Digital Photo FAQ

I have decided to compile this FAQ as many friends are asking for digital camera tips. I am not a photography expert, please refer to the links in the last questions for well known expert DP sites.

You can have a look at some of my favourite photographs.

Why digital?

The most important feature a digital camera offers over film equivalents is economy. This is translated as: zero cost per photograph (only storage costs), costless distribution, and selective printing.

2, 3, 4, 5, 11 Megapixels?

Depends on budget and intended use. As far as it concerns printing, for 10x15 photo prints I cannot see the difference between a 2Mpixel and a higher resolution picture. For magnified prints, eg. A4 size, I cannot see the difference for a 3Mpixel and a better resolution. Moore's law applies: expect every year to buy higher resolution for the same money.

Add-on thanks to Manolis Labrakis:
For printing in photographic paper (at workshop with minilab!) at 300 dpi:

Print size (cm)	Resolution	Approximate pel count
9 x 13	1050 x 1575	1,6 Mpel
10 x 15	1180 x 1770	2,0 Mpel
13 x 18	1535 x 2125	3,3 Mpel
20 x 30	2360 x 3540	8,3 Mpel
30 x 45	3540 x 5310	18,0 Mpel
50 x 75	5900 x 8850	52,0 Mpel

However, this does not mean that a picture of lower resolution won't print acceptably. For instance, with 4.0 Megapixels even 30x45 is possible, yet with a small decline in quality (comes out just a little blurry).

My experience: At 10x15 2Mpixels and 5Mpixels look identical. At 20x30 5Mpixels look fabulous, with just a liiiiiittle blurriness, but you need a magnifying glass to see it.

Thanks Manoli!

2x, 3x, 10x zoom?

I talk about optical zoom of course, digital zoom is just marketing. I do not use the zoom for telephoto, only for cropping useless objects out of the frame. So 3x zoom is satisfactory for me.

Anything else worth noting?

Battery life! It is of utmost importance in digital cameras. Current technology offers affordable Li-Ion rechargeable batteries. Before buying check the specs and read some reviews, if you don't want to carry a backpack of battery replacements all the time.

What features are most important?

Following is my order of importance for the digital camera features:

1. Optics, lens quality.

2. Manual exposure, shutter speed and focus control.

3. Battery life.

4. Resolution.

5. Zoom.

All other bells and whistles are not interesting for me, although many people appreciate the video capture capability offered by most modern models.

Where to buy?

Japan and US are expensive if you calculate the VAT. Best deals for new models in Europe are in Central Europe: Germany, France, Netherlands, etc. Some links offering price comparison (in german):

guenstiger.de

zdnet.de

Any useful Digital Photography links?

imaging-resource.com

dpreview.com

steves-digicams.com

dcresource.com