About this digital camera

[inkpad.t]

I now absolutely nothing about photography.

But i was thinking of taking photos for my own stock use. the problem is resolution and image size, I have a family digital camera which is a SONY , It has 26mm Wide Angle Lens, 3.0 photo lcd/7.5cm and is 14.1 mega pixels.

Will this take a good enough photo and resolution to be used as a stock images ?. Not models or anything, just objets and places etc.

Thank you.

 

[chitkaran]

The digital cams have the apperture/shutter/ISO on auto mode and adjust the values according to the scene. Before I moved to DSLR (Canon 1100D), I was using the Point N Shoot (Canon A480) which is a basic camera. But I used for a long time and the images looked near perfect. Also, since the MegaPixels are high, I could enlarge the size too w/o worrying about the pixellation.

For the images to be used as stocks, I would say Yes, they can take good clear pics. I still use some of the Sky/Cloud images as stocks .

Just make sure that you have enough light which taking pics otherwise the camera would increase the ISO to compensate for low light and your image would have 'Noise'.

 

[inkpad.t]

Chitkaran...

Thanks for that. if i did have some bad light and it created noise... would i be able to remove it with a filter ? or just take good natural lighting photo's. also what if its a dull day but i really need that photo.

Sorry for another question but i do a lot of traveling around the country in the job i do, so sometimes i think "wow that would make a good stock photo ". would i still be able to use this camera ?.. i suppose only by taking them would i find this out.

Please forgive my ignorance with this.

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi Inkpad - Any modern camera that is in good repair will be able to wonderful, high quality images under "ordinary" circumstances, ie, outside during the day, not-too-far / not-too-close / not-too-much-motion / etc.

What distinguishes the more costly cameras is that they extend the above limitations into less than optimal situations, eg,

• the light level is low,
• the color temperature is far from daylight,
• there are deep shadows that need to later be lifted in PS,
• you want to blur the foreground and background,
• you want to shoot fast-moving sports,
• you want to have the ability to use off-camera flash,
• you want to be able to shoot from either very close or very far away,
• you want to compose using an optical finder instead of hoping to see the rear LCD on the beach,
• you want to shoot in bad weather without worrying about the low light levels or that a few drops of precipitation is going to get inside your camera and kill it,
• etc.

With a little bit of planning and minor ancillary gear such as a couple of reflectors and a tripod, you can even get around many of the above limitations.

In my opinion and that of many other photographers, the limitation for most photo situations is rarely the equipment -- it's almost always the lack of experience of the photographer and lack of knowledge of simple work-arounds for the above limitations (eg, a close-up lens, a tripod to shoot in low light, shoot at the peak of action in sports, have someone hold an umbrella over your head if its raining, use a bedsheet as a temporary reflector to bounce light back into the subject's face, etc.).

HTH,

Tom

PS - As an example of what one can do with an inexpensive older camera, I've attached a snapshot that I took on a family vacation around 2007 with a little Fuji f470 that had to be a couple of years old at that time and probably didn't cost more than $100. I forget the exact number of megapixels, but it was probably only around 6 Mpix.

To see just how good the image quality is, don't just look at the down-rez'ed thumnail, but double click on it and view it at full, 1:1 resolution. As you can see, it has more than enough quality for almost any application.

 

[Tom Mann]

"...if i did have some bad light and it created noise... would i be able to remove it with a filter ? or just take good natural lighting photo's. also what if its a dull day but i really need that photo..."

At minimum, if you can't bring a full sized tripod, get yourself a small, but high-quality table-top mini-tripod (ie, NOT a gorilla-pod or similar), and *always* have it with you. These are small enough to fit in the pocket of a man's sports coat and will make a huge difference in your photography because you no longer have to raise the ISO to get the shot.

Instead, force the ISO of the camera to remain at it's lowest setting, brace your tripod against a wall, car, chair, tree, your chest, or whatever happens to be in the right spot, shoot at low shutter speeds and you'll have no worries about sensor noise. Software noise reduction should always be your last choice, not your first!

T

Links: Example of a good table-top tripod and one way to use it.
http://www.honda-e.com/NotesOnPhotography/81A_0015 copy1.jpg
http://en.leica-camera.com/assets/media/img4831.jpg

 

[chitkaran]

Chitkaran...

Thanks for that. if i did have some bad light and it created noise... would i be able to remove it with a filter ? or just take good natural lighting photo's. also what if its a dull day but i really need that photo.

Sorry for another question but i do a lot of traveling around the country in the job i do, so sometimes i think "wow that would make a good stock photo ". would i still be able to use this camera ?.. i suppose only by taking them would i find this out.

Please forgive my ignorance with this.

Well, if you have a Bad Light then you are forced to use Flash - it does come in handy but makes the background dark and foreground too bright if you are outdoors. If you are InDoor, then using flash is a good option. If you are not using flash, you HAVE to shoot at Night Mode - it adds a lot of noise depending on light - you should be able to remove this noise to an extent but it really depends how is the image.

Also Secondly, the point n shoot camera can become your best companion when you are outdoors and need to take a quick picture.


Ps: You cannot control the shutter speed in the point n shoot cams and hence you cannot run away from the above mentioned issues.. I guess this is what led to the development of DSLRs... Lolz..

 

[Steve]

I now absolutely nothing about photography.

But i was thinking of taking photos for my own stock use. the problem is resolution and image size, I have a family digital camera which is a SONY , It has 26mm Wide Angle Lens, 3.0 photo lcd/7.5cm and is 14.1 mega pixels.

Will this take a good enough photo and resolution to be used as a stock images ?. Not models or anything, just objets and places etc.

Thank you.

It would be really helpful if you would post the camera model, not all P&S cameras have the same features.
Whatever the camera, set it to the highest resolution, turn off the date on image function, and turn off digital zoom.

 

[Tom Mann]

"Ps: You cannot control the shutter speed in the point n shoot cams and hence you cannot run away from the above mentioned issues.."

But, as Steve said in a later post, not all P&S cameras have the same features. I couldn't find the carcass of the Fuji f470 that I used to post that photo, but here's an even older one (3 Mpixels, probably sold for $150 when new) that still works, and certainly does have a controls for speed, aperture, ISO.

I guess it all depends on what one was looking for when they bought the camera.

T

 

[Tom Mann]

I also just looked up my old 6 Mpixel Fuji f470 and it also has a manual mode, even tho it was one of the very early, super thin, palm-of-the-hand models marketed totally for family snaps.

It said: "These scene modes include the familiar Portrait, Sport, Landscape, and Night settings, as well as more defined settings such as Beach and Snow, Sunset, Museum, Party, Flower Close-Up, Text, and a manual mode. The FinePix F470's 2.5-inch LCD won't leave the user in the dark. It has a manual gain-up control that senses a low-light setting and brightens to compensate. This feature, which the user also can control manually, is a big boon to the photographer when shooting in restaurants and other dimly lit environments."

To be honest, I thought at almost all P&S's had manual override controls like this (even though most people probably don't even know they are available).

T

 

[inkpad.t]

thanks to everyone .... I've read through the posts and and i am so much appreciate your reply's.

Just the points you have all raised has made me think more about how to take a picture as well as how the camera takes the picture.

The photo Tom took at 6 Mpix is really an excellent photo, The only thing i can add about my camera at the moment is that its called a Cyber-Shot, I have looked on the net but can only find certain models but not mine, i bought it about 2 to 3 yrs ago so its probably one of the first models they did in this range?.

My cousin has a tripod and this camera has hole in the bottom which i assume is for the tripod, so i'll see if it fits.

I'll need to look at the camera in more depth at it's functions as i'm not totally sure what all the buttons are for ( which isn't a lot really ). I don't have the manual for it any more as we payed for a carrying case at the time so the box and manual were put in storage and more than likely thrown away when we do clear outs .

Oh... it dos have a Zeiss sweep panorama function and has a sticker on it saying its steady shot. No idea what they do but will start to pay more attention to it and look deeper. and on how i am taking the shot as well...

Many thanks again... i am going to try and find another camera to take a pic of it and so you what it is.

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi Inkpad - I'm very glad you found some of the discussion useful.

If you are having trouble identifying your camera and need general information about it, just go to Google Images, type in "sony cybershot", and pick whichever one looks closest to yours to get a model number/name. Then search that model number/name and the phrase, "user manual", on Google. Within a particular series of cameras, there usually aren't wild differences between the various members of that series, so this will give you a good place to start to learn about your camera.

Then, when you get a chance take several photos of it (front, back, top, bottom) and post them here and we'll try to help you either identify it or answer specific questions.

Best regards,

Tom M

 

[Tom Mann]

PS - re the tripod your relative has ... chances are it is a full-size tripod and you have no idea how good it is. After the first couple of times ordinary people attempt to drag along a full size tripod, they get tired of doing so, and just leave it at home from then on.

This is why I specifically recommended a good table-top unit instead of a full-sized model.

If a tripod is not with you, it's about as useful as if it didn't exist. With a table-top unit, there's a much better chance it will be with you when you need it. You really don't want to crank up the ISO, but if you don't have a tripod with you, you often will be forced to do exactly that.

FYI, there are things like "bean bags" and other methods of supporting small cameras, but, IMHO, a small, high quality table-top tripod is (almost) worth its weight in gold.

Tom

 

[Tom Mann]

BTW, I just looked up one of the most popular of the Sony Cybershot cameras, the DSC-w55 here:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/dsc_w55-review/ (scroll about 60% down on the page)

It definitely has manually adjustable ISO, so the chances are that the others in that series also have this feature that is so important for low noise images (as long as you have some sort of sturdy camera support available).

Tom

 

[MikeMc]

Great info.....I will add to stay away from "digital zoom"....use the optical only.

 

[Steve]

From the link Tom Posted:

You'll use the four-way controller mostly for navigating the W55's menu system, but it can also be used for these functions:

• Up - Flash setting (Auto, flash on, slow synchro, flash off)
• Down - Self-timer (Off, 2 or 10 sec)
• Left - Exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 1/3EV increments)
• Right - Macro mode (on/off)

Here's a very important tool in any camera, exposure compensation.

You take a shot of the shadow side of a building with a beautiful blue sky and white clouds.
But after the shot you look at the LCD and the sky is blown out.

Use EV-2/3 and shoot it again.
Try EV-1, EV-1 1/3, etc. and save all the shots.

What you're doing is slightly under exposing the image to bring back the sky.
One of those images should give you an acceptable exposure that will let you bring up the shadows in PS to give you a nice balance between shadows and highlights.

The rule of thumb is "shoot for the highlights".
Usually you're better off loosing detail in the shadows than in the highlights, usual but not always.