... someone says they need a better camera and can you, with your big, swanky bag of lenses and serious demeanor, help? One of Sarah's friends asked me this today. She has a Fujifilm 6mp compact with 3x optical zoom, about two years old; sure you know the kind of camera. She wants something better. I asked what the problem was.
1. She showed me a picture she'd taken of some leaves (oh, how I'm sick of looking at them!) on a branch where the camera has set exposure for the sky (most of the picture) and the leaves were too dark.
2. "Missed pictures" and "blurred pictures" - I think she meant shutter lag.
She showed me the Argos catalogue and said she needed more mega-pixels. I said she probably didn't. I don't think any compact will cure (significantly) the problems she is having. On the other hand, do I recommend a DSLR (which might cure some of them)?
She is a self-confessed technophobe. What do you say?
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7 comments:
Very difficult one. You've asked the right first question - trying to work out what exactly is wrong with her existing camera/photos and getting a feel for what she might be looking for.
And as a DSLR user, my first reaction is to usually over react and tell people they need a DSLR - forgetting that for some people it's perhaps not the best option.
Generally most important things for people are that it's easy to carry around; that it doesn't take much understanding or investment; and that it takes good 5x7 pics which they don't have to fiddle about with on the computer for hours with (for some reason people don't WANT to do this!)
I imagine with a few more good questions you'll get to the bottom of what she actually needs and be able to suggest some good compact P&S - although there is always a chance a DSLR is what she's looking for.
And if she's got a Fuji F30, or F31, tell her it's worthless and should send it to me (absolute classic 6MP digital camera, possibly the high-water mark of P&S before the megapixel marketing really kicked in. Apparently worth more second hand than they were new! Wish I'd not given my brother one for his birthday and kept it for myself)
Looking again at your post, solution to the first problem of underexposing the foreground might be as easy as helping her understand how to use the camera a little better - even basic P&S will tend to have some way to lock focus and exposure, perhaps just by half pressing the shutter and recomposing.
Yes - I did suggest that, but we were away from the subject at the time so couldn't try it out.
In my experience of this sort of conversation, it's very rare that a new camera will actually solve the problems - and usually it's just they've not got the hang of the old camera.
However, that said, newer cameras tend to have better idiot modes these days (face detection etc) which might make a difference - and I don't think you can downplay the psychological effect of buying a new camera.
You've done well to disabuse her of the notion that more megapixels will cure the problem!
I've always thought some sort of camera chooser website would work - you answer 20 questions and it comes up with a list of several cams which would probably work for you, plus reviews for the cameras. Anyone any good at programming web based databases? We could make a fortune!
I expect Kev can program web-based databases in his sleep. And I teach databases too much for my liking. Maybe even an Expert System to do the slecting?
I suspect the whole thing would be a lot of hassle, however. And the database would be constantly changing as new models appeared.
Granted, it wouldn't be something you could just leave. You'd have to add new models to it, but if the structure of the questionnaire pointed you to a set number of "camera types", it would just be a case of someone making the judgment if a camera model fell into the "pocket sized and cheap" or the "pocket sized with manual settings" etc. Of course, once we sold the hugely successful site to Amazon, we'd be able to pay someone to do all of that. ;)
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