Digital Cameras-Christmas 2005
As we have for the past several years at this time we devote some attention to the ever-changing digital camera marketplace.
First mentioned in this space in 1996, digital photography has become one of the most embraced of all technologies, racing from relative obscurity when the equipment was bulky, flaky and unpredictable to the point where the sheer amount of choice has become overwhelming.
In that ten year period, digital photography, along with the Internet, has matured in such a way that most photographs taken nowadays exist only electronically, shared as they are through e-mail, blogs and online services such as Flickr, the one-time Vancouver company snapped up a few months back by Yahoo!
While digital photography has matured to mainstream acceptance, enterprises such as DJIA cornerstone Kodak have had to re-invent themselves for the electronic age.
This year’s lower mainland digital cameras survey, available online at www.ndrs.org/iol/cameras.htm, shows just how rapidly the technology has changed in just the past three years. Almost vanished from the marketplace are cameras with less than four megapixel resolution, and coming on strong are those at eight and higher.
Megapixel rating still remains a key criterion for rating digital cameras but savvy customers this year are demanding faster response, better battery life, bigger LCD screens and brand-name optics. No more plastic lenses and fuzzy optics (except in “free” digital cameras given away by car dealerships!).
Maturation of the market has meant a consolidation in manufacturers. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see that consolidation continue and to see some of the smaller players such as Casio, HP and Samsung withdrawing from the field. Epson, the manufacturer of the first digital camera reviewed in this column, almost ten years ago, has just one camera left in its product line.
This year’s market sweet spot, where price and available features are optimum, is without a doubt five megapixels, and the field beyond is expanding rapidly right through to twelve. Almost thirty of eighty spots on the list belong to five MP cameras, the big three, Canon, Kodak and Sony taking half of those listings.
Kodak continues to impress with its wide range of releases, from the very inexpensive point and shoot with no optical zoom capability right up to the higher resolutions and double-digit zoom factors.
Nikon, long king of the film camera, appears to have abandoned its quirky line of twist and rotate digitals for solid performers in standard bodies, including a model with built-in wireless downloading capability.
Sony continues to innovate, particularly at the high end with its hybrid R1 that marries some of the better attributes of point-and-shoot units with those of a professional camera. At 10 MP this unit takes superb photographs and its combined wide angle and five times zoom lens will likely curry favour with those who can never get family shots to quite fit.
Mind you, at $1300 this is no consumer product. And that takes us to the technology where the field is growing most rapidly, the digital single lens reflex (DSLR) market. DSLRs are today’s equivalent of the ca. $300 print cameras we toted around from the 70s through the 90s. They are pricey, typically $900 and up (the sky’s the limit) but they take superb shots, all without the annoying delay typically associated with other digital cameras.
Six DSLRs appear on this year’s survey, three from Canon, two from Nikon and one from Pentax. In this segment Canon appears to be aiming at the 8 MP and above level. Although there are just seven listings in our 8 MP category it could well be that this will be next year’s market sweet spot, for both DSLRs and point-and-shoots.
For now, Canon’s Rebel XT (known elsewhere as the 350D, and the camera used by BCC photographers) seems to be the market leader in DSLRs at the 8 MP level. The unit is typically offered with a reasonably good 18-55mm lens for around $1100, but the real plus for serious photographers is its ability to accept existing lenses from film cameras.
Image sensors and processors, the heart of the digital photography process, have improved dramatically over the past couple of years, the net effect being big improvements in speed, as measured by the time between successive shots, low-light shooting and action shooting.
Digital photography is an exciting field, with entry points for beginner and professional alike. Prints from digital images are cheaper and of higher quality than ever before. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the best deal possible, now is the time to jump in, even if there will be a better product available tomorrow.
Be sure to check out our list with its links to detailed specifications for cameras at prices from $150 to well over $4000, all conveniently grouped by resolution and with prices from up to three local vendors.
Products of the week
Writely: a terrific example of the Internet’s ability to deliver web-based software applications. Go ahead, start a collaborative writing project with your cousin overseas. You’ll be amazed at the capabilities of this on-line word processor. At www.writely.com.
Local.live.com: not “live” but nevertheless stunning aerial photography, currently only for a handful of American cities, presented in a most interesting way by the software engineers at Microsoft. As the name suggests, at local.live.com (no “www”). To whet your appetite, check out several examples at www.ndrs.org/physicsonline/locallivecom.htm.
Peter Vogel is a Physics and Computer Sciences teacher at Notre Dame Regional Secondary School (www.ndrs.org). Suggestions and comments may be sent via email to peterv@portal.ca.
First mentioned in this space in 1996, digital photography has become one of the most embraced of all technologies, racing from relative obscurity when the equipment was bulky, flaky and unpredictable to the point where the sheer amount of choice has become overwhelming.
In that ten year period, digital photography, along with the Internet, has matured in such a way that most photographs taken nowadays exist only electronically, shared as they are through e-mail, blogs and online services such as Flickr, the one-time Vancouver company snapped up a few months back by Yahoo!
While digital photography has matured to mainstream acceptance, enterprises such as DJIA cornerstone Kodak have had to re-invent themselves for the electronic age.
This year’s lower mainland digital cameras survey, available online at www.ndrs.org/iol/cameras.htm, shows just how rapidly the technology has changed in just the past three years. Almost vanished from the marketplace are cameras with less than four megapixel resolution, and coming on strong are those at eight and higher.
Megapixel rating still remains a key criterion for rating digital cameras but savvy customers this year are demanding faster response, better battery life, bigger LCD screens and brand-name optics. No more plastic lenses and fuzzy optics (except in “free” digital cameras given away by car dealerships!).
Maturation of the market has meant a consolidation in manufacturers. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see that consolidation continue and to see some of the smaller players such as Casio, HP and Samsung withdrawing from the field. Epson, the manufacturer of the first digital camera reviewed in this column, almost ten years ago, has just one camera left in its product line.
This year’s market sweet spot, where price and available features are optimum, is without a doubt five megapixels, and the field beyond is expanding rapidly right through to twelve. Almost thirty of eighty spots on the list belong to five MP cameras, the big three, Canon, Kodak and Sony taking half of those listings.
Kodak continues to impress with its wide range of releases, from the very inexpensive point and shoot with no optical zoom capability right up to the higher resolutions and double-digit zoom factors.
Nikon, long king of the film camera, appears to have abandoned its quirky line of twist and rotate digitals for solid performers in standard bodies, including a model with built-in wireless downloading capability.
Sony continues to innovate, particularly at the high end with its hybrid R1 that marries some of the better attributes of point-and-shoot units with those of a professional camera. At 10 MP this unit takes superb photographs and its combined wide angle and five times zoom lens will likely curry favour with those who can never get family shots to quite fit.
Mind you, at $1300 this is no consumer product. And that takes us to the technology where the field is growing most rapidly, the digital single lens reflex (DSLR) market. DSLRs are today’s equivalent of the ca. $300 print cameras we toted around from the 70s through the 90s. They are pricey, typically $900 and up (the sky’s the limit) but they take superb shots, all without the annoying delay typically associated with other digital cameras.
Six DSLRs appear on this year’s survey, three from Canon, two from Nikon and one from Pentax. In this segment Canon appears to be aiming at the 8 MP and above level. Although there are just seven listings in our 8 MP category it could well be that this will be next year’s market sweet spot, for both DSLRs and point-and-shoots.
For now, Canon’s Rebel XT (known elsewhere as the 350D, and the camera used by BCC photographers) seems to be the market leader in DSLRs at the 8 MP level. The unit is typically offered with a reasonably good 18-55mm lens for around $1100, but the real plus for serious photographers is its ability to accept existing lenses from film cameras.
Image sensors and processors, the heart of the digital photography process, have improved dramatically over the past couple of years, the net effect being big improvements in speed, as measured by the time between successive shots, low-light shooting and action shooting.
Digital photography is an exciting field, with entry points for beginner and professional alike. Prints from digital images are cheaper and of higher quality than ever before. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the best deal possible, now is the time to jump in, even if there will be a better product available tomorrow.
Be sure to check out our list with its links to detailed specifications for cameras at prices from $150 to well over $4000, all conveniently grouped by resolution and with prices from up to three local vendors.
Products of the week
Writely: a terrific example of the Internet’s ability to deliver web-based software applications. Go ahead, start a collaborative writing project with your cousin overseas. You’ll be amazed at the capabilities of this on-line word processor. At www.writely.com.
Local.live.com: not “live” but nevertheless stunning aerial photography, currently only for a handful of American cities, presented in a most interesting way by the software engineers at Microsoft. As the name suggests, at local.live.com (no “www”). To whet your appetite, check out several examples at www.ndrs.org/physicsonline/locallivecom.htm.
Peter Vogel is a Physics and Computer Sciences teacher at Notre Dame Regional Secondary School (www.ndrs.org). Suggestions and comments may be sent via email to peterv@portal.ca.
posted by Peter Vogel at 1:58 PM
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