That is not false humility. It seems with every passing “serious job” I do, I realize how far I have to go. Sure, I took some pretty shots, but there were so many shots that I looked at and thought, “Hmph, that one was almost good.”
Tag: noise
I think we are finally seeing the end to the megapixel wars…though I think we will still have some megapixel regional conflicts for many years to come. For years, few people have thought about sensor size, image quality, high ISO noise, or any other issues before they found out the number of megapixels of the newest and greatest cameras.
I give the biggest kudos possible to Nikon for “writing the peace treaty” in the megapixel wars by coming out with the 12MP D300, D700, and D3. As is seen by the number of pros using these cameras, many people are more concerned with other features like shooting speed and high ISO noise. Now, I can add Canon to the list of enlightened camera makers by making their new top of the line compact camera less megapixels than the last generation of the same camera! Sweet.
Not too long ago, I was reading a great blog entry from a seasoned pro (though somehow I cannot find it again to give him credit and a link), and a little something he mentioned which “they used to do in the old days” sounded just like a trick I use. Evidently, I am not the first person to come up with this idea, but at least it made me feel a little more normal.
Maybe you have the same problem I do. You do not have the Nikon D3 or the Canon 5D or some other full-frame, no-noise wonder, and moving your ISO up just a little turns your image into static. Do you want to keep image quality at its best (or pretty close) and stop sacrificing your pictures to the ISO noise gods? Here is what I do.
Why should we even care if our camera shutter is loud or not? What is the benefit of a quiet shutter? Well, it all depends on your shooting style as to whether is makes a difference or not. Ok, that is not totally true. Let me say it this way, some people care, some people do not. Here are the issues as I see them, though.
Following a comment on a post of mine a few days ago, I have been thinking about shutter noise. I unashamedly like quiet and I really notice when a camera is not quiet, even though that statement is quite relative. I was all excited to see the Sony a900 (this is the camera that brought up the topic in the first place) in the store and I picked it up to give it a few test shots. Ergonomics, handling, buttons: good. Style: very Sony-ish, but I like it (I like it more than the other Sonys). Then, I pressed the shutter release. KER-PLUNCK! Holy cow! That sound alone would take lots of great features and a very low price for me to actually think about buying one.
I went through a process just recently that I see as one of the most common questions asked: “What camera do I buy?” In the last entry, I happened to have answered the same question, but for people looking at entry-level SLRs. This time, I am talking only of compact or point-and-shoot cameras. Of course, we all want something a little different, but I will try to keep this to what I would consider the essentials.
So, that is the first question. What is essential in a compact camera? Honestly, all we wanted was something small to do videos of our children since I am already carrying around my camera for the photographs. I think we can safely put the video issue aside, though, because almost all compact cameras take the same quality of video. What is the most important part of any camera? Image quality.
My search was to find the best compact camera possible, but not to pay a huge price for it. My research labors where not in vain.