Outdoor Photography. Chiz Dakin

Чтение книги онлайн.

      The Olympus PEN E-PL1, one of the new generation of compact system cameras (Photo courtesy of Olympus)

      Panasonic and Olympus produce models using a Four Thirds size sensor. Panasonic’s cameras look more like traditional SLRs, with a viewfinder bulge on top, but are noticeably slimmer from front to back. Olympus’s PEN series are more compact-like and rely solely on the screen image for viewing, unless you splash out on a separate attachable viewfinder.

      Sony’s NEX series cameras use APS-C size sensors – the same as the majority of DSLRs – but in a slim, compact-like body. The large sensor, as we know, has many advantages, but it does mean that lenses can’t be dramatically smaller than regular DSLR lenses. Viewing is screen-only.

      All these cameras promise SLR-like quality and lens choice in a smaller, lighter package. This sounds like a good combination for the outdoor enthusiast, but it’s still early days for this whole class of camera. They definitely merit consideration, but they also demand a thorough, hands-on trial before you splash the cash. This is especially true of models with no viewfinder; even if you’re used to screen viewing on a compact, it’s a different ballgame with the larger, heavier lenses that these cameras use. Using one hand to support underneath the lens is essential, for a start. Also, their continuous Live View means that they will make heavier demands on batteries than a conventional SLR.

      Sony have yet another trick up their sleeve with their SLT (Single Lens Translucent) cameras. These look reassuringly similar to a conventional SLR but have a fixed, translucent mirror inside. This allows most of the light to pass through but reflects around 30% up to an array of focus-detection sensors. This means that, unlike any other SLR or ‘EVIL’ camera, there’s no interruption to focusing from mirror or shutter action. This appears to offer obvious advantages for tracking rapid action in particular. On most cameras focusing in Live View (and when shooting movies) is relatively slow; not on an SLT.

      The SLT viewfinder looks superficially like an SLR, but it is electronic. The cameras are slightly smaller and lighter than comparable SLRs, but the absence of a moving mirror makes them quieter, less prone to camera shake and potentially faster. They retain all the other handling advantages of an SLR and should be much better with long lenses than the ‘EVIL’ type. We can’t help thinking that this technology could be what most of the world’s news and sports photographers, in particular, will be using in a few years time. However, it’s not clear, at this early stage, whether SLT cameras totally live up to the promise.

      CAMERAS: WHAT NEXT?

      Well, here’s the thing. All of these innovations have been rolled out by manufacturers with a relatively small share of the SLR market. Sony may have come from nowhere to third place in this market in a few short years, but the two big beasts – especially in the professional sector – are still Canon and Nikon. And so far, both of the giants have remained resolutely committed to the conventional SLR format. However, it would be extremely surprising if their R&D departments weren’t working on new technologies.

      Camera Setup

      Image quality and size

      ‘Image quality’ principally refers to the RAW/JPEG choice, which we’ve already looked at in some detail. As we’ve seen, this is a pretty basic decision.

      If you shoot JPEG there are usually a couple of extra options: these may be buried in menus but should not be overlooked. Quality settings such as Fine, Normal or Basic refer to the degree of compression applied to the images. More compression means you can cram more images onto a memory card but it does degrade the image – and memory cards are cheap these days. If there’s even a slim chance of wanting to make a large print or publish the image then use Fine, or whatever your camera maker calls the best setting. At the other settings some data is thrown away and there’s no way to get it back, whereas a Fine image can always be compressed later if you want to email it to someone.

      Hampsfell, Cumbria, looking towards the Coniston Fells (Jon) When you’re shooting in the red light of sunset you may not want the camera to ‘correct’ the white balance

      Campfire in Wadi Rum, Jordan (Jon) Noise is random variation in brightness and colour

      There may also be a choice of size settings. Large means the maximum image size possible from that sensor – 12 megapixels or whatever it is. Smaller sizes shrink the whole image to the equivalent of, say, six or three megapixels (this is not the same as trimming or cropping it). Again this is an advantage for email and web use but is essentially irreversible. You can’t resize a three-megapixel image back up to 12mp if you decide you do want to make an A3 print after all. Well, you can, but it will look terrible.

      White balance

      The colour of light – natural and artificial – varies widely. Most of the time our eyes adapt and we barely notice it. By default, almost any digital camera will be set to regulate the white balance automatically and this will probably give natural-looking colours under most conditions. However you may want to take control yourself. Perhaps you generally like a warmer or cooler result than the camera delivers, or perhaps there are specific circumstances where it doesn’t quite get it right. When you’re shooting in the red light of sunset you may not want the camera to ‘correct’ these colours (see Chapter 3).

      ISO and noise

      The concept of ISO sensitivity was introduced in Chapter 1 (Sensitivity). Many cameras can regulate it automatically but, as suggested already, this is one of the most important settings of all, so it really pays to understand what it means and at least consider taking direct control.

      Ridge above Matho Valley, Ladakh (Chiz) Manual mode is a good choice for controlling tricky exposures

      The ISO setting doesn’t just affect the interplay between aperture and shutter speed. It also has a direct impact on the quality of the final image. Increasing the ISO tends to reduce the dynamic range and the intensity of colours, but what’s usually most noticeable is an increase in image noise. Noise is random variation in brightness and colour which produces a kind of speckly interference in images. Most cameras have various noise reduction features, and you can also address it when processing images on the computer, but strong noise reduction can make the image softer СКАЧАТЬ