Expert: John Oliverio - 6/17/2009

Question
I need to get a digital camera in the next few days and I'm
trying to get the best for my money. I am not completely
ignorant with cameras and i know a bit about them but im no
expert.I see a lot of cameras with the same megapixels and
optical zoom but the prices are drastically different. what
else affects the quality of the picture. I know there is
face detection, antishake, etc, but will that really change
the price of the camera by $50-$100? this camera will be
used exclusively in egypt, so any suggestion/comments about
lighting are welcome. what in the camera really makes the
piture look bright and crisp? i used an 8mp camera with 3x
optical zoom and got a dark picture only about 10 ft away or
less. how can i avoid this?

thanks in advance

Answer
Tony,

Generally speaking there are three things that effect picture quality.  First is the lens. Then the quality (not number of) the pixels. Then the AD Converter which is the software in the camera that does the color, sharpness, etc.

To get a good lens you should stick with a company that started out as a lens maker.  Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Olympus.  I will also include Sony because they now own Minolta's camera factory. These makers are also very good at the quality of pixel and AD Converter.

Usually what changes the price of the camera is how fancy it is.  Bigger and brighter screens. Metal bodies. Lith-ion instead of AA battery.  Bigger zooms. None of these things bear on quality of picture.  

I don't know what kind of suggestions you want about lighting.  Whole books have been written on the subject.  I can say that if you are getting dark pictures where distance is a factor, it sounds like you are talking about flash.  When you are outside a point and shoot flash is only good for 10 or 12 feet.  It is one of the limitations of a small camera.  If you find yourself in low light and need to shoot far away, you must turn the flash off.  Set the ISO higher....  how high depends on how dark it is.  Make sure image stabilizer is on or use a tripod.  Keep in mind that the higher you set the ISO, the more grain you will have in you image.  So it's kind of a trade off....  a higher ISO will give you a sharper hand held shot but more grain.  A lower ISO will give you less grain but may not allow a fast enough shutter speed to hold the camera still.  A rule of thumb for quality is to shoot as low an ISO as you can get away with.  Of course, the only way to know with a point and shoot is to experiment.  I can say from experience that the current crop of Canon point and shoot cameras are the best (for now) for higher ISO settings.  I've got the Powershot SD960 in my shop and have been playing with it.  I'm impressed.  


If you are getting dark pictures for reasons other than flash distance, the only way I could advise you would be to look at some of your bad pictures first.  I am able to pull up the image data in a readable file that will tell me what was going on when you took the picture.  There are just too many things that could cause a dark picture for me to guess without seeing the image.  And I can't really give generic instructions on how to get "bright and crisp" pictures.  The reason a camera has so many different settings and modes is to cover the millions of situations you might find yourself in.  My best advise, especially with a point and shoot camera, is to know your machines limitations.  And how to get around them when possible.  Flash is one of the most common ones.  I always see people at concerts and pro basketball games up in the nose bleed seats shooting with flash.  All they are getting is the back of someones head three rows down.  A flash that could reach that far would get you arrested for disturbing the peace!!!  So if you understand the limitation, you'll have a feel for when to turn if off.  

If you want some model suggestions, let me know the max you will spend and I'll give you a few to choose from. If you want to send pictures for evaluation, send them to onewire@ultrafark.com.

John

John