Posts Tagged ‘DSLRS’

What is Crop Factor?

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Sometimes when reading photography articles or camera reviews, you may find that they refer to 'crop factor'. Crop factor is only really relevant to interchangeable lens cameras, but it is worth understanding what crop factor means.

Crop factor all comes down to the fact that most digital cameras use a smaller image sensor size than a frame of 35mm film. Where this comes into play is (primarily) when looking at lens focal lengths.

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The 5 piece “ready for anything” camera kit

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Sometimes when we take our camera out with us, we have in mind quite specifically what we want to capture, and so can plan the kit we take accordingly. But other times we might just go out on a walk with the intent to take photos of anything we find interesting.

Similarly, when packing for a holiday, we need to take the equipment that will be most useful in the majority of situations. There is no point in carrying heavy gear around with you if it's not going to get much use.

So, here is my suggestion for the 5 piece "ready for anything" camera kit. With this kit you should be able to get pretty good photos of almost anything you come across, and be ready for the large majority of photographic situations. Other than the tripod, it won't take up too much room or weigh you down too much as well.

The 5 piece "ready for anything" camera kit - tripod, flash, camera, general zoom lens, fast prime lens

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

July 29th, 2012 at 9:29 am

Lens mounts and interchangeable lenses

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If you are considering purchasing a camera that accepts interchangeable lenses, you need to be aware of compatibility issues. Buying a camera and lens and then finding they don't work properly together could be quite annoying.

It is also important to remember that when you buy into a camera that offers interchangeable lenses, you are buying into a system. So you need to consider carefully the range of lenses available in that system.

In this article we'll look at the different compatibility issues you might come across, and also how some cameras can be used with a wider range of lenses via adapters.

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Optical Viewfinders (OVFs) vs. Electronic Viewfinders (EVFs)

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In recent years, as technology has improved, more cameras are being released with Electronic Viewfinders (EVFs). In this article we'll look at the differences between EVFs and the traditional optical viewfinder, and the benefits and disadvantages of EVFs.

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

May 21st, 2012 at 10:40 am

About Zoom Lenses

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Most compact cameras come fitted with built-in zoom lenses, and interchangeable lens cameras often come with a zoom lens bundled as part of the package. So what are the advantages of zoom lenses, and are there any potential problems to look out for?

Zoom Lenses Explained

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

April 27th, 2012 at 8:28 am

What is RAW image format?

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Virtually all cameras will have a menu option that lets you choose the quality and size that images are saved at. On most higher end cameras (DSLRs, MILCs, and some Bridge cameras), along with various JPEG options, they will also have an option to save in RAW.

RAW image quality setting in camera menu

RAW is an image format that records the data from the camera sensor, and doesn't apply any manipulation (or only applies a minimal amount of manipulation) to this data. The camera also saves the sharpening, saturation, etc settings in the file, but does not apply them.

You then use a RAW conversion program on your computer to convert the RAW into a JPEG or TIFF file. As part of the RAW conversion process, you can use the settings saved in the file, or you can change the settings.

JPEG meanwhile, has all the sharpening, saturation, etc. settings applied in camera, which means you can't easily change or undo these settings later.

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Why Use RAW Image Format?

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Author: Peter Timko

The Canon 7D has a unique feature that I really appreciate; it will let you shoot photos as both a JPEG and RAW image with a single push of the button.  Doing so means pictures are taking up much more room on your storage card but it's worth the extra space.  On some camera models that would also mean slower write times to the storage card, but the 7D has two internal computers to handle that chore so write speed is not an issue.

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