Yes, I know this column is called Bali PC Advisor. But, you know, almost everything today has a computer in it. So, I wanted to tell you about camera PCs. And, I admit it – I am a camera nut! I think I bought my first camera when I was about eight years old. It of course, was a used camera that my dad helped me pick out – a Leica. I loved that thing and took it everywhere. When I was in high school I bought an enlarger and built my own darkroom. This saved me money and let me really experiment with images. Well those days are gone. Now I have a four year old Sony N1 which I still love, BUT it doesn’t do much except take great pictures. No special features that all the current cameras seem to have. So I’ve put together a list of features, what they mean and what they will do for you below:
A. Pixels. The number of pixels (dots) a camera can capture keeps getting bigger while the costs keep going down. More pixels means the larger the print you can produce and the space it takes up in your computer storage. So if you just want to email your photos you don’t really need more than 3 Mega-pixels (million dots). To print your shots 5x7 – 5Mp; 8x10 – 6-8Mp; 9x14 – 10-12Mp; 12x18 – 20Mp.
B. Optical Image stabilization. This isn’t just a special feature anymore, it’s practically standard. The latest wave of digital cameras all have some kind of IS. Image stabilization (the optical or lens-shift kind, not electronic), is a nice little safety-net that compensates for jittery hands and is pretty much essential on smaller or lighter digital cameras. Canon’s flagship point-and-shoot, the Canon A650 IS has image stabilization, as do their recent ultra-compact models like the Canon SD870 IS and Canon SD850 IS. Fuji seems to be following suit, and Sony has included their Super SteadyShot IS in most of their cameras for a long time now.
C. GPS – Geotagging. You can tag your photos with their exact geographical location as you shoot them. Geotagging is something of a fad, but if you’re interested in pinpoint accurate information about where and when you took a photograph or if you want to add your photos to places like Google Earth then this might be for you.
D. WiFi Connection. The latest move in digital cameras is to let you transfer your photos without wires! To your computer; to a printer; to the internet, like Flickr or your own website; or even to email them. All without wires!
E. Face Detection. Tell the camera how many people should be in the shot and it’ll wait for that many faces to appear and then release the shutter! The Sony Cyber-shot W120 also includes an Adult and Child Priority face detection mode as well as its Smile Shutter mode, which automatically detects when your subject is smiling and releases the shutter then.
F. Motion Detection Technology. This technology also uses face detection, but it uses it to determine if your is moving and adjusts settings to prevent motion blur.
G. Optical zooms. The 10-megapixel FujiFilm FinePix S1000fd sports a 12x optical zoom lens (33396mm equivalent, f/2.8-5.0). This really lets you zoom into the picture and pick out which part is the most important to you and eliminate other distractions. If you don’t use computer software to crop your photos this will really help you frame your shot.
H. Intelligent Scene Selector. This new technology analyzes your scene and automatically chooses one of the pre set scene modes. It automatically sets exposure, focus, and ISO for you. For example it can figure out if it’s a sporting event (lots of movement); or a portrait; or low light; etc.
I. Large LCD. This is where you view your image. The larger the better. Many of the new cameras have 2.7 to 3 inch LCDs. As we get older it’s nice to not have to switch to our reading glasses just to take a picture.
So what do all these new features mean to you actually? It simply means you can spend less time worrying about the camera settings and more time waiting for just the right shot. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sporting event; a night time (low light) party; a group shot; or whatever picture you want to take. Your pictures will come out sharper with these features.
Have a question or problem? Write me at BaliPCAdvisor@Gmail.com. I’ll try and answer as soon as I can.
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