I have been giving a lot of thought to the latest Digital Cameras being
offered by the various manufacturers. It would appear that the megapixel
"war" has died down to be replaced by a "features" war. What I mean by
"features" is the ability of the latest cameras to offer in their scenes
mode such things as "beach, snow, fireworks "etc Surely these "features"
are simply camera settings. Surely if a camera, irrespective of age, has a
full range of available settings then, provided the photographer has the
skill, the camera can be adjusted to provide these "features".
Does anyone know of a list of "features" and the required camera settings to
achieve such "features"?
This email along with any attachments is confidential and may be subject to
legal privilege. If it is not intended for you please reply immediately,
delete/destroy this email and do not store, forward, print, copy, disclose
or use it in any way.
What is this bit of tripe doing in a newsgroup post?
"Alan McGrath" <alanm@ihug.co.nz> wrote in message
news:f6nbk3$pce$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
>
> This email along with any attachments is confidential and may be subject
> to legal privilege. If it is not intended for you please reply
> immediately, delete/destroy this email and do not store, forward, print,
> copy, disclose or use it in any way.
>
"Alan McGrath" <alanm@ihug.co.nz> wrote in message
news:f6nbk3$pce$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
>I have been giving a lot of thought to the latest Digital Cameras being
>offered by the various manufacturers. It would appear that the megapixel
>"war" has died down to be replaced by a "features" war. What I mean by
>"features" is the ability of the latest cameras to offer in their scenes
>mode such things as "beach, snow, fireworks "etc
Oh please, those are OLD. My seven years old Coolpix880 already boasted
them.
> Surely these "features" are simply camera settings. Surely if a camera,
> irrespective of age, has a full range of available settings then, provided
> the photographer has the skill, the camera can be adjusted to provide
> these "features".
True for exposure control, but not necessarily for other settings. E.g. for
a mode "Sunset" the in-camera converter might emphasize red colors when
converting the RAW image to JPEG. This converter setting is rarely (if at
all) configurable. Of course you could always just shoot RAW and do the
conversion later at the computer.
> Does anyone know of a list of "features" and the required camera settings
> to achieve such "features"?
Well, are you aware of those graphs that plot aperture against shutter speed
for "automatic" or "program" exposure mode on analog cameras? Now just add
ISO as a third dimension for digital cameras. And then you can pretty much
guess that "the required camera settings" is actually a rather complex graph
for each scene mode with different emphasis. Obviously for e.g. 'Portrait'
DOF is the major factor (aperture will be wider open than for 'program'),
for 'Sport' it's shutter speed, for 'Landscape' aperture will be smaller
than normal to get a large DOF, etc. I have not seen any graphs detailing
those exposure settings and I would even supsect those might be trade
secrets. But you would assume it's what any photographer would do manually
anyway.
And of course there are additional settings like turning off the flash for
e.g. 'Landscape'. No point in trying to illuminate Mt. Rainier with the
buildin flash of a P&S as I saw someone doing a few weeks ago.
> This email along with any attachments is confidential and may be subject
> to legal privilege.
Alan McGrath wrote:
> I have been giving a lot of thought to the latest Digital Cameras being
> offered by the various manufacturers. It would appear that the megapixel
> "war" has died down to be replaced by a "features" war. What I mean by
> "features" is the ability of the latest cameras to offer in their scenes
> mode such things as "beach, snow, fireworks "etc Surely these "features"
> are simply camera settings. Surely if a camera, irrespective of age, has a
> full range of available settings then, provided the photographer has the
> skill, the camera can be adjusted to provide these "features".
>
> Does anyone know of a list of "features" and the required camera settings to
> achieve such "features"?
>
> This email along with any attachments is confidential and may be subject to
> legal privilege. If it is not intended for you please reply immediately,
> delete/destroy this email and do not store, forward, print, copy, disclose
> or use it in any way.
>
>
It's all in an effort to enable the less serious photographer (the vast
majority of buyers) to get very good even if less than perfect results.
Not everyone wants to spend time with raw files and a photo editor after
having shot a couple of hundred prints.
Recognize that the needs of a professional wedding photographer differ
from those of a happy vacationer with lots of variation in between.
Also, it's a lot quicker to turn a dial than to navigate a barely
visible menu system in bright sunlight.
Dave Cohen
On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 16:34:02 +1000, "Joan" <joan@home.s> wrote:
: What is this bit of tripe doing in a newsgroup post?
:
: "Alan McGrath" <alanm@ihug.co.nz> wrote in message
: news:f6nbk3$pce$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
: >
: > This email along with any attachments is confidential and may be subject
: > to legal privilege. If it is not intended for you please reply
: > immediately, delete/destroy this email and do not store, forward, print,
: > copy, disclose or use it in any way.
He accidentally used the stationery from his law practice.
Jürgen Exner wrote:
> "Alan McGrath" <alanm@ihug.co.nz> wrote in message
> news:f6nbk3$pce$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
>
>>I have been giving a lot of thought to the latest Digital Cameras being
>>offered by the various manufacturers. It would appear that the megapixel
>>"war" has died down to be replaced by a "features" war. What I mean by
>>"features" is the ability of the latest cameras to offer in their scenes
>>mode such things as "beach, snow, fireworks "etc
>
>
> Oh please, those are OLD. My seven years old Coolpix880 already boasted
> them.
"boast"? I'd be ashamed to have a camera with such modes.
Alan Browne wrote:
> Jürgen Exner wrote:
>> "Alan McGrath" <alanm@ihug.co.nz> wrote in message
>> news:f6nbk3$pce$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
>>
>>> I have been giving a lot of thought to the latest Digital Cameras
>>> being offered by the various manufacturers. It would appear that
>>> the megapixel "war" has died down to be replaced by a "features"
>>> war. What I mean by "features" is the ability of the latest
>>> cameras to offer in their scenes mode such things as "beach, snow,
>>> fireworks "etc
>>
>>
>> Oh please, those are OLD. My seven years old Coolpix880 already
>> boasted them.
>
> "boast"? I'd be ashamed to have a camera with such modes.
Well, yeah.
But on the other hand they don't hurt anyone and for the occasional quick
snapshot they are just convenient.
>Alan Browne wrote:
>> Jürgen Exner wrote:
>>> "Alan McGrath" <alanm@ihug.co.nz> wrote in message
>>> news:f6nbk3$pce$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
>>>
>>>> I have been giving a lot of thought to the latest Digital Cameras
>>>> being offered by the various manufacturers. It would appear that
>>>> the megapixel "war" has died down to be replaced by a "features"
>>>> war. What I mean by "features" is the ability of the latest
>>>> cameras to offer in their scenes mode such things as "beach, snow,
>>>> fireworks "etc
>>>
>>>
>>> Oh please, those are OLD. My seven years old Coolpix880 already
>>> boasted them.
>>
>> "boast"? I'd be ashamed to have a camera with such modes.
>
>Well, yeah.
>But on the other hand they don't hurt anyone and for the occasional quick
>snapshot they are just convenient.
>
My Nikon F-70 film camera had 3 programmable memories that were quite
accessible. My Coolpix 4500 has programmable memories, but they are
buried deep in the menus. My D80 digital camera has no programmable
memories. Hmmm... is *that* progress???
The D80 does have several "scene" modes that I have yet to use. I
agree that the scene modes could be convenient for quick snapshots,
but I've never developed the habit of using them. Wouldn't it be
convenient, especially for the advanced photographer, if the scene
modes were "open" for the user to program as suits his particular and
changing needs?
jacksonmacd wrote:
> Wouldn't it be
> convenient, especially for the advanced photographer, if the scene
> modes were "open" for the user to program as suits his particular and
> changing needs?
That is indeed an idea that I would support very strongly.
It did happen to me a number of times that I thought "Oh, the preset mode is
almost good, just this picture should be underexposed by 2/3EV or the
shutter should be a bit slower this time or something similar".
Yes, there is always the P mode (and S and A and M). But the preset scene
modes aren't that bad, it's just that as you said I would very much like to
tweak them every now and then.
Or even program you own custom mode.
Latest Digital Camera Settings 
Linear Mode
