Simple Full-size

For some casual snapshooters, size is really no object.  In terms of usage, these users might use a camera very similarly to how they’d use a simple ultracompact – snapping a photo or two at social events, or taking casual photos around the house or room.  In contrast to a simple ultracompact, a simple full-size camera doesn’t have portability as its main concern; you probably won’t be able to stuff it in your jeans pocket, and it might even require its own bag.  Instead, the larger formfactor of a simple full-size camera often allows for better overall image quality.

Simple Full-size, premium: Pentax K-x with 18-55mm lens

If size doesn’t matter and your budget reaches up to $500 or so, your best bet is a basic DSLR camera that provides superb image quality and quick response times that simply blow away anything you can find on a small-sensor compact or bridge camera, especially in low-light situations. While more advanced photographers appreciate them for their interchangeable lenses and manual controls, all of them still have fully automatic modes for simple point-and-shoot use.

The Pentax K-x is Pentax’s entry-level DSLR, but you wouldn’t know it based on its featureset and image quality.  While priced in the same sub-$500 range as Canon’s Rebel XS and Nikon’s D3000, the Pentax K-x’s plethora of features rival many midrange DSLRs, with fast-firing 5fps continuous shooting, sensor-based image stabilization that works with any lens, expansive 11-point autofocus system, and even 720p HD video. Image quality on the K-x, especially in low-light situations, is a bit better than the Rebel XS, and both easily outclass the Nikon D3000.

• 12MP resolution
• 27-83mm (3x) zoom range
• f/3.5-5.6 aperture
• 1280×720, 24fps video
• Sensor-based Image stabilization
• 516g (18.2oz) – not including lens
• 122.0 x 91 x 69.0 mm (4.89 x 3.6 x 2.7 in) – not including lens
• 420 shots battery life (CIPA)
• $490 on Amazon

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We’re nearing the holiday shopping season once again, so as an exercise to familiarize myself with all the product lines out there (a lot has changed in the 17 months since I did the last one) and to provide a one-stop quick read for digital camera recommendations, here are recommendations for cameras that run the gamut of common use-cases and prices.

All prices are based on the lowest of amazon.com or bhphotovideo.com

Have you got a use case/need that isn’t covered here?  Feel free to post it in the comments, and I’ll keep it in mind for future guides (or maybe update this guide, if there’s a glaring omission in a category).  And if you think differently about any of the cameras, feel free to share that too!

General advice:

To give you all an idea of the perspective these recommendations are written from, here are a few guidelines I mostly go by:

Features trump image quality: With modern cameras, many image quality differences are mostly a consideration of the past.  Almost every camera released today has megapixel resolution far in excess of what’s needed (or even usable) for the majority of applications (like making a 4×6″ print, uploading to Facebook, or even displaying full-size on the biggest computer monitor or LCD screen you can buy), and in most daylight scenarios there is practically zero difference between cameras, especially among the top tier of manufacturers.  The main differentiator in your photographic experience and capability is what features you’ll have to work with – being able to take a wide shot with a 28mm wide-angle lens, or having a fast 5fps continuous shooting mode for action shots, for instance, is going to go a long way towards getting you the photographs you want, compared to minute differences in image quality or resolution.

Price/performance: The recommendations for different categories will mostly recommend the camera with the best value proposition – a lot of these are often written in the format of: Best budget camera under $200, best midrange camera under $300, best premium camera under $500, etc. While oftentimes, yes it’s true that Camera Xa has a slightly bigger LCD screen than Camera Xb and is therefore better, and the $50 premium still puts it under the $300 budget, as a knowledgeable consumer you wouldn’t want to spend that much more on a mostly cosmetic difference, and as an informed friend you would do best by recommending Camera Xb to your friend.

Simple Ultracompact

For many people, cameras are just cameras, and all they need is something that, for lack of a less-hackneyed phrase, they can “point and shoot”.  They’re not interested in photography and don’t need nor want full manual controls, and can make do without a huge zoom range.  They’ll take snaps while they’re out at social events or just randomly at home or in their room, but that’s about it.  For this group there’s thesimple ultracompact – a basic camera that has a few useful features (wide-angle lenses for photos in restricted interior space – group photos at a restaurant, for example – and image stabilization for low-light situations) but otherwise just provides good overall quality and a small formfactor that can be taken just about anywhere.

Simple Ultracompact, midrange: Canon SD3500 IS

For years, Canon’s iconic SD line has been the quintessential ultracompact point and shoot, and their popularity has good reason: they deliver solid image quality, decent featureset, no-frills point-and-shoot control, and aren’t overly expensive.  The SD3500 is one of the better featured packages available, providing a 5x lens with extremely versatile 24mm wide-angle (perfect for taking photos indoors and getting everything in the frame), 720p HD video resolution, and the increasingly common image stabilized lens.

• 14MP resolution
• 24-120mm (5x) zoom range
• f/2.8-5.9 aperture
• 1280×720, 30fps video (720p)
• Lens-based Image stabilization
• 160g (5.6oz)
• 99 x 56 x 22 mm (3.9 x 2.2 x 0.9 in)
• 220 shots battery life (CIPA)
• $249 on Amazon

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The Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 VC - currently one of only two f/2.8 midrange zoom lenses on the market, and the only one under a grand ($650 to be exact)

When it comes to midrange lenses, there’s a few different approaches. Of course, a lot of people start at the low end with an 18-55mm kit or so, but eventually most people graduate and there are pretty much two ways to go:

1. A small range, high-quality, high-aperture zoom.
2. A large range ultrazoom with (usually) lower quality and smaller aperture

One of the advantages where ultrazooms seemed to gain the leg-up on large aperture zooms was in the image stabilization department, where nearly every single ultrazoom lens does, but up until recently only one large aperture crop lens (Canon’s $1000+ 17-55mm f/2.8 IS) did.

That left just one (very expensive) option for Canon users, and Nikon users completely out in the cold (they pay $1300 for a 17-55 f/2.8 without VR). Third party manufacturers, have as always had cheaper alternatives, such as Sigma’s 18-50mm f/2.8 and Tokina’s 16-50mm f/2.8, but all of these lacked any sort of stabilization as well.

Now finally, Tamron has gone ahead and introduced their VC stabilization to their flagship crop standard zoom, the 17-50mm f/2.8 (or rather, Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II VC LD Aspherical [IF]), which finally delivers a large aperture, image-stabilized standard zoom for an affordable price ($650 currently).

It’s only knock is that it doesn’t yet have the fast USM or SWM-based autofocus of the Canon or Nikon models, although it’s a feature I’ve long-regarded as over-rated for standard zooms for most people’s actions.

I get a lot of questions all the time about which camera to buy, and most of the time I don’t quite have the time to respond to all of them, so I’ve decided I’d start a regular camera guide feature.  These aren’t in-depth rationales or anything, just quick summaries that tell you, unequivocally, which is the best of the best; I also write digital camera recommendations for a site called bestinclass.com – I might recommend visiting there if you’re looking for more in-depth analyses and comparisons.

Digital cameras don’t come out all that often, so this may be a quarterly guide.  This also may not reflect the very cutting edge – it takes a little while for reviews for the newest cameras to come in, and it’s impossible to really assess the cameras until they do.

All prices based on the lowest of amazon.com or bhphotovideo.com

Have you got a use case/need that isn’t covered here?  Feel free to post it in the comments, and I’ll keep it in mind for future guides.  And if you think differently about any of the cameras, feel free to share that too!

General advice:

To give you all an idea of the perspective these recommendations are written from, here’s a few guidelines I mostly go by:

Features trump image quality: With modern cameras, image quality differences are mostly a consideration of the past.  Almost every camera released today has megapixel resolution far in excess of what’s needed (or even usable) for most applications, and in most daylight scenarios there is practically zero difference between cameras, especially among the top tier of manufacturers.  The main differentiator in your photographic experience and capability, then, is what features you’ll have to work with – being able to take a wide shot with a 28mm wide-angle lens, or having a fast 4fps continuous shooting mode for action shots, for instance, is going to go a long way towards getting you the photographs you want compared to minute differences in image quality or resolution.

Price/performance: The recommendations for different categories will mostly recommend the camera with the best value proposition – a lot of these are often written in the format of: Best budget camera under $200, best midrange camera under $300, best premium camera under $500, etc. While oftentimes, yes it’s true that Camera Xa has a slightly bigger LCD screen than Camera Xb and is therefore better, and the $50 premium still puts it under the $300 budget, as a knowledgeable consumer you wouldn’t want to spend that much more on a mostly cosmetic difference, and as an informed friend you would do best by recommending Camera Xb to your friend.

Simple Ultracompact

For many people, cameras are just cameras, and all they need is something that, for lack of a less-hackneyed phrase, they can “point and shoot”.  They’re not interested in photography and don’t need nor want full manual controls, and rarely would use and can make do without a huge zoom range.  They’ll take snaps while they’re out at social events or just randomly at home or in their room, but that’s about it.  For this group there’s the simple ultracompact – a basic camera that has a few useful features (possibly wide-angle lenses for indoor group photos and image stabilization for low-light situations) but otherwise just provides good overall quality and a small formfactor that can be slipped just about anywhere.

Simple Ultracompact, midrange: Canon SD960

A plethora of Canon, Panasonic, and Fujifilm cameras rule the roost in the ultracompact category, all roaming around the $300 range.  For a little less than $300, Canon’s SD960 puts together the best combination of image quality and features, with a 28mm wide-angle, image stabilization, and even 1280×720 (720p) video capability.

• 12MP resolution
• 28-112mm (4x) zoom range
• f/2.8-5.8 aperture
• 1280×720, 30fps video (720p)
• Image stabilization
• 145g (5.1oz)
• 99.1 x 53.3 x 22.9 mm (3.9 x 2.1 x 0.9 in)
• 200 shots battery life (CIPA)
• $281 on Amazon

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Interested in getting a preview of what’s coming up on this blog?  I’ve created a new page to keep track of posts-in-progress.  If you’ve got anything you want covered, feel free to leave any suggestions in the comments.

http://shuttersounds.thedailynathan.com/upcoming-posts/

Eee, guess I didn’t stick to my end-of-semester resolution to start posting like a madman to keep up with all the news I missed.  Maybe I’ll have a bit of free time and a sudden rush of creativity.

But some news items that may be of interest to readers of this blog:

Spring 2009 Digital Photography Decal

Regular class: Thursdays 5-7pm, 293 Cory
New more advanced class: Thursdays 7-9pm, 293 Cory
Mandatory intro meeting: Thursday 2009 January 29 6pm, 293 Cory (email if you can’t make it)

I’ll be teaching my Digital Photo Decal class once again.  It’s now running into its fourth semester, and as always there are a handful of tweaks and changes.  I’ll be reverting to a format similar to the second version of this class taught in Spring 2008 – both the photo review and lecture parts will be combined into one big two hour block that I’ll teach, rather than splitting up into a big lecture + multiple smaller discussions led by others.  Hopefully I’ll get to know the students a lot better than I did last semester, and I think I’ll also be able to offer a much more technical (rather than aesthetic or artistic) analysis of the students’ photos, which is probably one of the unique things about this course that students won’t get elsewhere.

In addition, I’m also adding a new course, which I’ve titled “Advanced Applications” (the old “Advanced” course is retitled “Advanced Theory”).  It’s meant as sort of the next step beyond the original course, and will be much more student-driven.  The format’s partially based on an E24 freshman seminar I took with Professor Jeffrey Bokor, where each week the lecture will be a student presentation on a topic of their choosing.  E24 was all about consumer electronics technology (guess what type of device I did my presentation on? =D).  So what we end up learning/discussing will largely depend on the students, but we’ll definitely end up covering topics such as cataloging/processing workflow, usage of ultrawide lenses, image equivalency across formats.

Anyhow, the regular (“Advanced Theory”) class will be held Thursdays 5-7pm in 293 Cory.  The new, more advanced class will be Thursdays 7-9pm in 293 Cory (I’ll play around with the format – this may end up finishing by 8:30 most nights).  If you’re interested, shoot me an email, or otherwise come to the mandatory introductory meeting on Thursday 2009 January 29 at 6pm in 293 Cory.

Applications for the Daily Californian photo department

With every semester comes a bit of turnover, so the Daily Cal does in fact hire for the spring semester as well.  You can find the application page for the Daily Cal at http://apply.dailycal.org/

For any of you even mildly interested in improving your photography, I’d highly recommend applying to join the Daily Cal.  If nothing else, it’s a fantastic opportunity to get yourself out there shooting on a regular basis, which is really the best and only way to improve.  In addition, working for a paper, you end up getting sent out on assignment to cover events or subjects you’d never hear or think of (like, admittedly, 2008 election night results party and aftermath), or never have access to (like getting close enough to touch Natalie Portman!), which in the long run will help you build a much more diverse and photogenic portfolio than if you spend your days choosing your own photo adventures and end up with hundreds of street photography hoboes, portraits of friends, and various travel landscapes.

You also get a chance to use some of the higher end equipment (big telephotos, fast sports bodies, and flashes) that most people probably wouldn’t get a chance to play around with otherwise.  Most of all, it’s a great place to meet other photographers, many of whom are superbly talented, knowledgeable, and willing to teach.

The recruitment meeting for Spring 2009 will be taking place this Friday at 4pm on the 6th floor in Eshleman Hall (that building on Lower Sproul Plaza that has “DAILY CALIFORNIAN” on the windows.  http://apply.dailycal.org/recruitment.php

The application for editorial positions (photogs, writers, designers, etc.) can be found here: http://apply.dailycal.org/applications/Spring2009EditorialApplication.pdf

You’ll basically need a cover letter, resume, and some sample photos for the application, which is due the second Friday of classes (January 30th).

Interesting thing that DPReview is doing for this holiday season – large “group” head-to-head tests.  I’m not so sure I like the format necessarilly – I miss the in-depth reviews of each camera that also analyzed things such as shutter lag, autofocus, and styling/controls.  Nonetheless, it’s refreshing to see them looking at compacts again, which the site has basically ignored for the last year+.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q408slimgroup/

Some interesting results – these aren’t really the cameras I would have looked at, but perhaps they can tell you about the quality and image processing from other cameras of the same manufacturer.

The main thought I have on this is that Panasonic has come a long, long way from being a small bit player in the market.  They’ve long dominated in featureset, and they do so again here, with the only 25-125mm camera in the set (the only camera wider than 33mm even). Interestingly enough they’ve seem to be addressing their Acchile’s Heel – low-light high-ISO performance – fairly well these days.  To me, the ISO1600 outdoor night shots are a bit above Sony’s and right behind Canon’s, and in the indoor case it actually exceeds Canon is arguably the best.  Interestingly enough, the daytime tests are way below best-in-class for Panasonic, which seems to say either the lens isn’t that good (which would mark a pretty big drop off from previous cameras) or the sensor isn’t great, as it’s always been, but some software wizardry is going on which is what gives us the improved noise performance.

Haven’t updated this in awhile – I’ve been fairly busy with work and school.  A couple of nights ago was the United States 2008 election, which resulted in a fair bit of excitement here in Berkeley.  I covered a portion of it, mostly the results viewing and reaction later on in the night.

Some interesting “Making the Shot” posts to come, including on the front page photo here, which was a mess color and noise-wise previous to processing.

But with the right tools, photos can still end up looking fantastic despite being shot at IS6400 and cropped to 6MP.

In the meantime, check out some of the slideshows on the Daily Cal website for more photos by our fine photography staff.

http://www.dailycal.org/mediabox.php?id=227&type=slideshow
http://www.dailycal.org/mediabox.php?id=226&type=slideshow
http://www.dailycal.org/mediabox.php?id=225&type=slideshow
http://www.dailycal.org/mediabox.php?id=224&type=slideshow

 

The Canon Superteles

As with all the other manufacturers, the pride and joy and “flagship” lenses of a lens manufacturer are its supertelephotos.  Say what you will about the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 or Canon’s 50mm f/1.2 – when it comes down to it, it’s the 300 f/2.8 IS’s or 400 f/2.8 VR’s of the world (or maybe the 200-500 f/2.8’s in Sigma’s case) that companies tout and wear on their chests like badges of honor.

A dpreview forum member, Juza_EA, who runs www.juzaphoto.com, a fantastic site with great technical insights and some sweet nature photography, recently posted up a lens test comparing the great Canon telephotos extended to the ultra-telephoto range (he tests 800mm, 1200mm, and 1600mm on a Canon 1Ds Mark III).

Direct test link here.

Lenses tested:

Canon 200 f/1.8
Canon 300 f/2.8 IS
Canon 400 f/2.8 IS
Canon 400 f/4 DO IS
Canon 600 f/4 IS
Canon 800 f/5.6 IS 

The lenses were combined with appropriate mix of 1.4x and 2x teleconverters to come up with the 800, 1200, and 1600mm focal lengths.
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The Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com) today posted up the first in a series of interviews with execs at Photokina 2008.  The first one up is Samsung’s VP of digital camera marketing, Choong-hyun Hwang.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0810/08100102_samsunginterview.asp

Given that these are business execs and it’s a business/consumer expo, the questions and responses here are a bit guarded and generic, but it still provides some neat insights into business strategies and where the future is going, in each company’s view.  Maybe they’ll have snagged down a real engineer for some of the other company interviews.