"Enough Already with the Megapixels"

[Ustauk]

Dan's Data has an excellent article on digital camera technology entitled "Enough Already with the Megapixels", which I found very informative.  It outlines a point Mr. Analog was trying to get across to me about more megapixels on a camera not always being better.

[Mr. Analog]

When buying a camera you want to ask yourself a few questions:

How am I going to use this camera?
-Point n' click vacation shots?
-Portraiture & Still Life?
-Landscapes?
-Experimental / artisitc?

If you just need a camera to go on vacation with and you don't mind dropping it in the ocean or having it stolen, buy a cheap ass digital or a box of Fuji disposable cameras. No fuss no muss and it's not a great deal of worry if you have it stolen or lose it. The downside of course is that with the digital you'll have grainy pictures and battery consumption and memory can be issues. With the disposables low light shots (only a basic flash) and close focus are out of the question (fixed apature), and then there's that nasty business of development when your vacation is over.

If you are interested in portraiture or landscapes you'll want to get yourself a respectable SLR (digital or film). With a film camera you get a lot more options however you have to know more about what you are doing to get above average results (i.e. film type, colour temperature, speed, apature setting, etc). With digital what you see in the preview window is what you get however some shots may be difficult to achieve with DSLR due to the finite limite of digital technology.

If you plan on doing any experimental photography where you use multiple exposures or play with the physical characteristics of the technology a film camera is still the way to go. It is possible to get multiple exposure effects out of a digital camera but those effects are done via processing rather than actual exposure time so your mileage may vary there.

With a film camera you have the following challenges:
-Film selection
-Some photography knowledge req'd
-Development

With a digital camera you have the following challenges:
-Memory
-Picture quality
-Battery consumption

[Darren Dirt]

iRonic that this excellent advice re. the visual art of fatawgriffy is coming from a great man who is legally blind

Thanks, man... I've been thinking about picking up a digital but don't wanna spend more than say $150.00 ... and it will be mainly for shots of the kids and beautiful natural scenery etc. Any suggestion what brand names to AVOID (i.e. low price comes from low quality)?


PS: re. SLR/DSLR, for those of us saying "what the dealyo?"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-lens_reflex_camera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera

[Mr. Analog]

Nikon is my preferred brand and their Coolpix line is quite good (from what I've read at least). Avoid Sony & Olympus low-end stuff. Stick with Fuji, Nikon and Pentax. Of course every line has a dud or two but that's why God made support forums free to view

Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. Digital camera forums at all costs, most of them only cater to weiners who think bigger numbers is better numbers and you'll end up buying an expensive piece o' crap when you can get better pictures out of a 20 year old fixed-lens Kodak.

Understanding the mathematics of photography is actually a lot of fun. I have some books on photography if you're really interested.