Photography Tips (Page 33)

The levels tool is similar to the curves tool, in that it allows you adjust the brightness / darkness and color of the tones in your photos. Levels is slightly simpler than curves in that it only allows you to adjust the black point, white point, and mid point, whereas curves will let you adjust those and any point in between.

For this article, I'll be using the levels tool in Photoshop CS5, but the levels tool in Photoshop Elements, Paintshop Pro, GIMP, etc. are all very similar.

If you want to follow along with the examples in this article, you can download the images used here: image-1.jpg image-2.jpg

In this final part on the different types of digital camera that are available, I'll cover Medium format, Rangefinders, and Scanning backs. These tend to be quite niche products, as well as being expensive, so I'll only cover them quite briefly. And although they're not digital, I also wanted to add a note on film cameras, which is at the bottom of this article.

Finally we come to this special breed of compact cameras, that are essentially a MILC but without the ability to change lenses. These cameras feature larger sensors, as found in MILCs and DSLRs. Because of the much larger sensor size, these cameras tend to be quite expensive, sometimes even more expensive than a basic DSLR with lens.

The Fuji X100s large sensor compact camera

Superzoom compacts

Although I have included them as 'compacts', superzoom cameras are not particularly compact, but you can probably fit one in a large jacket pocket. These cameras are similar to advanced compacts, except they feature zoom lenses that cover a massive range.

Sony HX100V Superzoom (center right) size compared to the Panasonic LX-5 advanced compact camera (center left), Casio EX-ZS10 basic compact camera (left), and the Canon Rebel T3 DSLR camera (right)

Modern superzooms can often have a zoom range between wide-angle, starting at around 24mm to 28mm, all the way up to around 500mm to 800mm super-telephoto. When you consider the size and weight (not to mention the cost) of lenses to cover the equivalent zoom range for a DSLR, Superzooms are definitely compact.

Advanced compact cameras, sometimes known as 'bridge' cameras (as they are a bridge between basic compact cameras and more advanced DSLRs), are largely the same as basic compact cameras, but with some important differences.

Panasonic LX-5 advanced compact camera (center) size compared to the Casio EX-ZS10 basic compact camera (left), and the Canon Rebel T3 DSLR camera (right)

They usually retain the small size of most basic compacts, though they may be slightly larger, but still small enough to fit in most pockets. They usually have a slightly larger sensor than the most basic compacts, but still quite small compared to MILCs and DSLRs.

There are a wide range of compact cameras with fixed (not interchangeable) lenses, they can broadly be classified into four groups - Basic, Advanced, Superzoom, and Large sensor compacts. I'll start by covering the basic compacts. I'll look at their quirks and how they compare to other cameras, what types of photography they're particularly good for, and what they're not so good for.

This article is part of a series on the various different types of cameras available today.

DSLRs

DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. The 'Single Lens' part of the name refers to the fact that the viewfinder looks through the same lens that is used to take the photo (as opposed to a TLR).

The 'Reflex' part of the name meanwhile, refers to the mirror that is used to reflect the light up into the camera's viewfinder. (Actually, the light is reflected up into a pentaprism, which then reflects the light into the viewfinder - the pentaprism is what causes the viewfinder hump on DSLR bodies).

Normally the mirror is in front of the camera's sensor, but when you press the shutter button the mirror flips up out of the way, so that the sensor can be exposed. When this happens, no light can be reflected into the viewfinder, which is known as viewfinder blackout.

In recent years, the choice in camera models has become much greater, with some completely new types of camera being released. With all the different types of camera, and the different names used to describe them, it can be a bit confusing. In the next series of articles I'll try and clear this up a bit, as well as listing the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

This composite photo shows the relative scale of a Nikon D3100 DSLR (left), Panasonic GX1 MILC (bottom right), and Panasonic ZS9 Compact camera (top right).

MILCs

MILC stands for Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera, and they are a cross between a compact camera and an SLR. MILCs (with the exception of the Pentax Q and Nikon 1 models) feature the large sensor and ability to change lenses of a DSLR camera, while lacking the DSLR's mirror, which allows a much smaller body size.

They are also known as Mirrorless cameras, ILCs (Interchangeable Lens Compacts), EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) and CSCs (Compact System Cameras). As these types of cameras are relatively new, a standard name has not yet won out in terms of usage.

At the start of a new year many of us often make New Year's Resolutions to improve our lives. Here are a suggestion of 5 resolutions you may want to make to improve your photography:

Got a new camera and wondering how all those different camera settings should be set for the best results? The good news is that just about all modern cameras will work resonably well with the settings set as they are straight out of the box. However, to really get the most from your camera, there are a few settings you should pay attention to.

In this article I'll cover the different settings for getting the best results. The settings available and setting locations in your camera's menu will vary between camera models, if you're not sure how to change a setting, check your camera's manual, or do a quick google search with the setting you want to change and your camera's model name.