Going Digital – Part 1
I am frequently asked if my camera is digital. The answer is an undeniable – yes. Then I sense a more troubling question lurking under the surface. “Are you thinking of switching?” I ask. This seems to relieve the pressure and the questions start to flow. One of the common questions is – how different is digital from film. Simple question by itself, but the answer is more complex.
As far as taking a picture is concerned – digital cameras are no different from film cameras. I initially had the same concerns. I bought a used digital camera simply to experiment and to understand this digital photography stuff. At first, I took pictures using a very slow shutter speed and then tried panning. Lo and behold, the pictures were blurred – exactly how they would have appeared on film had the camera been a film camera. I’m not exactly sure what I expected or why I thought the two media would have recorded different images, but for some unknown reason, I thought that a digital camera would not capture motion. How absurd – but I had to find out for myself.
I have since discovered of course, the basic concept of taking pictures with a digital camera is no different from taking picture with a film camera. You set the exposure – speed and aperture, compose, focus and press the shutter. But there is not shutter, I hear people ask. On some cameras, this is true, but the camera still has a button that has to be activated in order for the camera to capture the image. Just pretend it is a real shutter button. Early on, many people were unsure if they had actually taken a picture because, there was no sound of an actual shutter – no evidence that a picture had actually been captured, some camera manufactures introduced the sound of a real shutter into their cameras to help people overcome this ’silent shutter’ anxiety.
The next thing that is immediately different is the view screen. People immediate found this to be a more convenient way to compose a picture. Use it by all means, but realise that this is a miniature TV screen and that the image you are viewing is a re-composition of what the sensor is detecting, which means there is a slight delay between what you see and what you get.
There are a lot more settings on a digital camera than on a film camera. This is true. This is because a digital camera is basically a small computer with a single input device – a lens, behind which is a light sensor. This ‘computer’ has a dedicated program that is controlled by way of input parameters. Luckily, the majority of digital cameras have one important setting – “P” which stands for Program. This “P” setting grants the camera full control over the settings.
I’ll let you into a secret – I use this “P” a lot. If I have no idea what setting I need in a certain situation, I switch my SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera to “P” and let it decide what parameters need to be set. In my line of work, a “reasonable” picture is better than no picture. This is because situations only exist once and only exist for a fleeting moment Fortunately, the “P” setting produces better than “reasonable” results.