Did you get a 18 megapixel digital camera for Christmas? Well don’t believe what people are trying to tell you: digital photos are not exclusively supposed to be on your computer. Alright, we understood this is a new era and people don’t grab images anymore from an old family photo album. Nowadays, everything is digital, untangible, if it’s real, then it’s got to show up in your mailbox… I mean email box. There is no other way to look at them if they’re not on someone’s Flikr, on Facebook, Twitter or any other website out there in the cloud, or online digital space also known as the world wide web. Do you understand where I’m going? Print! Print your photos and mail them to your grand mother! Yes, I know this is sort of cliche to think old people don’t use the Internet and it’s false, they do too. But some people still attach a lot of importance to touching images, moving them around, keeping them in their wallets, pockets, etc.

Printing your photos is the best thing. You get to hang them on the wall, on your refrigerators and put them everywhere you desire to. If ever you didn’t already have a printer, every model of the Epson Stylus is usually of pretty good quality. Be sure you get the best Epson Stylus cx5400 cartridges for your Stylus cx5400. Some of them have different specificities and won’t render the image as well and it looked on the computer. You can also get combos and packs with all the colors you need.

Last thing you should think about when printing is the paper you want to use. Most of the time, people will be really happy to have purchased a camera with lots of pixels, but in reality, you will almost never use large paper to print images on, so you won’t need as much detail. If you’d like to print very large, you might want to consider professional printing services. Otherwise, just get some canon photo paper. You will not be disappointed by the quality of the prints.

Happy printing,
Ben

Choosing a lens for your DSLR can be confusing even for the seasoned photographer. There are so many different manufacturers of lenses with different features that choosing the best one for your needs may be difficult. Lenses can be quite expensive and are definitely a long-term investment so choosing the right one is crucial. In this post, I’m going to briefly describe the different features and qualities you should be looking out for when choosing your next lens. Don’t let your fancy 18 megapixel digital camera go to waste with that stock lens!

1. Type of camera/brand of camera: The first and most obvious thing you need to do is figure out what brand of camera that you have. Different brands use their own proprietary lens mounts. What makes lens mounts proprietary is that manufacturers will put different contacts on their mounts that won’t work with other brands’ lenses. These contacts allow the lens to be controlled by the body of the DSLR for things like aperture and auto focus. There are third party manufacturers like Sigma that make lenses for different brands of cameras that have mounts specific to that brand of camera.
2. Focal length: The second most important thing to consider when choosing a lens is how long of a focal length you’ll need for the types of photographs you want to take. If you are taking portraits and want to mimic the focal length of the human eye, a 50mm lens will be perfect. If you want to fit more detail than a normal human eye can perceive, you’ll want to get a wide angle lens with a focal length shorter than 50mm. While wide angle lenses are great, they often suffer from distortion, especially at the edges of the picture. If you want to shoot subjects that are far off in the distance, you’ll need a telephoto lens. These are great for bringing out the detail in a certain shot and will often create more bokeh, the effect of a blurred background, making the subject stand out in the photo. If you want to shoot things close up, you’ll want a “macro” lens which can reveal lots of detail close up with lots of beautiful bokeh.
3. Image stabilization/focusing: Next, you’ll want to figure out if your camera has image stabilization built into the camera body or not. Some manufacturers cut costs from their DSLRs by removing the motors that control image stabilization and focusing from the body of the camera. These cameras rely on the motors within a lens to perform stabilization and focusing. If you have a Canon camera, you’ll want to look for lenses with “USM” in the name because they focus more quickly and quietly than lenses that don’t have the “USM” designation. Nikon has a similar technology called Silent Wave Motor (SWM) or just shortened to “S” in its lens lineup. For Nikon lenses, you’ll want to look for “AF-S” lenses which designates that it has an auto focus motor inside the lens and implements the SWM technology.
4. Aperture: Aperture is a crucial specification to look at while shopping for lenses. The aperture rating of a lens will tell you how big of an opening it has, which tells you how much light it can let in. By studying what aperture each lens has, you’ll have a good idea of which lenses perform well in low light settings and which one will give you better depth of field. The number that denotes aperture (aka f-stops) is calculated by the ratio of the focal length over the diameter of the opening of the lens, which means smaller numbers are better. Some lenses will have fixed apertures, which means the aperture will stay the same throughout the full range of zoom. Most lenses though, will have changing apertures that change throughout the lens’ focal length.
5. Zoom vs. prime: Which brings us to the difference between zoom and prime lenses. Zoom lenses do exactly what their name suggests. You can change the focal length of the lens by zooming it in or out. A prime lens, on the other hand, has a fixed focal length. It may sound like a pain not having the ability to zoom but prime lenses are less complicated, faster, have better glass, and take better low light pictures. If you’re taking portraits, a prime 50mm lens is perfect.
6. Filters/effects: Lastly, when you feel comfortable enough with your camera, you may want to start experimenting with different photo effects and filters. The easiest way to experiment is to buy different filters for your lenses, which are usually pretty cheap. If you feel like being more creative, you can try using fish eye lenses or bespoke lenses like the Lensbaby, which takes very unique and beautiful shots. You can even experiment by using vintage lenses!

Not all of us need an insane 18 megapixel digital camera that costs as much as a used car. DSLRs are huge and require its users to have advanced knowledge of exposure, aperture, and other features of a camera to get the most out of them. For those looking for a casual camera that takes great photos, there are plenty of great point and shoot cameras out there of all different shapes, sizes, and prices. Lets take a look at the top seven point and shoot digital cameras.

1. Canon Powershot S95

When Canon first introduced the Powershot S90, it was a big success and a hit with those looking for a compact camera that took great photos. The Powershot S95 improves upon the S90 by adding 720p video capture, better image stabilization and a few more manual shooting features.

The S95 still retains its iconic rotatable ring around the lens that you can program to perform different tasks like setting ISO or for focusing. Pictures are still stellar even at higher ISOs though its best performance will be found at ISO 400 and below. This camera surprisingly shoots in RAW, which is useful if you do not want any compression for your photos.

The S95 is still solidly built out of metal but forgoes an optical viewfinder and hot shoe for an external flash because of its super compact body. If you are looking for these features, you can find them on the S95′s bigger brother, the Canon G12.

2. Canon Powershot G12

Speaking of the Powershot G12, this is the most expensive camera on the list that straddles the line between point and shoot and entry level DSLR. The G12 is built like a tank and now comes with update features like 720p video recording at 24 frames per second, a swivel screen, an high dynamic range (HDR) shooting mode, and stereo mics.

This camera is the perfect companion for those who don’t want to bother packing their DSLR and lenses with them. The camera is definitely bigger than most point and shoot cameras but much smaller than even the smallest DSLR.

Photo quality is excellent but reviews have stated that shot to shot performance could have been better. The G12 shoots in RAW and has plenty of manual features to satisfy the amateur or professional photographer. Battery life is acceptable, averaging almost 400 shots before needing a recharge.

3. Canon Powershot A3300 IS

The A series of cameras has always been Canon’s budget line of point and shoot cameras but the revision of their entire A line has turned them into some of the best cameras for the money. The Powershot A3300 IS is the top of the line A series but still manages to sell for under $180. This is impressive considering this camera takes great photos and has a myriad of features like different shooting modes and artistic filters, no doubt to try and emulate the success of smartphone apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic.

The only downsides of this camera is that photos begin to become grainy at ISOs above 200 and low light performance is also not very good. Shot to shot times are pretty poor, making you wait almost 4 seconds between each shot.

Besides those minor gripes, the Powershot A3300 IS is a very sold camera, especially for the price.

4. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V is a technological tour de force. It has so many features that it may be confusing to the amateur photographer. It comes with a GPS chip for geotagging your photos, 1080p/60fps video recording, 3D panorama mode, and a slew of manual shooting controls.

Pictures are great, although reviewers have stated that the photos looks  bit soft. Fortunately photos don’t suffer from excessive noise reduction until ISO 800. While not in the same league as the Canon G12, this Sony is a solid mega zoom camera that packs a 16x optical zoom. This is great for shooting things that are far off in the distance. Image stabilization helps keep the pictures from blurring.

If you’re looking for a camera that takes great photos as well as shooting great video, it’s hard to go wrong with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V.

5. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9

If you’re looking for a midrange camera that shares many of the same functions of the more impressive DSC-HX9V, then the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9 is a good choice. It shares many of the great automatic shooting modes of its bigger brother but at a much lower price (sub $200).

As a midrange camera, don’t expect great low light performance or quick shot to shot times. Reviewers noticed that the pictures it took were good but looked a bit soft. Noise reduction, like for its bigger brother, doesn’t really start to become noticeable until  ISO 800 and higher.

Although this is far from the simplest camera to use, it is a solid camera for the price.

6. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX9

If you’re looking for a super compact, stylish, and ultra-thin digital camera, Sony offers the Cyber-shot DSC-TX9. Although its picture quality is average, it comes with a ton of different shooting modes and its easy to use touch screen interface may be enough to entice some customers.

Shot to shot times are great for a point and shoot but having the flash on will delay shots significantly. Low light performance is good, making it a good camera to have at parties or other venues with dim lighting. Battery life is mediocre as well so keep the charger handy. This camera shoots 1080i for video.

7. Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

Panasonic’s Lumix line of cameras has always offered a great alternative to Canon’s line of mega zooms and compact cameras. The Lumix DMC-LX5 is a direct competitor to Canon’s Powershot S95 that I talked about earlier. While both cameras take great shots, the Powershot S95 has better JPEG image processing than the Lumix LX5. The Lumix makes photos look soft and less detailed when shooting in JPEG mode. Luckily, shooting in RAW with the DMC-LX5 is a different story. RAW mode gives great picture quality.

The LX5 records video but is definitely not the reason to get this camera. It is merely a nice bonus feature. Audio quality for videos is inferior to the S95 but offers the same 720p video recording as the S95, though at a higher frame rate (24 vs 30 fps.)

Despite having poor JPEG image processing, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is a great camera that takes great shots in RAW and is one of the fastest performers in its class.