Click!: The No Nonsense Guide to Digital Cameras

226 Pages·2003·7.95 MB·english

by  Ron White

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Hello
Think of us as a blue plate special with a slice o’ pie to boot. Meaty, dependable,
and affordable for all. We thought to ourselves: take a big helping of thoughtful
guidance and add a side of straightforward instruction and you’d have a start on
a pretty good book. Offer it all for less than the price of a couple of movie tickets,
and you’d have a great book. In fact, you’ve got that book in your hands.
Each book in this series of introductory guides isolates one application or topic
and aims to get you exploring it quickly and effectively. They’re action-based,
non-comprehensive, and not filled with a lot of idle chat because our goal is to
get users using. Our books are for those who do not accept the premise that if
you don’t already know, you must be a dummy or an idiot. We believe in using
computers todothings, not doing things to use computers. Your computer
should make your life better, not more complicated. And the truth is, despite the
ease of use offered by today’s computers, users often need a bridge to help them
navigate the digital world. They need a real-world guide and they need it with
no nonsense.
You’ll be surprised how far you can go in 200 or so pages. Take a look at the
Table of Contents to see what we mean. Simple and straightforward—the way
using a computer should be. And that’s the way each book in this series works.
Inside each of these handy books are the essentials of each topic—everything
you need to know to get up and running.
Thanks for picking up our books, and drop us a line with your comments.
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Click!
no nonsense
the guide to
Digital Cameras
Ron White
/Osborne
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Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City
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Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto
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McGraw-Hill/Osborne
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Toarrangebulkpurchasediscountsforsalespromotions,premiums,orfund-raisers,please
contactMcGraw-Hill/Osborneattheaboveaddress.Forinformationontranslationsor
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precedingtheAcknowledgments.
Copyright©2003byRonWhite.Allrightsreserved.PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
ExceptaspermittedundertheCopyrightActof1976,nopartofthispublicationmaybe
reproducedordistributedinanyformorbyanymeans,orstoredinadatabaseorretrieval
system,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofpublisher,withtheexceptionthattheprogram
listingsmaybeentered,stored,andexecutedinacomputersystem,buttheymaynotbe
reproducedforpublication.
1234567890DOCDOC019876543
ISBN0-07-222740-0
Publisher Indexer
Brandon A. Nordin Irv Hershman
Computer Designers
Lucie Ericksen, John Patrus
Scott Rogers Illustrators
Melinda Lytle, Michael Mueller,
Marjorie McAneny Lyssa Wald
Katie Conley Katy Bodenmiller, Greg Simsic
Tana Allen Katy Bodenmiller, Greg Simsic,
Dick Schwartz
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Katy Bodenmiller, Greg Simsic
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Information has been obtained byMcGraw-Hill/Osborne from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the
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omissions or the results obtained from the use of such information.
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About the Author
Ron Whitehas been a photojournalist since his college days and throughout
his career as an editor at computer magazines and author of books. The former
executive editor ofPC Computingmagazine, White is also the author of the
million-copy best seller and award-winning bookHow Computers Work, which
has been on lists of top computer books. As a photographer, he specializes in
portraits; his latest interest is digital darkroom software, such as what he describes
in this book. He’s using it to restore a large collection of neglected family photos
dating back four generations. His writing has been called “lucid” by theNew York
Times; he explains complex topics in simple terms so that they become common
sense to the reader. To accompany this book, he has added information about
digital photography to his web site, www.howcomputerswork.net. He can be
reached by e-mail at [email protected].
About the Technical Editor
Jennifer Ackerman Kettellhas written and contributed to several books about
web design and graphics, including the use of digital photography on the Web.
She’s filled dozens of smart cards with panoramas from her travels, portraits, and
figure skating photos. Jenn lives with her family in Arizona.
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Thanks
This is dedicated to my friends and family who have endured without complaint
(for the most part anyway) my merciless invasion of their privacy, their space,
and their wishes by poking various cameras in their faces without warning.
Thanks to my new extended family at McGraw-Hill/Osborne, particularly Margie
McAneny for suggesting this project and, along with Tana Allen, for easing my
way into this new series. Katie Conley and Peggy Gannon did a wonderful job of
keeping me on track and correcting my lapses into unknown tongues. Jennifer
Ackerman Kettell was invaluable as a technical editor and in helping compile the
book’s Buyer’s Guide section.
I’m personally and professionally grateful to Greg Simsic and Katy Bodenmiller
for conceiving the much-neededNo Nonsenseseries and for welcoming me
onboard for its launch.
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Icouldnothavedonethisbook,literally,withoutthecooperationofphotographers
who are more talented than I and who gave me permission to use their photos:
WayneReed,ShannonCogen,DougBurgess,MikeBerceanu,DigitalPhotography
Review, Klaus Schraeder, Arthur Rosch, Georges de Wailly, and Don Adams. A
special thanks to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
for posting so many cool photographs covering a wealth of subject matter at
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/, and to the National Park Service for sharing
its many landscape photos at http://parkwise.schoolaccess.net/Students/
PhotoGallery/photogallery.htm.
The Internet proved invaluable for researching the more esoteric points about
digitalcamerasandphotography.Forthoseinterestedinpursuingthisbook’stopic
further—perhaps even into the realm of nonsense—check out the linkslistedat
theendofeachchapteraswellasonmywebsite,www.howcomputerswork.net.
Someinformationinthisbookwasgatheredtheold-fashionedway,byinterviewing
people. I’m particularly indebted to Henry Wilhelm of the Wilhelm Institute,
Mark Weir of Sony, Karen Thomas representing Olympus, Mary Ann Whitlock
of Microtek, Beth Avant and Jenna Skidmore of Burson-Marsteller representing
Sony, and Lou Desiderio of Canon.
Finally, I’m grateful for the generous expenditure of their time, photos, and
equipment by display whiz Raymond Soneira, Justin Shaw, and Louis Desiderio
of Canon; Amy Podurgiel and Brian Williams of Nikon; Cheryl Balbach of Casio;
Chris Sluka of Olympus; Colleen Henley of Packard; and Randy Ross and Anush
Yegyazarian ofPC World.
Click! The No Nonsense Guide to Digital Cameras
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Contents
Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Chapter 1 Choose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
A Digital Darkroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Chemical Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Digital Present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Practical Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Quality Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Camera Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Pixel Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Fixed-Focus Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Variable-Focus Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Autofocus vs. Manual Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Zooming Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Translating Focal Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Viewfinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Exposure Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
From Camera to Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 2 Rescue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Scanners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Get a Flatbed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Scanning Slides and Negatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Interpolated Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
When Resolution Counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Color Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Dynamic Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 3 Shoot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Know Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Quantity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Choose a Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Divide the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
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