The makings of a road-worthy digital camera

Tag : Digital Camera Batteries

With the possible exception of weddings, puppies and toddlers - andweddings with puppies and toddlers - no topic inspires people to capture themoment with a photograph more than travel.
And, sadly, no other topic produces more mediocre photos.
Improving your digital images on the road is partly about bettertraining (a topic for a future column), but also about theequipment - especially at a time when the technology is almost asextraordinary as it is confusing.
Because there is a mind-numbing number of point-and-shoot models onthe market - for consumers and "prosumers" - we're going to focuson a few things to consider about a digital camera suited fortravel, thereby improving your odds at becoming the next starphotographer for National Geographic.
Aperture and shutter speed flexibility: In an art form that is mostly about light, these are the buildingblocks. Manual control of the aperture (how much light gets in) orthe shutter speed (how long the light gets in) is the best (if notonly) way to deal with odd lighting situations, including sunsets,silhouettes, night shots and building interiors without flash. Lookfor a model with settings for Aperture Priority, Shutter Priorityand Manual.
Portability: Sure, you can bring along the mondo-deluxe DSLR, a tripod, monsterlenses and a professional strobe, but by the time you set it allup, the picturesque piazza is empty, the birds are gone and the sunhas gone down. You're usually better off with a camera that you canwhip out and that powers up quickly. And, frankly, many consumer-and prosumer-level cameras have the same practical functions as thepricy DSLRs, just with fewer techno bells and whistles (which thegreat majority of nonpro photographers have no idea how to use,anyway).
Low shutter lag: Almost all consumer digital cameras have a significant shutterlag, the pause between pushing the button and the shutter opening.In general, shutter lag is about 0.5 to 0.8 seconds. It doesn'tseem like much - until you realize that the average person running(children playing, waiters hustling, your spouse escaping agrizzly) travels about 10 mph, or 14.6 feet per second.
With a 0.7 second shutter lag, the subject of your photo moved morethan 10 feet - and probably out of the picture. The pro models havea nonexistent shutter lag; for under $500, look for 0.4 to 0.5seconds. (The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9, Consumer Reports' highestscoring compact camera, has 0.4 second lag. It's also one of thefew models with a one-second "next shot" delay; most models are twoto three seconds.)
Wide-angle lens: It's one of the biggest reasons magazine photos have depth andscope and yours still look like scrapbook snapshots. Similar to theway a zoom lens will compress distance, a wide-angle will expandit, making close subjects look closer and distant objects appeareven farther.
Unfortunately, fewer than 1 in 50 consumer cameras comes with alens wider than the standard 34-38mm - a focal length that tends tobe generic and flat.
The only company offering several models with a 28mm equivalentlens is Panasonic with its Lumix series (DMC-TZ5, FX100, FX55,FZ18). The TZ-5 had the most other useful features, including 9megapixel resolution and a 10x zoom.) Only one point-and-shoot -the Ricoh Caplio GX100 - offers a 24mm lens.
(A wide-angle adapter for a point-and-shoot camera is an option,but more than likely it will block some or all of the built-inflash. See below.)
Batteries versus battery packs: It's not very green-thinking, but in remote areas of the world, AAbatteries may be easier to find than a place to plug in your cameracharger. No power, no pictures. (Several Canon PowerShot cameras,including the highly rated S5 IS, use AA batteries, as do severalFujifilm models.)
Zoom: The zoom capability is usually a number that is the multiplicationof your widest view. For instance, if your widest view is theequivalent of a 36mm lens and the camera advertises a 4x opticalzoom, then your lens zooms to the equivalent of a 144mm lens.
While zoom is not as important to travel photography as a wideangle, a 10x zoom should give adequate flexibility. (Tip: In theuser settings, turn off "Digital Zoom," a useless feature thatallows the camera to zoom further by, essentially, guessing what'sthere. The result is usually more pixelated than a hot tub scene in"The Girls Next Door.")
Megapixels: By now, most folks understand that camera megapixels relates tophoto resolution - the higher number (usually) equals betterresolution. For family photos, you don't really need more than 7megapixels, and unless you're planning on printing family photosthe size of a billboard, 10 should be fine for good travel prints.
With a more upscale camera, the list grows:
Hot shoe: An outlet for attaching an external flash, particularly if youattach a wide-angle adapter that blocks the built-in flash. This isone of the features that typically separates consumer cameras fromprosumers (Canon G9, Nikon Coolpix P5100).
Polarizing filter (circular): Ever wonder how they get those deep-blue skies and blue-greenoceans in the travel magazines? Now you know. Only cameras that canbe fitted with adapters, however, can use filters.