VETS Camera Blog, updated 2022

What is a photograph?

Simply said, a photograph (1) captures light and (2) frames a specific subject that together tell a story. Both the right light and framing are essential for achieving the best possible outcome. And the third critical element of a great photograph is for it to be in focus (unless blurring/movement is an intentional part of the composition).

What camera do you need? (More detailed discussion on camera choices starts on page 6)

Bottom line:

• Purchase a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) or Compact System Camera (CSC) IF photography, especially wildlife photography, is going to be a big part of your life.
• If you’re serious about wildlife photography but mostly interested in shooting auto, or use the four common modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports or Action), then look at a Premium Compact camera with optical zoom. You can play with the controls as you would with an SLR or CSC if you want, but will get excellent photos and can learn about photography on these without the investment of the SLR or CSC cameras, and these may be all you need.
• If your interest grows you can upgrade easily to better cameras because you have not sunk a large amount of money into a camera or lenses, you’ll be replacing.
• Each brand has benefits and disadvantages. The major brands (in alphabetical order – Canon, Nikon & Sony) have small differences and experts may favor one or the other for various reasons. Most people will be happy with any of the options. It makes sense to spend more time defining what features you want from the camera and not as much time worrying about brand. If you’re looking at making a big investment, I’m happy to talk with you and experts in local camera clubs or photo stores may provide even better advice. I shoot Canon because a friend recommended that brand.
  • One caveat here – lenses vary in quality and play a huge part in the photo you capture. If you’re looking at a camera with changeable lenses know that you’re likely to invest more in the multiple lenses you accumulate than the camera body, and while you may upgrade your camera body as technology changes across time, you’ll have multiple lenses that are still useful because they don’t evolve as quickly. The cost and longevity of good lenses make it difficult to change brands, so once you invest in lenses of one brand, you’re likely to stick with that brand for your camera body.\

A photography primer

I’m going to talk about digital cameras only. Film remains a wonderful media to use while digital provides many advantages and is replacing, or has largely replaced, film. I’ll limit my comments to still photography and not discuss video because I don’t shoot video.

Making a decision on which camera and with what assets is daunting. There are so many options it’s easy to be overwhelmed and confused. My goal is to provide you with some understandable information about the various components that you can use to match with your intended use. Simple cameras can create award-winning photos, and cameras with all the bells and whistles can produce photos of poor quality. Decide what you want to produce and a budget and the decisions that follow.

Before we jump into an overview of cameras it’s important to have a fundamental understanding of megapixels and how they impact your camera decisions. The sensor, replacing the film we used before digital, is the electronic component that captures light and color and converts it into a file that is interpreted by your camera to become your image.

Not all sensors are created equal, but they do determine image size, resolution, low-light performance, depth of field, dynamic range (higher = more light captured between pure white and pure black, providing a richer photo), the camera’s physical size and the kinds of lenses you will use. Like film, sensors are available in a variety of brands, and like film each has its own unique and identifiable characteristic. More about sensors later.

A pixel is the smallest unit of “image” found on the sensor that records info about your photo – think of it as a “tile” in a mosaic that is a building block and, in combination with other tiles (pixels), creates your image. Below are two mosaic works of art that have arranged colored tiles to make a picture. The picture on the right is a copy of a painting by George Seurat, a famous impressionist, who painted with single color dots to construct his painting (like using mosaics). This method is how digital photo sensors work.

On the left below, is a photo of a sleeve on a garment and on the right that image is enlarged to the point where you can see how the pixels represent the image.

The earliest popular digital camera (1981), a SONY Digital Mavica, had a sensor that was 640 pixels wide x 480 pixels high, so 307,200 pixels (640 X 480) or 0.3 megapixels. With this density of colors, the image quality wasn’t very impressive unless you were looking at a very small print or digital image. A typical computer screen requires 1-3 megapixels (~10 times more than found on the Mavica) to provide sharp images. A 4 x 6-inch print needs a minimum of 2 megapixels. A sharp 10 x 12-inch print requires at least 5 megapixels. Today many people only look at photos on their phone, iPad, or laptop. Sharp photos presented on this type & size of equipment benefit from an image of 2 megapixels or more, and 4K screens limit you to 8 megapixels maximum.

If you only look at photos on “screens” you want a camera that has between 2 to 8 megapixels. See the table below for guidelines for printing your images.

Sharp images are our goal!

The number of megapixels on your sensor is not the full story – cropping a photo (eliminating areas you don’t want) cuts out lots of pixels from the areas you cropped, and then enlarges what was left to fill the space. Enlarging the pixels results in a loss of sharpness in your photo.

Photos are cropped three ways:

1. By using a digital zoom camera that zooms in on the subject by taking the image captured on the camera and then enlarging it – resulting in a zoomed image made up of larger pixels that limits the sharpness of the image.
2. By using a smaller than full-size sensor so the image is increased to full size by enlarging the pixels (called a “crop factor” and found in many of today’s cameras).
3. During postproduction (Lightroom, Photoshop, etc) when you choose a small area of the image to enlarge.

All three cropping actions degrade the images’ sharpness. A camera that produces images of 7 megapixels or more should make great photos to look at online or when printed in sizes of 8 x 10 or smaller and withstand most minor cropping actions.

But that’s still not all the story – the size of the pixel (relating to the size of the sensor) is important as a larger pixel captures more light and limits how much it can be enlarged and still produce a sharp image. This means a photo made using a sensor with larger pixels, when compared with a same-sized sensor that has smaller pixels (and therefore more of them) may capture more light but can’t be enlarged as much and remain sharp.

The best photos you’ll see in print will likely have been made from an image captured using more megapixels. When printing photos most people consider 300 dots per inch as the standard (dots per inch is a term used in printing terms and not directly transferable to megapixels).

The table below shows the number of megapixels recommended for different size prints (with the warning that if you crop your photos, you are reducing the megapixels available and enlarging what’s left and may not get a larger print with acceptable sharpness).

Printing images – what file size do you need?
A guide to required file sizes for printing on inkjet printers

Excellent cameras are available in all price ranges. Making a decision as to which kind of camera and what accessories you might want is difficult because there are so many choices. Let’s take it step by step:

The digital Single Lens Reflex Camera (SLR)

Most popular type, comes in a variety of price ranges with different options and sensor megapixels. More expensive than most other camera options.

• Great for portrait, landscape, and action photography
• Interchangeable lenses to meet your personal needs (wide-angle, prime/fixed, telephoto)
• Camera bodies and lenses are available in many price ranges and 20+ megapixels
• A great choice if you intend to invest the time and effort to learn more about photography. If that investment isn’t for you, there are better and less expensive choices
• Considered the “gold standard” but being pushed by CSC cameras (see next below)
• Available in mirrored or mirrorless options

The Compact System Cameras (CSC)

Compact System Camera, up to 40+ megapixels and relatively expensive

• Sometimes called hybrids or mirrorless cameras, a relatively recent entry into the market and has attracted many admirers including many professional photographers
• Smaller and lighter than SLR’s, they save space in the camera body by removing the mirror found in SLRs and replacing it with alternatives that save space, weight, and money
• They have interchangeable lenses (wide-angle, prime/fixed, telephoto) to meet most needs, and while the selection isn’t yet what you’ll find for SLR cameras, the variety of lenses available is expanding rapidly
• They require effort to learn similar to the SLR and will be most effective in the hands of the more serious photographer.
• Pricing similar to better SLR cameras so may be too expensive for a casual photographer
• New models, even within a brand, are rapidly being produced. This makes it a very volatile field with “rapid upgrades”. Seems like every month a new version is out with more goodies creating some discontent with the model you “just purchased”.

Prosumer/Bridge Cameras

There is confusion in my mind about which cameras are correctly called “bridge cameras” – seems like some “flexibility” in how the name is used. I’m defining a bridge camera, for purposes of this blog, as a “baby” SLR with more plastic parts, smaller sensors, maybe smaller lenses but otherwise very similar in style and function to SLR’s. Often use smaller lenses but many can use a “regular SLR lens” as well as one that’s smaller and less expensive. b. They “fill” the space between the SLR and the Zoom Compacts. Includes Canon’s Rebel line, Nikon’s D7200 line, and others. Costs are lower than SLR’s but function much the same.

• Sometimes called “prosumer” cameras, they offer more powerful zoom ranges
• Variety of megapixel choices
• Changeable lenses
• Some offer image stabilization (see below)
• I’ve seen some outstanding photos from these cameras and they’re

Premium Compact Camera

Premium Compact 24 – 75 mm lens, 10 to 15 megapixels, less than $600 a. An option for the somewhat serious photographer who doesn’t want to lug around the weight and lens options associated with SLR or CSC systems b. Pricing generally over $50 and under $1,500 c. Very good lenses with limited zoom options d. Very good sensors and able to produce a quality photo e. They are for those of you who want to “point and shoot” and have a reasonable photo f. A wide variety of choices with some producing superb photographs and others better for something less demanding than wildlife (fast shutter speeds). g. Types available
a.

Zoom Compacts

Are among the most popular of the digital compact cameras:

1. They may offer zoom ranges of 4X to 10X with wide angle and telephoto
2. Remember digital zoom simply crops your photo and enlarges the pixels to make the subject larger while a telephoto lens or an optical zoom system enlarges the image presented to the sensor and does not enlarge the pixels to create the “zoom”. An optical zoom system is preferred for photo quality and more expensive.
3. Mostly pocket-size cameras with smaller sensors than SLR’s or CSC’s (not able to make as large a print, but may be fine for viewing on your electronics)
4. Most use the LCD screen rather than an optical viewfinder (you’re looking at the back of the camera to see what you’re shooting rather than through a “peep hole”)
5. Often have sensors capable of recording photos of about 10 megapixels
6. This is a fine camera for someone just wanting to take photos, but won’t produce larger high-quality images b. Waterproof Compact 1. Great for those people in and around water 2. Need to be self-contained to maintain waterproofing, so limited lens zoom capability – most likely digital zoom only 3. Often about 10 megapixels

Other options

a. Many phones have great cameras, but you’ll be mostly limited to landscapes as it may be difficult to get close enough to the animals you’re filming for close-ups.
b. A wide variety of cameras from $200 and less provide up to 20 megapixels and may have 4 to 10X optical zooms. These are not recommended as shutter speeds and zoom capacity is unlikely to meet your wildlife photo needs.

Image Stabilization (also referred to by some manufacturers by the term “vibration reduction”)

• The best images come from cameras set on tripods, without wind, and exposed by a remote rather than by pushing our finger down on the shutter button. This is because our movements “vibrate” the camera and vibrations may impact the sharpness of the photo. Shivering certainly makes it difficult to get a sharp image. Same if you’re riding in a moving vehicle (especially over a rough road) and in some high wind conditions.
• Slower exposures (meaning longer exposure times) make that movement obvious, while exposures faster than your rate of shaking can overcome the shake.
• Telephoto lenses exacerbate the shake so when using a telephoto lens, the rule of thumb is to be sure you’re shooting at a minimum of a fraction of a second equal to your telephoto setting (e.g., if I’m shooting a zoom at 300 mm then I need to use a speed of 1/300 of a second or faster to eliminate the shake/blur).Image stabilization is an option on more expensive lenses and compensates for some of that shake and can allow you to slow your shutter speeds one or two lens stop equivalents (allowing more light and less depth of field) and still capture a sharp photograph.
• There are some manufacturers that offer image stabilization in the camera body rather than the lenses, thereby saving you money as you don’t need to pay for the technology in every lens you may purchase.

Choosing your camera

Price range

You can spend a little or spend a lot – consider how much photography you’ll do and how you’ll use it – in albums that are looked at from time to time, on Facebook, sent to others electronically, in print, enlarged, etc. Set a budget and stick with it.

Ability to meet your needs for years to come

1. If photography is going to be a major part of your lifestyle or retirement plan then you won’t go wrong with an SLR or CSC. If you’re not sure, not interested in the required learning curve to become competent with all the features, not yet ready to invest the resources required, or if you plan on shooting on automatic or in one of the modes (portrait, landscape, sports, action) where the camera makes the exposure decisions for you, avoid the expense of the SLR or CSC and consider a Prosumer/Bridge or Premium compact with optical zoom.
2. If photography will be “fun” but not a serious interest look at optical zoom cameras for adventure travel.
3. You’re going to want a camera that has a sensor that will provide 7 or more megapixel images minimum, and 10 is better.
4. As you grow your interest most experts recommend investing in great lenses before investing in great camera bodies. In the end, it’s cheaper because lenses change slowly, camera bodies more quickly so a lens investment will still be “state of the art” years after the camera body becomes obsolete.
5. The brand of lens you purchase will likely dictate the camera body you use as lenses are not usually interchangeable on camera bodies and an investment in lenses is hard to discard.

Weight

a. Traveling with cameras and lenses can be a hassle, and carrying them in the field is definitely a challenge. If you’re a dedicated serious photographer it’s what you do. If you want excellent quality without “all that stuff” look at the Premium Compacts or Prosumer/Bridge cameras.

Sensor size

In general, larger sensors produce better image resolution but sensors are not all equal and there is overlap between different sizes. Higher pixel counts and lower crop factor ratings (1 is the best) provide better print images.

You’ll read about smaller sensors and how they provide “magnification” as the image (referred to as “crop factor”) is enlarged during processing to become full frame, providing a nice “telescopic” push for your photo – some will magnify the image by 1.6 times making a 200 mm lens produce magnification equivalent to a 320 mm lens image after processing. Recall this happens by enlarging the pixels (digital zoom) and larger printed images may not be as sharp.

Sensor’s dynamic range becomes important in the better cameras, with Sony and Nikon a little ahead of Canon at this point in time, and SLR’s and CSC’s housing many of the best sensors.

Personally, I’ve found the smaller sensors to be less useful in low light conditions because they don’t capture the light as well, making me boost the ISO to get the photo I want, resulting in “noise” in the final product. “Noise” is a grainy veil created by higher ISO settings that degrade your photos. While I prefer full frame, many photographers like cameras that have crop factor sensors.

Lens optics

1. The quality of the glass used in the lens is very important, and Canon is said by many to be slightly ahead of other manufacturers at this point in time.
2. Lenses are often not interchangeable between brands so this decision will likely dictate your camera body for years to come.
3. A prime lens is one that has a single fixed mm size, such as in the 28 mm schematic below. What it does it does well, but it only provides one field of view for the photographer. A zoom lens allows you to move within a range from wide angles to telephoto, providing flexibility. These zoom lenses are larger in size, heavier, and more expensive. In the studio and with landscapes prime lenses are fantastic. With wildlife telephoto lenses provide more photo options.

6. Field of View vs. Depth of Field
   The focal length of your lens determines your field of view – your perspective, and how much background will be in the photo. The power of a lens is measured in mm with higher numbers representing more magnification. The human eye sees at about 50 mm so lenses below that number represent an image with more field of view than you would normally see (wide angle). Below are some examples:

Field of View with different lenses

• The f/stop aperture you select and the physical distance you’re away from your subject both impact how much of the field of view will be in focus (called depth of field). The impacts of aperture are illustrated in the picture below. The flower is in focus in all six frames but the amount of background in focus increases with higher f/stops. Often, you’ll want a photo with the subject dominating the image without background distractions. Using a lower f/stop (larger aperture opening) blurs the background and emphasizes the subject.
• Focal length is based on the physics of light and lenses. Let’s forget the physics and instead just have you know your lens mm value. Prime lenses provide one setting only, while zoom or telephoto lenses allow you to select the field of view you want by adjusting the lens. For example, a 100 mm to 400 mm telephoto lens may be set at 100 mm for a landscape shot and at 400 mm for a critter close-up.

• Super Wide-Angle lenses, those that are less than 24 mm, present a view that is much wider than the human eye and because of the angles captured the images from these lenses look unnatural. Distortion is an issue and may be OK for landscapes but are not suitable for serious portraits.
• Wide Angle lenses, from 24 to 35 mm, are still much wider views than the human eye sees but do not distort the images as much.
• Standard/Normal lenses from about 40 mm to about 80 mm produce images with a perspective similar to the human eye.
• Telephoto lenses, from about 80 mm to about 300 mm, magnify the image and tend to flatten it (some loss of perspective).
• Super telephoto lenses, above 400 mm, magnify and flatten the image the most.

For bird shots, most photographers enjoy lenses in the 300 mm to 600 mm range. They can get more expensive, heavier, and larger as the number goes up! I’ll be taking, at a minimum: a 24 mm to 105 mm zoom lens providing wide-angle (when <50) and telephoto (when >50) for shots around the ship and in town; a 70 mm to 200 mm lens for things close to the ship or zodiacs; and a 400 mm for close-up images. I’ll also have extenders that I had between the camera and the lens and allows me to multiply a lens 1.4 times, or 2 times, changing the 400 mm lens to an 800 mm lens but requires more light (I’ll need to shoot with a larger lens opening). I usually shoot handheld and rarely use a tripod.