Digital Camera Purchase and Application (2)

3. The manual control function has a manual control function is the standard to distinguish between point and shoot cameras and professional cameras. The manual control here means that the camera's aperture, shutter speed, and focal length can be adjusted manually. This is crucial for semi-professional photography. Unfortunately, only one and a half of the current popular digital cameras have this function, which is also my current situation. The most unsatisfying place for popular digital cameras. How can there be one and a half? And listen to me: At present, only Agfa ePhoto 1280 really has manual control function, because it can manually set the aperture and shutter value at the same time. There is also the Kodak DS DC120, which can manually control one of the shutter and aperture, and cannot be controlled at the same time because they are mutually restricted, so the DC120 can only be considered half. So can digital cameras without manual control be used in semi-professional fields? It is not so tragic, otherwise there is no room for choice. I do not need to write this article. Some advanced universal digital cameras have the functions of some professional cameras, such as fixed-point metering and locking of focal lengths, which compensate for the lack of manual control to varying degrees.
4. Viewfinder There are 3 viewfinder modes available for digital cameras:
Ordinary optical framing This is the most common way of framing. Its only drawback is the large framing error, especially in the up and down shooting of left, right, up, left, and right positions, as well as the difference in size between the scene and the actual scene. The viewfinder sees about the scene. Actually shooting 85% of the scene.
LCD viewing This is almost a must for current digital cameras. The only advantage of LCD viewfinder is that it corrects the only drawback of ordinary optical viewfinder. However, it is just like WIN98, which corrects the BUG of WIN95 and generates more BUGs. Then we have a look at the shortcomings of LCD viewfinder. First, LCD is a big consumer of electricity. Should occupy the entire camera more than 1/3 of the power; Second, the LCD viewing position must be hands stretched, and maintain a certain distance from the glasses, the camera can not get a stable triangle support, with a low-speed shutter is difficult to shoot a stable and clear photo This is really a taboo for professional photography; the last point is that the color, contrast, and actual image displayed on the LCD are inaccurate with the actual image seen on the computer, and even if the nominal megapixel LCD looks rough, Can not observe the details of the subject, in the face of this kind of picture is difficult to stimulate the photographer's creative inspiration (this view is purely personal opinion). Fortunately, nowadays, digital cameras are equipped with ordinary optical viewfinder and LCD viewfinder at the same time. If you purchase a digital camera with only an LCD viewfinder, you must think twice before using it in semi-professional areas unless you fix it on a tripod all day long.
TTL (Through The Lens) SLR Viewfinder This is an essential way of viewing on a professional camera, and it is also an optical viewfinder with no error through the lens. Unfortunately, only the most advanced OLYMPUS models are currently available in popular digital cameras. Other brands have not seen it yet. This viewfinder's viewing range can reach 95% of the real shot. The only drawback is that if the lens is too small, the viewfinder will be dim, affecting the manual focus. Fortunately, autofocus is now available. This is no problem. Of course, the use of TTL SLR viewfinder in order not to viewfinder too dark manufacturers will use large-caliber advanced lenses, so OLYMPUS two models equipped with a lens diameter of 43mm, in fact, popular digital cameras in the "big brother."
5. White balance control The concept of white balance is not available in ordinary cameras because the film light is fixed and only when it is used as a photosensitive element, such as a video camera, it is generally controlled automatically, but it is used semi-professionally. It is best to have white balance manual control, so you can shoot a lot of unexpected results.
6. Some other professional photography-related features Fixed-point metering function: In the case of aperture, shutter can not be manually controlled, fixed-point metering function is particularly important. Automatic exposure is generally obtained by TTL weighted average metering. Fixed-point metering can perform metering of the main subject, and then exposure is performed according to the metering value.
Exposure Compensation: This is a feature that is only available on advanced cameras. Fixed-point metering plus exposure compensation can compensate for the lack of manual exposure control.
Focal length lock: This kinetic energy is very effective when the subject is not within the focus range. With this function, you can first perform distance measurement on the subject and then lock the focus to recompose the shot.
Sensitivity ISO equivalent: Digital cameras use the ISO equivalent to measure the dynamic range, which is equivalent to the speed of ordinary film, has a direct impact on the contrast, grain size, lower ISO value represents a higher resolution, more Wide tone range and low contrast image.
Shooting delay: The digital camera has a time delay in pressing the shutter to actually capture the image. The shorter the time, the better. The best is less than 0.5 seconds. If it exceeds 1 second, the practicality of this camera will be greatly affected. If you see the model is smiling beautifully for a moment, press the shutter button quickly, and the camera will not image until 2 seconds later. At this time, the model may have been crying.
Shooting interval: after the digital camera has taken a picture, it has a compression and storage time. At this time, it cannot be continuously shot. The duration of this time is related to the shooting mode, compression mode and shooting scene. Generally, this time should not be longer than 10 seconds. (To be continued)