a1 Photo Tips

When shopping around for a digital SLR camera, it is easy to become overly hung up on brand names. For instance, Canon and Nikon seem to be the strongest brands in the camera market overall - and they have had that dominant position for as long as I can remember.

Now, since my first “real” SLR film camera, back in the 1970’s, happened to be a Canon (which I was quite happy with), and I later owned a budget-range Nikon SLR (which didn’t work right), I decided to be a worshipper of the Canon brand for ever after.

After these experiences, I wouldn’t even think of buying any other camera than a Canon! And, sure, Canon makes excellent cameras of all different kinds - from simple point-and-shoot to professional SLR’s. But so does Nikon.

What I am saying is: When making up your mind about which camera is right for you, then try to clear your mind from old prejudices. OK, I had a bad experience once with a Nikon camera - but that was very long ago and this particular camera type (I think it was called “Nikon EM”) disappeared from the market many years ago and is totally forgotten nowadays.

My advice to anyone looking around for a digital SLR camera are mainly focused on two things:

ONE: Look at The Lenses!

Ask yourself what types of lenses you are going to need, and check what each manufacturer has to offer in that range. Like, are you a bird enthusiast, and need fast telephoto lenses? Then check what Canon, Nikon, and all the rest have in stock for your particular needs.

Or you are into extreme macro photography - which manufacturer offers the best lenses for that special kind of application? Read magazines and search the Web, there are special sites devoted to field-testing all kinds of photo-gizmos. (For instance, Imaging-resource.com.)

Among the leading brands, you will probably find that they offer lenses of every conceivable kind, for every imaginable type of use. But their specifications may differ, as well as the prices.

TWO: Get a Feeling For The Camera Bodies!

What I mean by that is: it is very important that you feel good about actually using the camera. The controls should be placed so that you don’t have to search for them and the camera should feel well balanced when you hold it. You can get some idea about such things by reading reviews and looking at illustrations of the camera bodies, but actually holding a specimen is much better.

Sure, there are other things to consider also when comparing camera bodies. I am especially thinking about how well the camera handles shooting at high ISO-settings. Being able to use a high ISO-setting and still get an image of excellent quality is a great advantage - indeed one of the reasons to upgrade from a point-and-shoot digicam to an SLR, since the latter tend to do better at high ISO-settings.

At the time I write this, it appears that Nikon has the edge here, but this could change. One of the premium digital SLR’s from Nikon, the Nikon D700, permits shooting at up to ISO 6400 while keeping an excellent image quality! Canon hasn’t quite matched that yet, but their new Canon EOS 5D Mark II (pictured above, equipped with a 24-105 mm, f=4.0 zoom lens), which will be released later this year, has a new image sensor and may turn out to match the sensor used by Nikon in the D700.

The technical side of the photography world is indeed changing fast. I remember the days when built-in exposure metering in SLR cameras was a novelty and only available in the most expensive models. Nowadays, with digital technology being the new standard with cameras, you can get features so advanced that nobody could have even dreamed about them back in the 1900’s. Stuff like image stabilization for instance.

All that is fine, but the pictures don’t necessarily get any better. Like, you don’t automatically become a better driver because you now own a Ferrari instead of a Ford Pinto - although the Ferrari is probably more fun to drive. People get really hung up on drooling over the minute details of technical specifications of the latest digicam, rather than spending some of their precious time actually learning how to make better pictures. (Reading the manual that came with the new digital wonder is always a good start.)

Anyways, just to satisfy the camera nerds out there I am making a quick comparison between three full-frame digital SLR cameras here: the Sony Alpha DSLR-A900; the Nikon D700; and the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.
In case you wonder what full-frame means: it is by reference to those ancient roll-film cameras, which had a 24×36 mm negative format. It all began way way back, I think in the 1920’s, when someone got the idea of building a still-picture camera for 35 mm movie film. Thus, the Leica M-series camera was born; and it set the standard for a whole new generation of small and conveniently portable cameras. But I digress.

Digital cameras usually have a sensor format considerably smaller than 24×36 mm, due to the difficulty of building sensors that large. Only the most expensive, professional DSLR’s, have had “full-frame” sensors - up to very recently. Now, three top camera manufacturers are releasing full-frame feature-packed dSLR’s at quite competitive prices - if you consider around $2000-3000 to be “competitive”. Well, only a few years ago you’d pay several times more for a similar digicam, with fewer bells and whistles.

The Sony Alpha A900

The Sony Alpha A900 will be released sometime later this Fall. It sports an impressive 24.6 Megapixel image resolution - not bad at all! Actually, this is the highest sensor resolution of any 35 mm digital SLR yet announced.

The Sony A900 sports an in-camera image stabilization feature, achieved by having the sensor on a moving platter. This is branded as “SteadyShot Inside”, and is the first of its kind to come with a full-frame SLR digicam. (Other comparable digicams have image-stabilization built into some of the lenses.)

This dSLR camera has an optical viewfinder which is said to be very large and bright, by those who has seen it. On the rear panel you find a large 3-inch LCD display; used solely for reviewing of images, as well as for menus and status display. The Sony A900 does not offer digital live view capability.

The Sony Alpha A900 offers an ISO sensitivity range from 200 to 3,200, and this is expandable to a range of ISO 100 to 6,400. The shutter speed dial offers settings from 30 seconds to 1/8000 second, plus a bulb setting, and the x-sync is 1/250 second (or 1/200 second when SteadyShot is enabled).

The weight of this machine is substantial: 939 grams (2.07 pounds) for the body only. If you put on a lens like the Zeiss 24-70 mm f/2.8 zoom lens, you now need to lift 4.17 pounds (1,894 grams). This I think is about as heavy as the old Mamiya 645 medium-format camera I once had. On the other hand, professional-quality gear is usually not lightweight.

According to Sony, this digicam body includes sealing in various places to reduce ingress of moisture between the body panels, as well as at the various control dials and buttons. (One difference between consumer-level and professional cameras is that the latter have a more rugged and weather-proof construction.)

The Nikon D700

Nikon released this full-frame dSLR a few months ago. It has an image resolution of 12.1 Megapixels - quite respectable. The sensor is taken directly from the Nikon D3 digital SLR, and the D700 therefore has the same renowned image quality at high ISO as the D3 professional SLR - but in a more affordable camera body. Unlike the Sony A900, the Nikon D700 offers Live View - even two Live View modes (Handheld and Tripod).

The Nikon D700’s magnesium alloy body is sealed and said to “feel like a rock”, by those who has seen it, just like its predecessor. This camera body isn’t lightweight either; it weighs about 2.4 pounds (1,095 grams) with the battery and card. As compared to the Nikon D300, the D700 has a much larger optical viewfinder - more like that of the Nikon D3. The pentaprism is larger, too, than on the D300.

Overall, the Nikon D700 seems to have a lot of features in common with the top-of-the-line Nikon D3, which retails at nearly $5000; while you can buy a Nikon D700 for around half that amount of money!

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II

This new Canon flagship dSLR is slated to ship at the end of November 2008. Body-only weight is 1.78 pounds (810 grams), and although it is not as weather-proof as the professional Canon dSLR’s, it is claimed that the EOS 5D Mark II can function in light rain for “up to several minutes.” But I guess it’s wise to bring an umbrella anyway, in case of rainy weather.

Inside the camera body, there are a couple of hardware upgrades. Most notably the Canon EOS 5D Mark II has both a new image sensor and image processor. The Canon EOS-5D Mark II still uses a full-frame CMOS sensor developed by Canon, but the resolution of this has jumped from 12.8 to 21.1 megapixels i.e. same as the $8,000 Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III professional digital SLR, and only slightly less than the Sony Alpha A900! It’s actually not the same sensor, though, it has improvements in a some areas. Put briefly, Canon claims that the 5D Mark II offers noise levels significantly lower than those of the original 5D.

Also, the Canon 5D Mark II will ordinarily allow ISO sensitivities ranging from ISO 100 to 6,400, which is actually wider than the original 5D offered even when the expanded ISO range of 50 to 3,200 was enabled. (An “expanded” ISO range is enabled by the user, and may lead to somewhat lower image quality than the standard setting.)

Other notable improvements from the original 5D include a dust-removal system for the sensor, and a larger pentaprism.

What else… Oh, yes, now there is VIDEO, too! The EOS 5D Mark II has video-recording capability. The recording limit is 4 gigabyte recorded file, or 30 minutes of elapsed recording time - whichever comes first.

– Which one of these fantastic digicams would I buy? I am really not sure. Traditionally, I’ve been a fan of Canon cameras, but times change and I see the other top manufacturers come up with very competitive gear. The Nikon D700 has the advantage of very low image noise at high ISO-settings, while the Sony A900 seems weaker on that point, according to what I’ve read. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is said to have improved high-ISO performance but I haven’t seen any user reviews on that yet.

Being able to shoot at high ISO and yet get excellent image quality is a huge advantage - equivalent to avoiding the need of buying expensive and heavy large-aperture lenses for low-light situations.

Anyway, if I was seriously choosing between any of these three full-frame dSLR’s, I would look not only at the camera bodies but also check what lenses are offered by each company. After all, the picture quality is largely determined by the quality of the lens.