The camera should be an extension of you. It should feel as effortless as riding a bike.
This is currently only possible with digital SLRs, which fortunately are as fast as film
SLRs. But any delays will affect your photography. Your pictures will not be the same.
Your goal should be to find a camera that has no delay, or at least a delay you don’t
notice. With no delay, you will be able to use the camera much more often.Sensor Resolution and Crummy Lenses
Lens quality and pixel resolution affect the resolution of a digital camera. Four-,
five-, six-, and higher megapixel cameras with quality lenses can match the resolu-
tion of amateur 35mm photographs. Digital cameras with fewer pixels (such as a
CCD of 2–3.2 megapixels) are fine for snapshots, but just don’t have the resolution
of film. If film-like resolution is required, definitely consider a camera with a chip of
five or more megapixels.
Surprisingly more important than the CCD is the lens. In fact, the quality of the lens is
so important that you should seriously consider only the finest lens manufacturers for
your digital camera. Companies that produce the best lenses include the following:
■ Carl Zeiss—Considered the best optics on the planet. (www.zeiss.com/)
■ Nikon—Exclusively on Nikon cameras. (www.nikonusa.com)
■ Canon—Appear on Canon cameras. (www.canonusa.com)
■ Leica—Leica lenses are considered the sharpest among 35mm photographers.
(www.leica-camera.com/index_e.html)
■ Schneider—An American company that manufactures lenses for Kodak.
(www.schneideroptics.com/)Look for ultra-low dispersion glass, fluorite (a mineral) glass, apochromatic lenses,
and aspherical lenses. These technologies, which add significantly to the cost of a
lens, can even be found on instamatic digital cameras, such as those from Kodak
(Schneider) and Sony (Carl Zeiss).
You might encounter a number of different terms when shopping for a lens:
■ APO (apochromatic)—These lenses have special coatings that focus differ-
ent wavelengths of light (red, green, and blue) more precisely. Nikon calls its
APO technology ED, for Extra-Low Dispersion.
■ Fluorite—This type of glass creates lenses that have no distortion whatso-
ever.
■ Aspherical—These lenses are ground into nonspherical shapes that enable
more compact lenses to be manufactured. Aspherical lenses also reduce coma,
which is common in wide-angle lenses. Comaoccurs when rays of light pass14 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TODIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY