** 1.5 page feature / 1259 words ** Digital Cameras: A Buyers Guide Last issue Dave Barkin introduced digital cameras from the point of view of an Atari enthusiast. This time Dave presents a guide of do's and don'ts to consider before purchasing a digital camera... ** ATAFLASH.GIF here ** ** COMPCARD.GIF here ** Take into consideration that an Atari user must, with a few exceptions, lay out money for a PCMCIA card reader. As compensation it must also be said that any one who is serious about their photography, and I don't mean just professionals, is going to have to buy one of these gadgets anyway. It just takes too long to download images through the serial port. IBM and Mac users have the option of a floppy disk adapter and while this gadget is cheaper than a card reader, it's still expensive and it's still slow. So if you're a person who takes 50 photo's a year, do yourself a favour and stick with conventional photographic equipment. But serious users and professionals can purchase both the camera and card reader and still wind up saving money. Moreover once you've made the purchase, you are free of additional expenditure. Although you have to print these images, you print only the images you want. Let us pause and wipe our minds clear of the financial distractions which interfere with a true Zen attitude towards life. To continue. Warnings! All of the current digital cameras have an LCD screen which allows you to view the photographed images. Some allow you to focus the image with this screen and this is an option you do NOT want. No matter how good the LCD screen, or its advertising, you'll sometimes find it difficult to focus the camera. If we're considering blowing a substantial wedge of money on a digital camera there's no reason to settle for any camera with a maximum resolution less than 1024x768. I couldn't justify this remark less than a year ago but technology is moving fast in this field. I should add almost all models are capable of more then one resolution. I find 640x480 very handy for producing catalogues, web site images and so on but for serious images the more pixels the better. Related to the previous point you must keep in mind 24-bit images are BIG. A 1024x768 image weighs in at around 2.2Mb with a 1280x1024 image occupying a whooping great 4Mb! Bear these requirements in mind when considering how much memory your computer has. So long as you have enough memory, Atari image processing software is fast enough to manipulate these images without undue strain. The formula is height x width x colour planes. Don't be fooled by a 1Mb JPEG file - once you load it into your image processing program the file will decompress to its real size and you could easily be left needing some form of virtual memory. Although digital cameras do not have the resolving power of conventional machines they do have the capability of capturing images that APPEAR to be as good as conventional camera's. Be warned, colour fidelity does vary wildly, some models are remarkable but check for yourself and don't just look at the specifications. I've yet to read an unfavourable review of any camera in any of the digital camera magazines (unlike these magazines Atari Computing isn't dependent on their advertising) but they do often publish actual images taken from cameras so take a close look at these. A word about the SONY digital cameras which use a floppy disk as their storage medium. On some of the camera's the quality is quite good but a floppy disk cannot hold enough information. Some reviews omit to mention you'll need a high density (HD 1.4Mb) or even extended density (ED 2.8Mb) so if you only have a double-sided (DD 720Kb) disk drive you will be limited to two high resolution images per floppy! This assumes that these camera's can handle a 720Kb disk! Almost all cameras store images in JPEG format so you'll need software which can read this format. Sometimes the resolving power is specified as an INTERPOLATED resolution. Software interpolation is accomplished by software adding pixels to the image. If two adjoining pixels are shades of green, the software will add a pixel which is a shade of green in between these two. This effect basically acts as an anti-aliasing tool. There is no actual increase in resolving power. For example, the Polaroid PDC cameras have an interpolated resolution of 1600x1200 but the actual resolution is 1024x768. Since various Atari software applications programs can handle digital interpolation, when required, it's not a compelling reason to choose one of these machines. However, I also happen to think the Polaroid is the niftiest looking of all digital cameras. So if you'd like to own a great looking space age device don't let me stop you just because it doesn't take great pictures! What to look for ** UL ** * Through The Lens (TTL): This means you are actually looking through the lens instead of through a separate viewfinder. It's often said there's no substitute for seeing exactly what you'll shoot but it's not quite as important as the propaganda would have you believe - a good viewfinder will work just fine. TTL remains a definite plus point but isn't the most important feature. ** LCD_SONY.JPG here ** * Auto focus/Manual focus: Thinking back to last October, there were no cameras offering manual focus. All auto focusing methods, whether they bounce light off the subject, or bounce high frequency sound, are flawed. Although the benefits of auto focus are undeniable, the ability to manually focus your lens can sometimes be a necessity. Without manual focus you have to accept you will miss some shots. Currently there are quite a few cameras which offer manual focus override and most professionals would find it hard to do without this feature. * Optical viewfinder: Insist on one. Don't consider cameras that do not have this capability. If a salesperson tries to sell you a camera with only an LCD screen do us all a favour and set them straight! * Multiple Images: This is another feature that wasn't available last October. Digital cameras can take as much as 15 seconds between shots to reset the elements. Many models now offer a burst mode which can take as many as five shots in two seconds. Obviously how useful this capability will be depends on your needs. * Detachable Lens: A feature highly acclaimed in the advertising brochures. It means just what it says, you can detach the lens from the camera and place it remotely. Question whether you'll have any use for it. * LCD screen: Just about all cameras now come with an LCD screen to examine the images. Make sure your choice allows you to delete individual unwanted images - some models only allow you to deleting everything! ** /UL ** Before closing this report I should add that I purchased an Olympus 600L camera around nine months ago. Its highest resolution is 1280x1024 and it's already obsolete! I'm not about to replace this machine, which works fine, but many of the limitations I'm warning you about are inherent in my camera. The colour fidelity is excellent, and for all practical purposes images I print are indistinguishable from conventional photographs. Though it now costs around half what I paid for it I have no regrets. It's also worth bearing in mind, many of the features which hinder conventional photography will hinder digital photography. But in some ways we have to compromise, due both to the cost of these machines and the relative youth of the technology.