Digital Photography Tips

In my last blog post of this sequence I’m going to highlight what I think the best digital camera is for under $100 (See also: under $200 and under $300). While most consumer cameras range in the $200 - $500 range there are nevertheless good options available for digital cameras that are less than $100 for those of you on a tight budget.

The downside to buying cameras in this price range is that they are really point and click cameras with very little manual control. You will be able to change your cameras settings from landscape to night shot and other pre programs settings but manual shutter speed and aperture control are going to be hard to find in this price range.

This means that cameras in this price range are really glorified point and click cameras. That being said, they can be a great choice for people new to photography or just getting into digital picture taking. For less than $100 you can get the Nikon Coolpix L11 Digital Camera which boasts a price tag of $99.99 and offers many great features which I’ll outline below.

Features of the Nikon Coolpix L11 Digital Camera (approximately $99.99)

6 megapixels

Lets you shoot movies with sound

ISO sensitivity: Auto (auto gain ISO 64-800)

Built in flash

Lens: 3x Zoom-Nikkor; 6.2-18.6mm (35mm [135] format picture angle: 37.5-112.5mm); f/2.8-5.2; 6 elements in 5 groups; digital zoom: up to 4x (35mm [135] format picture angle: approx. 450mm)

However, there are many cameras that can achieve these goals. What I like most about his camera is the color it produces, the relatively high megaipxel count and the great reviews it’s received online and offline. It has a perfect 5 star rating on Wolf Camera with 9 reviews (to date). People’s expectations seem to be surpassed when they purchase this digital camera which costs them less than $100. Not a bad deal!

I’ve already received some responses from my last post about the best camera on the market right now for under $300 and I’ve been inspired to write another article on the best camera for less than $200. After speaking with people and reading reviews online I’ve concluded that one of the best value for money digital cameras you can get right now for less than $200 is the FujiFilm FinePix A900 Digital Camera.
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I like this camera the most out of camera’s in the price range for the following reasons. Firstly, I feel that too many consumers who buy cameras in this price range are overly focused on the megapixel count. They put all of their energy in finding the camera with the largest megapixel count with complete disregard for other features. I feel that as a photographer looking to do more with your camera than just point and click you should demand some manual control (above and beyond changing your setting from “portrait” to “landscape”). I’m talking about real control: Shutter speed and aperture control.

The FujiFilm FinePix A900 offers this manual control while still providing a high megapixel count (9 megapixels). Best of all the camera only cost $140 to $180 depending on where you buy it. Here are some other features of the camera.

Shutter speed: 4 sec. to 1/1200 sec.

Aperture: Wide-angle: F2.9/7.1

ISO 100/200/400/800

Self-timer: Approx. 10 sec./2 sec.delay

Digital Zoom: Approx. 7.6 X

It also has a perfect 5 star rating (with 13 reviews) as of today’s date. This is no small feature considering consumers are highly sensitive to new cameras and are happy to voice their negative experience with their cameras. This camera seems to exceed peoples expectations in terms of picture quality and color quality.

So there you have it. My recommendation for a good digital camera under $200.

I hope you find this blog and review helpful. Take care for now.

I get a lot of new photography students asking questions about purchasing their next “upgrade” camera. Usually it’s a debate between price and camera quality. I find that most people want to advance from their beginner level cameras and often move on to something with a higher megapixel count and more manual control.

Well for those of you who are at this stage, I have done a little groundwork for you and searched for what I think is one of your best options for a mid range priced camera with a lot of great features.

I have both searched for user reviews online and have gone into some big chains (best buy, future shop etc) to scout out what I think a good camera would be for both beginner and advanced photographers.

I found the “Canon PowerShot SX100 IS” to be a really good overall deal. In Canada it is currently selling for about $350 and in the US it’s about $299 (But like always, prices vary). It’s a good deal for what you get and it provides loads of great features. Let me give you the basic run down of some of the more important elements.

Aperture Range
f/2.8 - f/4.3

Digital Sensor Size
8.3MP

Digital Zoom
4X

Exposure Compensation
+/- 2EV In 1/3 Steps

Flash Range
1.6′ - 9.8′ (W), 1.6′ - 6.6′ (T)

Focus Range
0.39″ – Infinity

Included Digital Media
16MB

ISO Rating
Auto/80/100/200/400/800/1600

LCD Monitor Size
“2.5″

Movie Mode
Yes

Optical Zoom
10X

Shutter Speed
15 - 1/2500 Seconds

Best of all it has some great features that most film cameras have that I love so much. For example, as you’re learning how to take pictures it’s good to practice with shutter speed and aperture control independently of each other. This camera offers both aperture and shutter speed “priority”. This means you can manually control your shutter speed while the camera automatically adjusts for the property aperture control or you can play around with depth of field by manually controlling your aperture while the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed to ensure you get the proper exposure.

However, for advanced users, you can set it to complete “manual” allowing you great creative freedom to control both the shutter speed and aperture control.

Overall the “Canon PowerShot SX100 IS” is a great $300′ish camera deal giving both the beginner and advanced photographer great value for their money.

Most digital cameras have ISO speed control built within them. In film cameras ISO speed is a gauge of a films sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO number the more sensitive the film is. This is why photographers will use lower ISO Speeds such as (100 or 200) when shooting outdoors in bright conditions but use an ISO of 800 when taking photographs at night.

However, higher film ISO speeds often lead to a ‘grainier’ look due to a difference in film construction. Often this look is desirable and adds to the overall feel of a higher ISO speed photograph if the photographer is using film.

With digital photography a higher ISO speed also allows you to take photographs at night making the CCD chip in your camera more sensitive to light. And like film cameras the digital camera which uses a higher ISO speed will also have a ‘graininess” look to it. The major difference with digital photography graininess is that it looks terrible. If you were to enlarge a photograph which was taken with a high ISO speed from a digital camera you would notice that the graininess isn’t so “grainy” at all. In fact, it looks like little bunches of random pixelated colors. It’s nothing more than picture distortion.

For the highest resolution possible using digital cameras (even cameras with a low megapixel count) try using the smallest ISO speed possible to ensure you get rid of this color distortion.

As a photographer you need to make quick decision. Lower ISO speeds are not always possible in low lighting situations. Sometimes you’ll just need to use higher ISO speeds in order to make your CCD chip more sensitive to light. The alternative is using a lower ISO speed and using a longer shutter exposure time. This obviously won’t work if you’re trying to capture a moving object but it will be helpful if you’re trying to capture a static object by allowing more light in to “expose” your CCD chip for a longer period of time.

I hope this helps.

(The first image is an ISO 50 image and the second was taken in the same lighting but used ISO 800. Both photographs are blown up 500% to help show the effects of ISO speed).