Important Camera Features

Choosing the Right Camera

Many consumers use mega pixel resolution as the determining factor when buying a new digital camera.  A high mega pixel camera is great but not always needed especially when using photos primarily for online use. It's important to note that in web publishing the computer screen or a "browser window" have a limited resolution of less than 1 mega pixel.  For example, a typical "full screen" display of 1024x768 pixels is only 0.78 mega pixels. It is not reasonable to publish images larger than this because it will force most viewers to scroll around the image to view it, and the viewer will not have a sense of the object. In retrospect, if a webpage takes 8 seconds to display due large images, you'll lose about 1/3 of your visitors. It's necessary to reduce the size of the image as much as possible for faster upload time without losing the detail that you're trying to convey. It's only necessary to shoot at a larger resolution if you intend to use the image for prints or crop out smaller parts of the image for additional detail views. 

Here are some features to look out for when buying a new camera:

1. Zoom is an important feature. You’ll use zoom to frame the product being photographed on the camera viewfinder or LCD display. Almost all new cameras have a combination of optical and digital zoom.

   • Optical Zoom is the ability of any camera to use the supplied zoom lens to zoom in or out into your items.

   • Digital Zoom is an extended feature of some digital cameras to digitally manipulate zoom. Sometimes the excessive use of the digital zooms may decrease image quality. We suggest to avoid using digital zoom especially when doing product photography.

2. Manual Mode - Your camera needs the ability to be used at fully manually settings. This means ability to control shutter speed and aperture.  Shutter Speed and Aperture settings work together for different effects.

   • Shutter Speed - Shutter speed is the time for which the shutter is held open when taking a photo to allow light to reach the image sensor. In combination with aperture, the shutter speed determines how much light the camera will record. A fast shutter speed demands a larger aperture for good exposure, just as a slow shutter speed is offset by a very small aperture.

   • Aperture - Aperture is an opening through which light is admitted. Aperture is usually specified as an f-number, the ratio of focal length to aperture hole diameter.

3. White Balance Presets for different lighting conditions.  Along with preset white balance there should also be at least one custom white balance setting.  [see illustration]  More details below.

4. Multiple Metering Modes - Having the ability to change to center-weighted or spot metering mode may be needed for shooting products against a high contrasting background.  Camera manufacturers differ with this function.  Be sure to experiment with this feature when buying a new camera.  See more details about metering.

5. Detachable Lens - When shooting jewelry or close-up make sure the camera and accept a detachable macro lens. Most cameras come with macro capabilities but a macro lens attachment provides better focus control and enables you to get even closer to the object

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