Beginner's Guide to Digital Photography

So you're thinking about getting into digital photography?
The benefits of going digital are widely publicized, but they don't tell the whole picture. Not only are there significant benefits, there are also a number of difficulties that may not be immediately obvious.
Note: The following article is under development, so changes will be made soon.
Is Digital Right for You?



Let's start by looking at the difficulties & frustrations associated with adopting a digital workflow. The following assumes a comparison between a film workflow and a digital workflow, with comparable final print quality. Sorted in order from most difficult to least difficult.

1. Usually end up with no physical photo album
2. Nearly always involves time on the computer (archiving, sorting, etc.) unless "PictBridge only"
3. Potential for instantaneous destruction of your "digital album" if not careful
4. Cost/hassle of printing (not as cheap as film)
5. Adequate computer system requirement (potentially requiring a new one / upgrade)
6. Reliance on battery life of camera and potentially traveling laptop / storage
7. Cost of camera

By far the most difficult of these issues is the amount of involvement on the computer end (the archiving, sorting) and often the lack of a physical album. The most common justification used by those who are going to make the transition to digital photography is: "I will save so much money by only printing what turned out". Although this sounds reasonable, it is often not the case! In fact, most people who start in digital photography don't even print any photos at all!

Digital SLR vs Point and Shoot

One of the most important decisions you will have to make is one the style of camera. The most important differentiator between cameras is whether or not it has a detachable lens (also known as a SLR or Single Lens Reflex). The cameras fall into either the SLR category or are labeled a "Point and Shoot" (now on referred to as "P&S"). SLRs will always be more expensive than a comparably-featured P&S. These categorization applies to both film and digital.
The easiest way to identify a SLR versus a P&S is generally the size and the appearance of the lens. An SLR will have a focus ring that allows the photographer to adjust the focus on the barrel of the lens. A P&S lens will generally be much smaller and will not have such a ring. SLRs are also usually much bulkier than the P&S, as the P&S style aims for a form factor designed with your pocket in mind.
A couple of years ago, digital SLRs were priced out of reach for all but the most affluent photographers. Even the Canon D30, which only boasted 3 megapixels, had an initial suggested retail price of US$3500. It was hard to accept that even after investing so much money into a camera, one wasn't even approaching the ability to reproduce the same level of detail or quality as could be achieved with a $100 film-based SLR. So why would people buy it? Obviously the merits of "digital" are significant.
Deciding between digital SLR vs Point and Shoot types comes down to your expected uses and how far you want to pursue photography.
With the proliferation of digital cameras over the last couple years, the range of point and shoot models has broadened considerably. While the early digital point and shoot cameras were fairly simple and of relatively poor quality (versus their film-based equivalents), a new breed of point and shoot digital cameras has surfaced: the prosumer point and shoot. The term prosumer is a blend of consumer and professional, indicating that it is designed with the advanced amateur in mind.


It is becoming more difficult to categorize digital cameras these days, but for the purposes of this article, here are the rough distinguishing characteristics:

• Digital Consumer Point and Shoot
  Entry-level digital camera. Can be ultra-compact form factor. Lacks manual exposure, manual focus, optical zoom less than 4x. Very slow autofocus and significant shutter-lag. ISO sensitivity up to ~ 400.
• Digital Prosumer Point and Shoot
  Mid to high-end for a point and shoot. Might offer manual metering modes, electronic manual focus. Some offer super-zooms up to 10x optical with surprisingly good optical characteristics. Some models have extremely little shutter lag, approaching those of SLRs. ISO sensitivity up to 800 - 1600, although noise from the small sensor elements causes higher ISOs to be less useful.
• Digital SLR
  Prosumer to professional with interchangeable lenses. Always offers manual exposure, real manual focus. Lenses must be purchased seperately, but have the ability to cover a much wider visual range and quality than the "super-zooms" built-in to the prosumer point and shoot cameras. Useable ISO sensitivity up to 800 - 3200.

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