Back to the Old school

So I’ve been asked for advice on what camera to get by two colleagues this week. I’m not saying that I’m any sort of authority on the matter, but I know some things. If you’re thinking of buying a camera then read on. If not well, you needn’t have read this far.

So cameras, hmmm, whether you think digital sensors and the increasing ability for the camera to automatically create magical images is ruining the medium of photography or not digital photography is here. And it’s here to stay. However there are a number of choices to be made, a number of decisions to ponder and a number of opinions to filter. I don’t intend to muddy the water here but offer some honest, agnostic advice.

Firstly one must consider the following two questions:

1. What do I want from a camera? This is a simple question with a world of answers. Do you want a cheap camera to take photos of nights out, family holidays and the occasional garden shot? Or do you harvest, deep in the subconscious of your subconscious, the need to explore photography and, one day, be rated amongst your friends as ‘a keen photographer’?
2. How much do I want to spend? Obviously this is part of the equation but, honestly, it’s pretty redundant. I’ll explain why later.

Secondly we must dispel a common, urban myth: More mega-pixels does not mean higher resolution. The resolution of a camera’s sensor is an absolute misnomer. Today it is possible to cram 10MP into the tiniest of spaces and in such a case the resolution comes down to

‘the ability of the lens to resolve the light accurately enough to utilise the resolution of the sensor’

This means that a poor lens on a small sensor packed with ‘pixels’ will result in poor photos. There are obviously two ways to solve this problem: Firstly better glass. This is going to cost $$$ for the producer so it’s generally not done. Secondly increase the size of the sensor. This is the route taken by SLR manufacturers (albeit with some increase in lens quality).

Now it gets interesting. If you answered ‘family pics etc’ to question one then stop reading and go buy a Canon IXUS, Olmpus Myu, Nikon CoolPix or Canon PowerShot if you want something a little more meaty. If you have a bit more money I recommend Leica and Ricoh. If you’re still undecided read on…

The thing to consider with photography is simple. You’re buying into a system. That system consists of a sensor (film or digital) and a lens. Now, should you buy into a compact or the increasingly popular ‘bridge’ market (compact camera, some SLR features), those two things are locked together. Thus you have the following problems:

1. If one bit breaks, it all breaks.
2. If you get tired of the lens, you are forced to replace the sensor (and visa versa). A caveat here is that some bridge cameras offer support for wide and/or tele screw ins. My advice: don’t bother, get an SLR.
3. See point 2.

That second point is the most important thing to consider and I cannot stress it enough because, in that simple equation lies the potential to waste vast sums of money. Now if you’re still reading you probably want to hear the bit about why you should buy a digital SLR. But I’m not going to do that. Because you’re here. Which means you’ve already decided to get one… Instead I’ll tell you what to look for, and remember, you don’t need a lot of megapixels (the fact is that I have an A2 canvas printed from a 6MP SP500UZ and loads of A3 prints from a 4MP Myu and they look great).

Firstly, seriously, consider second hand: My current Nikon D80 replaced the D70 (6MP SLR) 2 years ago and you can pick up a mint D70 for about £250 or a mint D80 for about £350. Grey’s of Westminster and the London Camera Exchange are great places to start. Secondly consider size, both in terms of sensor and ergonomics: the smaller ‘compact’ DSLRs are not for guys with big hands in my opinion, also they suffer from a loss of useful buttons. Equally most entry-level DSLRs will have a 1.5x or 1.6x factor on lenses as they have a smaller sensor. Full frame’s are better but more $$$. However Olympus offer a middle ground in their 4/3rds systems. Thirdly (and you’ll be glad to read finally) consider the choice of lens and the fact that, of the £1,000 worth of lenses I own, my favorite is the £80 50mm prime. The purest, simplest, most treasured thing I ever found in photography.

Happy hunting.

American Airline A300, With WiFi Please

In what will now become a great tradition, well okay this is only the second year, I hereby list my top three (not too much to ask right?) digital ideals that I would like realised and wrapped in a pretty bow fro Christmas 2009:

1. OpenScrobble: I appear to have a bewilderingly large number of media sources in my life. Last.fm for work, an iPhone when I’m on the move and Boxee/FrontRow/iTunes at home, I’m also soon to be investing in an AppleTV for my telly-box. I love the way boxee has a social element and I love the way my iPhone scrobbles back to last.fm but I want it for all my media players. Thusly I propose ‘OpenScrobble’ an open standard for sending, storing and receiving media player information inc. plays, rating etc.
2. Decentralised Social Networks: This one is a rollover from 2008 and I’ll continue to blab about the user id/password anti-pattern and the annoyances behind walled-garden approaches (without sounding too much like @psd. This is particularly interesting when combined with Christmas want no. one.
3. Wireless skies: I know American Airlines are already trialing this with mobile phones but I beleive there is no reason why a fat 3G pipe cannot be carried from the plane along an ethernet to each seat on the craft. I think I speak for all digiphiles when I say the most irritating thing about a long haul flight is that you must consider your entertainment options long before you board. Come to think about it I’d be happy if all airports themselves had WiFi too a la Bratislava, Slovakia.

And that’s it… lets wait and see what Santa’s Elves can do!