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Terima kasih kpd pengunjung2 sekalian. Today's post is about digital camera, just wanna share some facts, review, tips and tricks or whatsoever you name it, about digital photography. Once I was introduced to digital photography, like most people, I interested in photo resolution. Generally, I used to think that the higher photo resolution, the better image quality. Yes, this's indeed true, but there's many other major contributing factors that determined photo quality. (I'm not talking about photography techniques here, just merely my perception about photo image quality). Despite reading all the internet reviews and facts, I've also done some testing on my camera to test all the theories.

i'd better put this into points, just to make it clear.

Image Resolution

Like I said before, the higher, the better. Think of tiny dots that fill up a space. Assuming a contant density, wider space means that more dots can be put in it, or more information can be pack together. So, we can generally say that a 9M resolution can hold more information or photo details compared to 5M. Personally, 5M might be enough for average criteria for a normal 6"x4" photo printing or maybe up to A4 size. Here's some guidlines about this:

# If I’m not mistaken.

Image Sensor Processor

Currently, there are two main type of processor; CCD (charged coupled device) and CMOS (Complimentary metal oxide semiconductor). It’s a very wide subject, refer to http://www.dalsa.com/markets/ccd_vs_cmos.asp. Well, generally putting aside all the technical content, most high-ended camera generally used cmos processing rather than ccd. To some extend, I can deduce 2 main equations:

CCD = not high end camera = lower cost

CMOS = high ended camera = higher cost

However, the truth is I don’t know. I hope my next years in electrical, electronic engineering course will help me to understand more about this.

ISO Speed

Refering to Wiki’s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed, ISO speed is also known as the film speed or the measure image sensor sensitivity to light. Less ISO means lower light sensitivity, thus requiring more exposure. Generally, you can take more “static” photo using higher ISO. But, implementing quantum mechanics here (haha poyo, aku tak tahu pon), high ISO will produce more grainy image. From what I understand, it’s like light passing through tiny fringes. Some nodes will be packed with photons, while the antinodes won’t. (if I’m not mistaken as I left physics long time ago). Thus, using higher ISO might solve “washed-out photo”, but at the same time producing noises to the image.

Type of Digital Camera

There’s no yes or no for this, the type of digicam depends on your usage. For simple photography, you might want to choose compact digicam with most aoutomation, or better known as point-and-shoot camera. The operation is pretty intuitive; just point your camera for focusing and shoot to take that photo. However, as the name suggest, full automation might prevent you to shoot pics in difficult situations. Generally, it’s quite hard to well-exposed image for low-light condition or at night, especially using low ISO and less powerful flash EV. This can also make your images to be “washed-out,” in which the background will be less illuminated.

The most high-ended digital camera is DSLR type (digital single lens reflex). The construction of this type is entirely different that point-and-shoot camera, and definitely it’s not for novice and lost lots more. Personally, I couldn’t afford to buy DSLR although working in the summer might help me to get some money. But, I’m just too lazy. Lol… With DSLR, you can generally have higher ISO image, faster shutter speed, and better image quality.

There’re other non-SLR cameras which designed for semi-pro users, which offers extra features like high-zoom (telephoto) and manual controls like SLR. But, definitely these cameras won’t match SLR. I used to have Kodak Z740, a high-zoom camera. It might be quite hard to focus at telephoto range and lowlight conditions, but it’s has been a great camera for its price. Unluckily, it was stolen. Pretty bad aye…

Other factors

There’s lots of contributing factors, but what I’ve mention previous is more important (I believe). Yea, you know... things like memory type etc…

Maybe in my next post, I’ll show you some of my photos for ISO vs noise production comparison.

// posted by . . . @ 3:31 AM