Digital photography questions

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Pat,

There are many reasons for hazy shots; some you can control, some you can't. As you mentioned, the distance between camera and subject is a major factor, and there's nothing you can do about it except as noted below. Other factors are low quality optics; and that can include the glass itself being impure, type and quality of front-element coating, and internal barrel coating quality. Make sure you're not getting light or reflections falling on the lens (use a lens hood if possible or change your shooting position), make sure the lens is clean. For long shots use a UV haze filter or try a 1A Skylight filter (gives a slightly warmer picture, but that can be adjusted with your editing software).

Many cameras come with very high quality optics, but just looking at a lens doesn't tell you much about it. I suggest you bring your own flash card (or buy a small one at the store) when shopping for a camera, slip it in, and take several shots of varied subjects and zoom settings; then carefully examine them at your leisure at home and choose the one that best suits your taste. That way you can check for overall quality, edge sharpness, white balance, color fidelity, etc. When you take your test shots, stay within the optical zoom range of the camera; not the digital zoom range, because all that does is exaggerate the pixel size.
 
Karl,

I understand you to mean by this:

                            I use a Xerox/Tektronix Phaser 860 solid ink printer and usually print at 1200 dpi but can go up to 2400 dpi.

that the printer is laying down 1200 (but up to 2400) dots (of ink) per inch.

It'll do that regardless of the resolution (ppi) of the image that you are sending to the printer.

Typically, what is the resolution of the image that you send to the printer.

BTW, my HP3650 is laying down 1440 dpi in "best" format which is what I use when printing pics.

Ciao,

Doug

PS:  not familiar with the Tecktronix printer.
 
Doug,

It's not easy to answer your question. If I shoot in TIFF or RAW format, the stored image is about 15Mb, but I rarely print full-frame on 8-1/2x11" paper, so I crop it; not just reduce the total image size, then just let the printer adjust for ideal fit. Haven't really had reason to figure out what res. I'm sending to the printer but make adjustments so I don't see any pixelation at 3 to 4x magnification.
 
Karl,

Haven't really had reason to figure out what res. I'm sending to the printer but make adjustments so I don't see any pixelation at 3 to 4x magnification.

Thanks for the info.  I understand what you are doing.

Ciao,

Doug
 
kk:  The suggestion to take a flashcard to test cameras is excellent.  How could anybody object? 

Talk about testing your cameras.  My first digital was a wonderful Nikon Coolpix 600s, if I remember correctly.  Almost all the pictures, except the sunniest, were blurry.  So I bought a Coolpix 650.  I was wrapping the 600s up to mail to my nephew, when I realized I had bought a brown tinted lens cap, which somebody ill-advised me to keep on the lens all the time.  The cap was not allowing enough light to get into the camera, making almost all my shots blurry, since I couldn't hold the camera still enough to get clear shots.  I removed it, and pictures of the cat across the room were super clear.  Oh, well, Jeff's enjoying the camera.

--pat
 
Pat,

Almost any filter (save for U/V, skylight and one or two others), will force the camera to use a wider aperture causing less depth of field and edge sharpness and, possibly, all-over sharpness, and makes handheld shots more subject to shake; as you noted.
 
JerArdra said:
Tom and others,

my NEW (about 7 days old) Panasonic FZ20

Jerry,

I'm jealous, that is the camera of my (current) dreams.  The price however is such that it requires approval by the finance committee.

Now that you've worn the new off, how are you liking it?  Specifically is the viewfinder an issue in bright sunlight?

Joel
 
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