Today's digital cameras come in a large variety of sizes shapes and mega pixels. So how do you get the most from your digital camera? Well the answer sounds simple yet most people will ignore this advice, read your camera's manual. How do I know you will ignore the advice? For the same reason people ignore their new car manuals. Unless you have a flat tire and need to know where the jack is, you'll likely never even open it.
Today's digital cameras are very complex. While you won't find a spare tire, you will find enough circuitry to do time and data calculations in a nano second, record your voice and do mini movies for grandma's email. All this in a package that will fit into your shirt pocket.
The biggest reason I think that folks don't read their manuals because of the terminology that goes with the reading. Every profession has its own language. Photography is no different. Terms like Aperture, ASA and Matrix Metering are a few things that will stop a new camera user in their tracks. When you have to look up a term to understand a sentence, about a function on your camera... Well let's just say I am boring myself with this description here. I have listed a few of the common terms below that you will find in your manual that will help you to understand better how your camera works when you decide to sit down and read that book.
All cameras, whether digital or traditional film, work on the same basic principals. First there is the lens on the camera.
Zoom lenses will allow the user to do what the name says; you can zoom in or out on your scene.
Fixed Focal length lenses mean there is no zooming, you may be able to focus a different distances however to be closer to your subject you will have to physically step closer.
Fixed Focus lenses are both fixed focal length and fixed focus. There is no zooming, no focusing ever. The lens is only able to record an image from about 3 feet away to infinity in good sharp focus. These types of lenses are generally found on lower end digital cameras and disposable film cameras.
Aperture is a numerically assigned number referred to also as F-Stops. These numbers correspond to the amount of light that will be allowed through the lens at a given setting.
M A S P You will find these values on the most upper end cameras they stand for the settings that the camera is capable of.
M = Manual, on this setting you are in total control of the camera
A = Aperture Priority, this means that you can set the aperture at a specific setting and the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed and sometimes the ISO to change your exposure for the scenes you are shooting.
S = Shutter Priority, this means that your shutter will be fixed at the speed you determine and the camera will adjust the aperture and sometimes the ISO to change your exposure for the scenes you are shooting.
P = Program setting also known as automatic; will totally put the camera in control of how your scenes are being recorded. This can be good if you are beginning but you will find that it is far from perfect and will likely frustrate you if you want to know more about how the camera works.
Digital cameras also come with settings we like to call "symbology" settings. These are settings that are pre-defined and will give you an average result based on the symbol you use. You will recognize these symbols on your camera.
Running man, Mountains, Flower, Moon and stars.
These settings are typically found on cameras that do not have much in the way of manual settings and are there to help you cope with the inadequacies of the program mode on your automatic camera.
Other settings on your camera aren't so visible. While each manufacturer is different, there are settings buried in your menu structure on your camera that will allow you to change the recording quality of your pictures. While you won't get as many pictures at the highest settings you will be much happier with the results. Unless you are an advanced user, we don't recommend using a camera RAW setting, the highest Jpg settings on your camera can produce some awesome results in sizes as large as 16x20 depending on the resolution of your camera.
File Settings
RAW - Basically this setting is 1's and 0's. There are generally no filters that are attached to the file like sharpening, color temperature, chromatic lens correction etc. These are really what the name implies RAW files or data. You will need a RAW converter to be able to manipulate the data and store it in a usable file format like TIFF or JPG.
TIFF - Very few consumer cameras offer TIFF settings because of the file sizes associated with the image. A TIFF file uses all the cameras correction techniques and stores the image in separate layers Red, Green and Blue maintaining the integrity of the image recorded. Each layer can be manipulated in a program like Photoshop or Photoshop elements to obtain a high quality image.
JPG - This is the most common form of file recorded by consumer cameras. The Jpg image is smaller than both the TIFF and RAW files because all 3 layers RGB are compressed into a single layer, allowing you to store more of these images on your media card. Most photo labs like Jpg files because they load quickly and produce images that are easy to print in large quantities. The results from your highest Jpg setting will probably give you the quality you are looking for in images as large as 16x20 depending on the mega pixel rating of your camera, a 6 or 8 would be best for an image this size. Most consumers will enlarge an image up to 8x10 and a 6 or 8 mega pixel camera will easily handle this size of final print.
