Pixels aren’t everything—the lens still matters most

BY GREGORY COAN

I was a photographer long before I was a computer geek, and it has been both a blessing and a curse that the two fields have merged. This article is more of a philosophical explanation of digital camera technology rather than a specific product review, in the hopes it can clear up some of the marketing hype that engulfs the industry.

Historically, film cameras touted their features and their lenses. The most important investment one could make on camera hardware was the lens. This is still true for digital cameras, because it doesn't matter how many megapixels your camera can render—if you're filtering light through a cheap lens that is what will appear in your photos: soft corners, uneven focusing and bad color reproduction.

Film was (well, is still) sold at different ASA ratings. The lower the number, the finer the grain structure. In a way this can be related to the megapixel number on a camera sensor when it comes to print output. For instance, a 100ASA film can be printed much larger than an 800ASA film without the grain structure showing. The same holds true for digital cameras. Obviously a 25MP camera can yield much larger prints than a 5MP camera. If you are going to post most of your photos online, almost any current camera will suffice.

During the last year, the gap between point-and-shoot digital cameras and DSLR cameras has begun to overlap in that each can make pictures in the 14MP range. For a point-and-shoot camera, this is quite amazing. I bought a Canon 5D DSLR the first year it was released and now there are point and shoot cameras available that yield the same megapixels at about one-tenth the price. Naturally, you can't change lenses on a point-and-shoot, and there is less functionality, but the average consumer has so many good, affordable digital cameras to choose from now.

As a general buying guide you have to ask yourself some questions. The most important is, "Do I really need to have the highest megapixel camera available today?" Camera manufacturers are in the megapixel marketing war but don't for a minute believe this is the only thing you need in a camera. If you aren't ever going to print anything larger than 8-by-10 you could live with a really good 8MP camera.

Many people still bring their memory cards to photo labs for printing, but it's quite easy to get great photographic prints at home with modern inkjet printers. Part of the shopping budget should be allocated to getting a good printer if you are going to print yourself. Epsons and Canons still lead the pack. It's no less exciting to make a great print yourself in the digital "darkroom" as it is seeing the photo appear in a tray in a traditional darkroom.

The most important thing on any camera is still the lens. If you need quality options in lenses, you should consider a DSLR. You can buy a DSLR body for a reasonable price and then spend good money on quality lenses. Your pictures will be sharp and rich, beyond the quality of any film camera you've ever owned.

Of course DSLR's are bulky, and I love the small point and shoot digital cameras available today. Some of the best lenses are on the Panasonic Lumix line, as the glass is made by legendary camera company Leica. Canon and Nikon also make very nice point and shoot cameras.

It's great to see the large camera companies stay at the forefront of technology and I suggest you start with and research the name brands before considering a lesser known company because of a lesser price. Most of the time in digital photography, you get what you pay for.

Try to ignore image processing gimmicks that happen in-camera. One recent built-in feature I saw was called the "MakeUp" mode. This will try to automatically find and correct defects on people's skin in the image. Without getting into the argument about altering reality (which I'm not against), the thing to remember is the less the camera does to your raw image, the more control you will have over it in the end. It's fun to alter images, but you always want the original in the arrchive--think of it as you did your old film negatives.

Finally, remember there are plenty of costs beyond the initial purchase price of the camera itself. You will almost immediately have to buy more memory cards for the camera itself. A growing problem with cameras that produce greater than 10MP images is storage. Be prepared to buy extra hard drives or DVD media for backing up all the photos.

Photography habits have changed over the years. When I shot on a 36 exposure roll of film I was more careful what I was shooting. Now that I have huge amounts of digital capability I shoot more pictures, but I have to find a place to store them. In the end it may equal out to what we used to pay for film but it remains a concern as you shop for that perfect image companion.