Mark Goldstein News Archive

AUTOFOCUS: Making sense of the blur

Mark Goldstein — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:39:47 +0000

First it was red-eye, now camera makers want to give us blur free images

Rewind to the early-1990s and the most important question for any aspiring Indie kid was “Blur or Oasis?”. The Gallagher brothers and Oasis went on to become the biggest selling band of the two, though I'd argue that Damon and Blur made the better music.

Back to 2006, and a different kind of blur is making a big impression on the photography industry. Camera manufacturers seem to have united to declare war on the evil phenomenon of blur, blaming it for ruining photos of friends and loved ones and have introduced various ways of banishing it forever.

Now, this may be just a cynical new way to try and differentiate a product in what is already an extremely crowded market-place, but anything that promises to improve overall picture quality can only be a good thing.

Blurry photos are commonly caused by hand-shake, which is in turn caused by not using a fast enough shutter speed for the specific lighting conditions.

This usually occurs indoors, where dim overhead lighting is not powerful enough, or when a long focal length on the lens is used. The manufacturers know that the general consumer probably won't have the faintest idea about shutter speeds, and anyway, you can't actually set the shutter speed yourself on most compact digital cameras.

So they are adding more automatic features to their cameras in an attempt to improve picture quality and appeal to the consumer, as the number of megapixels (thankfully) ceases to be the most important reason for buying a particular camera.

This year's PMA photography show saw most of the major manufacturers announce new cameras with anti-blur technology.

There are two main ways to reduce blur, very fast ISO speeds (1600 or above) or image stabilisation. Fujifilm are the leaders in the ISO field - the new Finepix F30 has an amazingly fast ISO speed of 3200, and based on the performance of the previous F10 model, it should prove to be very usable with minimal visible noise (another common problem that afflicts compact digicams).

The ISO method requires a sophisticated image sensor that doesn't produce too many unwanted artefacts, so most manufacturers have opted for the image stabilisation route instead. With this method, either the camera's lens or image sensor is mechanically balanced, reducing hand-shake at slower shutter speeds and therefore reducing blur.

Ultimately, either of these approaches will produce very similar results, and cameras with either a fast ISO speed or image stabilisation (or maybe even both) will be more effective at producing sharper photos in low-light conditions.

They will almost certainly be more expensive too, so you should take a look back at your photos and see how many of them were actually ruined by blur before parting with that extra cash.

This very recent trend of blur-reducing technology in consumer cameras is definitely “A Good Thing”, just make sure that it's the Oasis you're looking for (sigh…).

AUTOFOCUS: Overwhelmed by digital choice? The silly season has started

Mark Goldstein — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 00:35:36 +0000

The silly season has officially started and 100s of new photography related products are about to be announced

The silly season has officially started. No, not Christmas or the New Year sales - it's the start of the show season, when literally 100s of new photography related products are announced within the space of just 2 months.

January and February are when most of the new products for 2006 are unveiled, starting with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and ending with the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show at the end of February.

With CES now over there were no less than 25 new cameras announced in the at the show alone, not to mention all of the new printers, scanners, memory cards and numerous other accessories. Kodak, HP, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Sony and Pentax have all announced new cameras for 2006, which supersede the previous models. There are some obvious names missing from that list - the likes of Canon, Nikon and Olympus will probably wait until PMA to introduce their new products.

So what's a potential camera buyer to do? Should you buy the bargain camera that you've spotted in the January sales? Or should you wait until the silly season has ended and then choose a newer model? There are definitely some great bargains on offer right now, as retailers try to clear their shelf space for the imminent influx of new models.

If the camera meets your current needs, why wait for the next model? Especially when many cameras that are announced at CES or PMA won't actually be available until March or even later. And especially when those cameras are essentially minor updates of existing models. Remember, a camera is of no use to you if it's sitting on the shelf in your local shop, or still waiting to leave the manufacturer's factory in 3 months time.

Having said that, there are a couple of products at CES that have caught my eye and which offer something a little different to the norm. Kodak made the headlines at last year's CES with the Wi-Fi EasyShare One camera. This time around the US giant has announced a digital camera with not one, but two lenses, a normal 3x zoom lens and a 23mm wide-angle lens, which is an intriguing response to the problem of providing a good focal range. If you want a 3-inch LCD screen on your camera, then several manufacturers have the model for you - Fujifilm with the V10 Zoom, HP with the Photosmart R927 and Sony with the Cybershot N1.

And who knows what will be revealed at PMA, which is traditionally the busiest conference of the year? New digital SLRs from companies including Olympus, Panasonic, Sony and Samsung are rumoured, so if you're currently looking for a DSLR then it's probably worth waiting until February 26th.

But wait, I haven't even mentioned Photokina yet, the bi-annual show held in Germany in October, which is even bigger than CES and PMA. What do you mean, you're off to the January sales?

Mark Goldstein is the editor of PhotographyBLOG(), a popular digital camera website which supplies a daily dose of photography news, articles, reviews and debate

AUTOFOCUS: Buying the right digital camera

Mark Goldstein — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:00:30 +0000

In the first of a new series, AUTOFOCUS will be bringing into focus issues and hot topics from the digital camera world every month. This month, Mark Goldstein looks at how digital cameras are more accessible than ever before.

Digital photographers have never had it so good. Fact. Go back in time just 3 years, and who would have believed that you would be able to buy a 5 megapixel camera for �100, a 7 megapixel model for �200, and a DSLR with a lens for �450 in 2005?

All of these prices are from a single, world-renowned online retailer beginning with a capital “A”, and all of them are from established and respected camera manufacturers (Olympus, Sony and Nikon respectively).

This isn't just a seasonal promotion; the main driving force is the fierce competition between the various camera companies, who have to offer more features for less money in order to come out on top in what has become a saturated market.

The consumer is the ultimate winner, with more choice and value on offer than ever before, but be warned - this could just be a passing phase. After a tough financial year, most of the big players have recently declared that they are shifting their focus to more expensive digital SLR cameras, which typically give a much higher profit margin than low-end compacts. DSLRs will undoubtedly become cheaper with better specifications than today, but this may be at the expense of the compact digicam.

So now is the time to act for all you casual snappers. There has never been so much choice. Walking into your local camera shop can be a bewildering experience, and without any prior research you will probably leave with the camera that the retailer wanted to sell to you, rather than the one that most suited you.

Take some time to sit down and decide on the key things that you want your camera to do. For example, the size of prints that you make will determine how many megapixels the camera should have - if you're only going to order 6x4 inch prints at your local store, then a 4 or 5 megapixel camera is more than sufficient.

You should also budget for additional accessories, as most digital camera kits don't provide everything that you need. Top of your list should be some large capacity memory cards, as the one supplied in the box is usually so small that it can only store a few images.

Next are spare batteries and a case to stop your shiny new purchase from becoming scratched and dog-eared. All of this can add up to around an extra 25% of the cost of the camera, but hey, it's inexpensive in the first place, and at least you can choose exactly which accessories you want.

Buying on the Internet is almost always the cheapest route, but not necessarily the best for first-time buyers. Trying out a range of different models in your local shop will give you a great idea of what you like and dislike, and is always my first piece of advice for any would-be digicam owner.

So if you bear all of this in mind, you should grab yourself a bargain that will capture more than a few Christmas memories.

Mark Goldstein is the editor of PhotographyBLOG(), a popular digital camera website which supplies a daily dose of photography news, articles, reviews and debate.