Photographing outdoors vs indoors Photographing outdoors in good daylight is EASY for any camera. I’ve seen good outdoor photos taken with a shoebox pinhole “camera” – seriously.
Photographing indoors or at night in sub par light is CHALLENGING for any camera and any photographer.
Shooting moving subjects
Shooting moving subjects (i.e. sports, pets, children) indoors or at night without adequate auxiliary lighting sources is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for any camera and any photographer, and beyond the capabilities of many “consumer level” DSLR cameras and lenses. Yes, even if you paid $500 or $1000 for your camera you may be unable to get Sports Illustrated quality photos of your child’s 7 pm football game.
Lenses
If you’re going to spend the money on a top-flight name-brand camera (Nikon, Canon, Olympus etc.) then buy the same name-brand lenses, flashes etc. in order to get the best performance from an entire camera system. There is no point to spending good money on a Nikon camera only to stick a mediocre Sigma, Tamron, or Quantaray lens on it. Retailers like Ritz/Wolf camera love to push off-brand lenses because their profit margins are higher on these cheaper products. But the most important part of any camera system is the quality of the glass in the lenses. Don’t skim on the glass to spend more on the electronics. As a general rule, DSLR cameras lose more than half their value in the first year; while quality, name-brand lenses often sell years later on the used market for 80% or more of their original purchase price.
megapixels The number of megapixels a camera utilizes is nearly meaningless as a measurement of the effectiveness of the camera or the quality of photos produced by it. Any camera with 4 megapixels or better is more than enough for any photograph printed 12x18 inches or smaller, and many 4 megapixel images can be printed as large as 2 foot x 3 foot if properly exposed and in sharp focus.
Megapixels are a misleading gimmick relied on by camera salesman to convince uneducated buyers to spend more money. Ever heard a camera salesman say, “this camera is twice as good, it has 8 megapixels and the other only has 4”. Well, just because the number 8 is double the number 4 does not mean an 8 megapixel image is twice as large (or twice as good) as a 4 megapixel image. A 4 megapixel image is approximately 2450 pixels by 1650 pixels = 4 million pixels. An 8 megapixel image is approximately 3600 pixels by 2400 pixel = 8 million pixels.
Look at the numbers: 3600 is not twice as much as 2450. And 2400 is not twice as much as 1650.
At best an 8 megapixel image is 50 percent “larger” than a 4 megapixel image, and in reality it is less significant than that in terms of a difference noticeable to the human eye. In order to achieve an image size twice as large as 4 megapixels, you need an image that is 4800 pixels x 3600 pixels or approximately 16 megapixels. And for what photographic purpose would you need 16 megapixels? To print billboards? Unless
you’re a professional making money on photography that requires extremely large prints, any camera offered for sale as of 2008 already has more megapixels than you’ll ever need or use.
So if given the choice between buying two very similar cameras, especially if from the same manufacturer, go for the camera with fewer megapixels because it will cost significantly less and offer no significant reduction in photographic quality. Camera makers and sellers love to charge hundreds of dollars more for a few more megapixels. Do the math and you’ll see the difference is negligible. Look at photographs taken with each camera and you’ll see the difference is even less.
One of the biggest scams in camera sales as of Christmas 2008 is the Nikon D60 a 10 megapixel DSLR camera that sells for $700 with a lens when compared to the Nikon D40, a nearly identical camera with 6 megapixels that sells for $450 with a lens. That’s a difference of $250 for 4 extra useless megapixels.
Lenses
If you’re going to spend the money on a top-flight name-brand camera (Nikon, Canon, Olympus etc.) then buy the same name-brand lenses, flashes etc. in order to get the best performance from an entire camera system. There is no point to spending good money on a Nikon camera only to stick a mediocre Sigma, Tamron, or Quantaray lens on it. Retailers like Ritz/Wolf camera love to push off-brand lenses because their profit margins are higher on these cheaper products. But the most important part of any camera system is the quality of the glass in the lenses. Don’t skim on the glass to spend more on the electronics. As a general rule, DSLR cameras lose more than half their value in the first year; while quality, name-brand lenses often sell years later on the used market for 80% or more of their original purchase price.
megapixels The number of megapixels a camera utilizes is nearly meaningless as a measurement of the effectiveness of the camera or the quality of photos produced by it. Any camera with 4 megapixels or better is more than enough for any photograph printed 12x18 inches or smaller, and many 4 megapixel images can be printed as large as 2 foot x 3 foot if properly exposed and in sharp focus.
Megapixels are a misleading gimmick relied on by camera salesman to convince uneducated buyers to spend more money. Ever heard a camera salesman say, “this camera is twice as good, it has 8 megapixels and the other only has 4”. Well, just because the number 8 is double the number 4 does not mean an 8 megapixel image is twice as large (or twice as good) as a 4 megapixel image. A 4 megapixel image is approximately 2450 pixels by 1650 pixels = 4 million pixels. An 8 megapixel image is approximately 3600 pixels by 2400 pixel = 8 million pixels.
Look at the numbers: 3600 is not twice as much as 2450. And 2400 is not twice as much as 1650.
At best an 8 megapixel image is 50 percent “larger” than a 4 megapixel image, and in reality it is less significant than that in terms of a difference noticeable to the human eye. In order to achieve an image size twice as large as 4 megapixels, you need an image that is 4800 pixels x 3600 pixels or approximately 16 megapixels. And for what photographic purpose would you need 16 megapixels? To print billboards? Unless
you’re a professional making money on photography that requires extremely large prints, any camera offered for sale as of 2008 already has more megapixels than you’ll ever need or use.
So if given the choice between buying two very similar cameras, especially if from the same manufacturer, go for the camera with fewer megapixels because it will cost significantly less and offer no significant reduction in photographic quality. Camera makers and sellers love to charge hundreds of dollars more for a few more megapixels. Do the math and you’ll see the difference is negligible. Look at photographs taken with each camera and you’ll see the difference is even less.
One of the biggest scams in camera sales as of Christmas 2008 is the Nikon D60 a 10 megapixel DSLR camera that sells for $700 with a lens when compared to the Nikon D40, a nearly identical camera with 6 megapixels that sells for $450 with a lens. That’s a difference of $250 for 4 extra useless megapixels.
Of course, many cameras with higher megapixel counts also offer many other legitimate improvements over lower-megapixel cameras. The Nikon D200, for instance, was a quantum leap improvement over the D100 model it replaced, not because it had 10 MP to the D100’s 6 MP, but because it was built of stronger titanium alloy, had a more sophisticated autofocus system, a faster frame-advance rate, a significantly better flash system, a larger and brighter LCD screen, better ergonomics and menu design, and many other advances making it a better overall camera/
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