Photography 101.1
I've been wandering dA and looking at photography.
One of the most bothersome things about photography is that with popular point-and-shoot cameras, it always takes a long time between shots. This is to say, it often takes at least ten seconds. The problem with that is there are a lot of situations that can't be captured with just one or two shots, but they happen in only a few seconds. If you're really lucky, they'll take place over several minutes span, but exactly how are you going to capture the best shots, the shots you want to capture?
Okay, some would say to use the movie setting in those point-and-shoot cameras. That function is there for a reason, after all. The trouble there is that when you switch to the movie setting, the quality of your pictures tends to go way down. The shots become very grainy, or the darkness that wouldn't show up in a standard shot suddenly becomes oppressive. Your 5.5 Megapixel camera suddenly drops down to being a 2.5 Megapixel camera. Yes, I haven't bought a camera really recently. What a surprise, given my economic status.
Worse, how does one pick apart the movie output to find exactly the frames one wanted? VLC would probably do it, I suppose, provided the output file is in a format that can be read properly.
I had thought the solution to this problem would be to get hold of an SLR, because those things take a lot of pictures very fast. Since I'm not a pro with lots of money, and since I don't need pro-level detail, I figured I could find an ancient SLR that nobody in their right mind would want to use professionally, say, an ancient 5 Megapixel SLR camera.
Therein lies the problem. I can't find them, or they don't exist anymore. I read an article recently where a photographer was moping about the shutters on two of the three cameras he was carrying, and the shutter on the third and last camera he took this shot with was kinda wonky, and that's when it occurred to me that perhaps one of the reasons I can't find this mythical ancient 5.5 Megapixel SLR is because they simply wear out. Kaput. So perhaps one reason I'm having all this trouble finding an old SLR is because by the time a camera gets to be this old it's a paperweight. Or an intricate project involving lots of fine tools and small parts. And because this is digital cameras I'm talking about, circuit-boards might be another issue. I don't know nearly enough about how cameras break.
Of course, if I knew who to ask and how to contact them... wait! There's this thing called The Internet! I've heard of it... I could go find a magazine somewhere and simply ask some random person what happens to old cameras.
Or someone reading this might know who to ask or how to go about this quest.
One of the most bothersome things about photography is that with popular point-and-shoot cameras, it always takes a long time between shots. This is to say, it often takes at least ten seconds. The problem with that is there are a lot of situations that can't be captured with just one or two shots, but they happen in only a few seconds. If you're really lucky, they'll take place over several minutes span, but exactly how are you going to capture the best shots, the shots you want to capture?
Okay, some would say to use the movie setting in those point-and-shoot cameras. That function is there for a reason, after all. The trouble there is that when you switch to the movie setting, the quality of your pictures tends to go way down. The shots become very grainy, or the darkness that wouldn't show up in a standard shot suddenly becomes oppressive. Your 5.5 Megapixel camera suddenly drops down to being a 2.5 Megapixel camera. Yes, I haven't bought a camera really recently. What a surprise, given my economic status.
Worse, how does one pick apart the movie output to find exactly the frames one wanted? VLC would probably do it, I suppose, provided the output file is in a format that can be read properly.
I had thought the solution to this problem would be to get hold of an SLR, because those things take a lot of pictures very fast. Since I'm not a pro with lots of money, and since I don't need pro-level detail, I figured I could find an ancient SLR that nobody in their right mind would want to use professionally, say, an ancient 5 Megapixel SLR camera.
Therein lies the problem. I can't find them, or they don't exist anymore. I read an article recently where a photographer was moping about the shutters on two of the three cameras he was carrying, and the shutter on the third and last camera he took this shot with was kinda wonky, and that's when it occurred to me that perhaps one of the reasons I can't find this mythical ancient 5.5 Megapixel SLR is because they simply wear out. Kaput. So perhaps one reason I'm having all this trouble finding an old SLR is because by the time a camera gets to be this old it's a paperweight. Or an intricate project involving lots of fine tools and small parts. And because this is digital cameras I'm talking about, circuit-boards might be another issue. I don't know nearly enough about how cameras break.
Of course, if I knew who to ask and how to contact them... wait! There's this thing called The Internet! I've heard of it... I could go find a magazine somewhere and simply ask some random person what happens to old cameras.
Or someone reading this might know who to ask or how to go about this quest.