I must confess, I haven't even looked at a digital camera, and have assumed the controls are the same as on a conventional camera. So does digital have: 1. Film speed (I know it doesn't use film) 2. Shutter speed 3. F stops Are these somehow limited - less range than a conventional camera? Are the lens interchangeable, or do they have only one set zoom lens. I am assuming the lens are mostly fixed. So can you use your Canon lens on a digital camera? This interchangeability is the only thing that would make any sense to me. Why buy yet another camera with a lens that can't be swapped. I suspect you get your best quality from a print or slide scanned in than from a digital camera. Am I wrong on that, or have times changed?
Hmmm... I think I should point you in the direction of a couple of digital camera sites in answer of your questions. A major essay could be written covering them! Digitals do have a form of film speed (ISO) rating referred to as equivalent ISO. Standard for my Nikon is 80 with manual override to 100, 200 and 400 equivalent ISO. In automtic mode it will choose a suitable ISO rating taking in account lighting conditions and shutter speed. On the Nikon, at least, the shutter speed is not so easily manipulated without changing the programmed settings or ISO in manual mode. Conversely, the f-stop is governed by the available conditions and is not readily changed. As for them being less range than a 'conventional' camera, there generally is more user adjustments in the upper range than a point and shoot 35mm but you don't get quite the same freedom as you would with a SLR, unless you are buying the likes of a Nikon D1, Fuji S1 Pro or similar SLR body based digitals (see below), though the gap is being bridged quickly. The basic cameras have a fixed focal length lens and as you go up the range you have zoom lenses added. Additional lenses are available for some brands in the form of 2x and 3x tele adaptors and wide-angle lenses, plus there are a couple of after-market zoom lens manufacturers providing monocular-style lenses and adaptors. The EagleEye OpticZoom and Kenko Tele-photo add-on lenses are 2 of them. Taking the above SLR-based examples you are looking at the Nikon D1 being based on the Nikon F90 (N90?) body and the Fuji S1 Pro on the Nikon F60 body. These take standard Nikon lenses and offer the same adjustments as the 35mm SLR camera they are based on being the same set up. The major downside of these digitals cameras are their price - still ridiculously expensive - starting from below US$3000 upwards (though I would assume these have come down in price but not significantly - the D1 is now only $3795! ). Canon also does a SLR based camera as well, the EOS D30, so you could use the Canon EOS-series lenses on it as well. Why buy another camera with a lens that can't be swapped? Good question. I guess ask anyone who runs a fully manual SLR and a full-auto SLR made by different manufacturers. They provide different results. I have both but find I am using the digital far more because it's better suited to what I want to do with the images. I primarily use them for web use, though I do take many for burning to CD for friends. That saves time (and cost) in having prints done in multiples to hand out. I can print the required images quicker in any size required. This leads to the printing of images. My Nikon 950 is a 2.1 megapixel camera with a maximum image size of 1600x1200 pixels taken at 300dpi. I have printed 8"x10" 'photo' (from a low compression .jpg image ex-camera) on gloss photo paper using an Epson 760 and they are as good as you would have got from any enlargement from film. Conversely, I will take one of my digital shots over a scanned standard (read 6"x4") 35mmm print for printing any day. Slides, on the other hand, are a different kettle of fish requiring a specialised slide scanner or a photo lab that knows what they are doing to extract a print from a slide. As with anything in this world, you get what you pay for. This is the same of cars, service, and digital cameras. Don't expect a $100 digital to give you the same results as a $1000 digital or a $500 one - it won't. Have a look at my favourite digital site - Steve's Digi-cams and have a look through the reviews. Use a search engine to find the online suppliers and look at the different price points and choose a few example, then head back to Steve's and read the reviews. This will give you a better idea of what digitals can and can't do, and what differences there are in the different price ranges. Follow further links from there to go into more detail. Hope this is of some help. I'm certain others will add to this. Gary.
I can only answer for the Sony Cybercam DSC-S70 ..... 1. "Film Speed" is fixed at ASA-100, but I heard that Sony's next generation, the S-75, may have three ASA settings, 100, 200, & 400. 2. "Shutter Speed" is meaningless for digital cameras, there is no shutter! The optics are always open, so the image always appears on the CCD plate. When you press the "shutter button", the electronics peform a final "fine" adjustment, then electronically transfers whatever image is on the CCD plate at that instant into memory. Actually, with the S-70 there is a 1/2-3/4 second delay between button push and image transfer. Kinda bad for action shots until you get used to it and learn to adjust. 3. "f-Stops" are normally automatic, but can be set manually. Manual settings on the S-70 go from f2.0 to f8.0 in normal 35mm camera steps. I get pretty good depth of field at f-8.0 for N-Scale close-ups. 4. "Zoom" goes from 0x to 3x optically (34-102mm in 35mm camera terms), and then an additional 2x digital zoom on top of that. HOWEVER - digital zooming crops the image and then enlarges it electronically, which also reduces the resolution by the same amount. In other words, digital zoom is not a true zoom in optical terms, but more like an enlargement of an existing image ... like the old days with negatives and enlargers. 5 - There are no replaceable lenses available yet. You can get add-on macro and 2x telephoto lenses, and of course various filters. I'm sure some manufacturer will develop a system of replaceable lenses for digitals in the future, but until then .... ? The S-70 image resolution on the 1/1.8 color CCD is 2048x1536, which is better than most, if not all, scanners. The images I have recorded are much better than those I have scanned with a 1200x1200 DPI scanner. Some digital cameras make "movies" by rapidly saving successive images for up to 30 seconds. Playback is like a slightly jerky movie. The benefit for us train freaks is that we can select the "perfect" image for sharing with others on the Forum. Of course, one "movie" takes up most of the available memory My wife and I like ours much more than our film cameras ... we can check our results immediately, delete the shot if it's no good, and take another right away! Hank [ 02 April 2001: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
Thanks both for well thought posts in which a lot of thought and time went invested in them. I will check out the site suggested...the price is wow...!!!!
One last item ... the Sony DSC-S70 is around US$700, with about a +/-$50 swing depending on the seller. There is a forum that addresses all facets of digital imaging, from cameras through software to printers. The members a very informal, but widely knowledgeable. http://photo-forums.com/ Hank [ 02 April 2001: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
The Cannon D30...Wow! I must confess before I read the entire review, I didn't know you had to enhance the image to sharpen it up and the first photo's I downloaded did look, well...not sharp. But when I looked at some of the enhanced images....well...I'm sold. Now, does anyone happen to have $3000 I can borrow? Actually the price seems bizarre until you factor in the cost of film and printing, then it seems to make a whole lot of sense. Hobby poverty created by model railroading has slowed me down in the photo department as there is only so many loose dollars in the pocket. But once I sold my wife into white slavery (just kidding dear), I think I could afford one of these babies. [ 03 April 2001: Message edited by: rsn48 ]
I have to agree with you on the D30 but personally would go for the Fuji S1. This would require me to sell the Pentax in order to buy a Nikon 35mm replacement to share lenses with the S1, though. Gary.
If I did the Fuji thing...I would have to trade in all my cannon lens...which I bought after I got rid of all my Konica stuff. I can't afford another move.
Just like computers, digital cameras are out dated in 3-6 months after you buy them. I bought my Olympus D-450Z because it had the most features I could find under 500$, plus I own 3 other Olympus cameras and they are, in my opinion to be the best. Not true of my choice of D450z, but true in my choice 20 years ago of the OM-1n .(I will never let it go . When I got my camera 1-1/2 years ago, 1.3 megapixels was great and all I could afford. 1.8 or 2.0 megapixels was 1200$. now 2.3 to 2.8 mgz's is standard and available cheaper, plus with "shutter speed" and "f" stops... (is that an oxy-moron for digital?)...LOL As mentioned earlier about cost, it pays for itself in film processing savings. I just spent 49.95 for a 32 meg smart media card. I can get 73 images on "SHQ"... it pays for itself very very fast, and it will last longer than the camera will. I have shot well over my cameras purchase price worth of images, had they been on film instead of digital. Plus, no need to buy a scanner. (don't fool yourself...LOL, I still need a scanner!)
