
If you want to get fancier than that – be my guest!
SLR Remote
One of my favorite digital photography accessories is my SLR remote. The remote allows me to walk away from the camera (sitting on the tripod) and snap pictures. So, for photoshoots, you can mount your camera and walk around, snapping pictures the whole time! It really is cool!
Studio Lighting
If you’re interesting in turning your hobby into something more professional, you’re going to want to consider studio lighting. Anymore, you can make your own kits for relatively little money, or you can purchase something a bit more professional at little cost.
The lighting makes the difference between a good picture and an extraordinary picture though! Photoshop and other ‘photo touchup’ software can really only do so much in terms of making up for a lack of lighting.
Digital Slr Zoom Lenses
Last but not least, you’re going to need lenses. When If first started out, I just had a simple 24-70mm lens. It was fine to practice on and I did get some great shots, but I had to go bigger! You’ll have the same feelings about upgrading. When you’re out trying to take a picture of a duck swimming, and you just can’t get close enough without getting wet, you’ll be wishing for a lens upgrade!
Summary
What I’m going to do is actually devote entire articles to each of the above categories. It’ll help me gather my thoughts a bit better and it’ll help you choose which ones are best!
To stay updated, make sure you sign up for the Classes in Photography Mini-Course in the upper right sidebar! I’ll be able to keep in touch through there and you’ll get our free digital photography SLR mini-course!
Digital Photography SLR
If you want to take great photos, Digital Photography SLR is the only way to do it. There is absolutely no substitute to a great SLR camera and some photography know-how…
But in order to be good at digital photography, you have to understand some of the basics like what an SLR camera is, how it works, what makes great pictures… Things like that.
And the settings! Pick up a SLR camera for the first time and you’re head will get dizzy from all the different settings and buttons the things has! Don’t get me wrong, once you understand them you won’t be able to take pictures any other way – but getting to know them is the hard part!
In this article, I’m just going to walk you through digital photography and touch on what SLR cameras are and why they’re extremely important to a professional photographer. On the right, I’ve got a Classes In Photography mini-course all set up where we dive into this stuff deep!
Digital Photography Evolved
Very simply, digital photography is a form of taking photos using digital technology! Hard, huh? Previous to digital photography, we had film for the camera which ran out after 24 or so pictures. (Looking back, I can’t even imagine taking 10 rolls of film with me to shoot a sunset…)
Digital photographs can be manipulated easily, displayed through a variety of means, stored, transmitted and archived using computers and the Internet. They can appear on digital photo frames, sent through email or uploaded to Facebook. The digital photographs themselves can be altered and touched up easily with software like Adobe’s Photoshop.
Digital photography is technically a form of digital imaging; like scanners and radio telescopes. We don’t think of them that way though!
The quality of digital photography lies in the pixel count. Pixel counts, or megapixels (millions of pixels) is only one of the mojor factors, but it’s the most heavily marketed. I’m sure the last time you bought a camera, you were sold on the number of megapixels, right?
What digital camera manufacturers don’t want you to know though is that megapixels aren’t a major factor in evaluating a digital camera! The processing system inside the camera that turns the rax data into a color balanced photograph is! That’s why some of the low-megapixel cameras produce the highest quality photos and are so expensive!
Some other things to consider about digital cameras are the lens quality, capture medium, capture format and processing format. I’m going to save the detailed explanation of each of these to other articles on the site and the free mini-course, but you get the idea!
Digital Photography SLR Explained
SLR stands for ‘single lens refrex.’ An SLR camera uses one semi-automatic moving mirror which allows the photographer to see exactly what will be captured. Focus can be adjusted manually by the photographer or automatically by an autofocus system.
A Digital SLR (DSLR) is a digital camera that uses a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera. DSLRs are prefferred by professional still photographers because they allow an accurate preview of framing close to the moment of capture. They also allow for the phographer to change lenses which is great for a huge variety of shots from a single camera!
If you’re interested in a complete look at SLR and DSLR cameras, including their history, just click the links!
Summary
There is so much information I want to give you on digital photography SLR techniques! There’s only so much space in this article though! The short, summary is digital photography is going to be the default standard from this point forward. Digital camera quality is getting better and better as technology improves, and prices are coming way down!
If you want to take amazing photographs, you’re going to want to pick up a DSLR camera as quickly as possible. Prices have dropped considerably and you’ll be able to pick one up for $300-500 almost anywhere now. The key is to just do it. Get started playing with the camera. And sign up for our Classes In Photography mini-course! In the course, we expose some buying secrets, photography tips and software tutorials that we created just for you!
