I did a lot of research on DSLRs, Lenses and lots of technical information about cameras today and I would like to share some of the elements of my research with you.
Many people would know that Megapixel is not everything. Since Megapixel is calculated by multiplying the width and height, it is a square value rather than a linear value. For example, a 25 megapixel image is NOT 25 times larger than a 1 megapixel image but only 5 times larger. So, the difference between a 7 megapixel and 8 megapixel image is negligible. And therefore a camera’s megapixel is not the only thing which determines its value. This is known as the Megapixel Myth.
Another feature which people think is important is the ‘x’ zoom value. People think a 3x zoom camera is better than a 5x zoom but this is not necessarily true in all situations. In point-and-shoot cameras, this can be trusted to a certain level. But when we progress to Prosumers and DSLRs, we cannot trust this figure. The ‘x’ value is determined by dividing the maximum focal length by the minimum focal length. A camera has higher zoom range when it has a higher focal length. A camera with 2mm - 20mm may boast of a 10x zoom level but its pretty useless when compared to camera with a focal length of 8mm - 40mm which has a wider range although it only has a 5x zoom. Therefore, one should check the focal length also when buying a camera. The largest range of focal length is boasted by the Tamron A18 which has a focal length of 18-250mm.
On the front of a lens, most of use must have seen some numbers on it which we never bothered to understand. I’ll simplify it for you. The ratio ‘1:x-y’ is the maximum aperture from the wide-angle to the telephoto end. At the wide-angle end, ‘x’ is the maximum aperture and at the telephoto end’y’ is the maximum aperture. The minimum aperture is not mentioned since it is not considered to be as important. Lenses with a fixed aperture throughout are considered superior and have a ratio like ‘1:x’ since the value of the maximum aperture does not change.
There will also be another pair of values which is the focal length of the camera. On some cameras, they are marked with ‘mm’ so that they are easy to spot while on others, they just say ‘a-b’.
So, while buying a camera or a lens, one should make note of the focal length and aperture rather than the ‘x’ zoom value. Hope you enjoyed reading this!
News,
Oscar Awards 2007 - Summary of Winners
7 Geeky chairs - Pretty cool
Giant posters on your wall with a simple technique
Tower Blaster - Flash Game
Ever wonder what happens when you reply to Nigerian Scammers - Very Interesting
If Operating Systems ran the airlines - Funny
101 Amazing Earth facts
Vegetables as we dont see them - Amusing
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
