AboutJim Delillo Expertise ALmost any question about traditional (film) or digital photography including techical, technique, lighting, darkroom, Photoshop, marketing and business.
Expert: Jim Delillo Date: 6/9/2008 Subject: Most Accurate/Realistic Image
Question Hi,
I want a digital camera that takes the most "accurate" picture of what the subject actully looks like. When people mention image quality is this what they mean, and what cameras features should I look for to get the most realistic image?
Thank You
Answer Photo quality does not necessarily mean 'accurate'.
Accuracy has to do with how faithfully the camera records the original scene.
This has more to do with how the scene is interpreted, by both the photographer and the camera, than the quality of the photo.
Quality is much more subjective and may be influenced by out visual preferences.
First a couple of definitions from Wikipedia:
"...Accuracy is the degree of conformity of a measured or calculated quantity to its actual (true) value. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accurate
"Quality in everyday life and business, engineering and manufacturing has a pragmatic interpretation as the non-inferiority, superiority or usefulness of something."
From a photographic standpoint, accurate representation, especially of color, is usually not a desired outcome and may be viewed as poor quality. Current cameras tend to boost contrast, saturation, and shift towards red to deliver pictures which "snap" with vivid colors and more pleasing skin tones. This is true even if the camera is set to 'normal'. This also occurred with film and explains why photographers would have a favorite brand. AGFA reputedly had the most accurate rendition, while Kodachrome popped reds, Ektachrome was cooler, and Velvia richer, more saturated with a shift towards green making it a favorite for landscapes.
To make matters worse, most humans have poor color memory, or more accurately more subjective.
To get accurate representation, more than just a camera must be employed. And consideration of every step along the chain of color reproduction, the work flow, must be considered.
To accomplish this, one must start out with a calibrated light source. Knowing the color temperature and intensity of the light will help determine whether or not it was accurately rendered, later on.
Then the scene must be measured using a calibrated meter and a reference standard(s) must be included...color chart, gray card, resolution target. The photo must be taken, with the camera's setting adjusted so as to reproduce the standards. Then the results must be displayed on a calibrated monitor with a software application that has a calibrated color workspace(which will determine how many colors can be displayed and what to do with the colors that fall outside of the 'gamut' or reproducible range). Finally, the print must be printed on a calibrated printer and viewed under a standardized, calibrated, and maintained lightsource. Then you will get the closest representation of the scene as photographed.
Adding to the problem of accuracy is having the camera interpret what the photographer has seen, thought they saw, or wants it interpreted as their inner vision wants it. A popular technique is to "underexpose" sunsets so as to see the colors that we "saw" at the time.
Also cameras can not reproduce the same dynamic range...the shades from pure white to pure black, that our eyes can see and our brain interpret. Film is especially poor at this and digital cameras do a better job. Ansel Adams was famous for extending this range of shades, but it took a combination of techniques starting with his vision of what he wanted, exposing the scene, developing the film, printing the negative, and developing the print.
So to answer your question of what to look for in a camera, would be the highest quality, and most adjustability. You will get a camera that you can change lenses on, a DSLR. (Oh, by the way I forgot to mention that the lenses can add their own issues regarding accuracy, sharpness, chromatic aberration, contrast, distortion. Use a normal lens (50mm) to more accurately record the scene's field of view as the eye sees it (wider lenses will stretch perspective and longer ones will compress it making relative distances between objects look further or closer together, respectively).
Find a camera that you can make individual adjustments to white balance, exposure, contrast, and saturation. Higher quality cameras will have more megapixels which will determine the resolution, or how large you can reproduce the image (but this should have little effect on accuracy when printed at the appropriate size).
Sorry for the long winded answer, but accuracy is not something that can be bought in a particular camera. It involves the whole process.
I hope my answer has given you some insight in what is needed to achieve accuracy and hopefully you can achieve the results you are looking for.
