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Which camera is best for beginners in photography?
Which beginner camera is the best and the right one for a beginner? In my purchase advice, I want to explain to you which cameras are best for beginners and beginners in photography. I recommend system and reflex…
Identifying The Best Camera Under 100 Dollars Under Each Performance Category
When you consider buying a budget camera you would not want to look for too many fancy features all at once. But with the camera industry becoming more competitive, leading brands have begun to introduce a variety of models in this price range which come with a host of desirable features which user can choose from according to your specific needs. For instance some models would come with superior zoom capabilities and another model might be a specialized underwater camera. No matter what your requirement is, it is guaranteed that you will be able to find a reliable device for your purpose.
Best Camera Under 100 Dollars With Special Performance Features
Best all-round performer
Many camera buyers who look for a camera under 100 dollars want a device which can be taken along with them, is reliable and can capture decent quality images. In order to fulfil all of these requirements the device must meet certain performance criteria. Among all the different camera models available in this category the best performer can be identified as the Sony DSCW800. This camera comes with a 20.1 MP CCD sensor and 5x optical zoom ability which allow the user to capture good quality images. It also has features like blur reduction, 720p HD video recording and image stabilization.
Best camera for the beginner level photographer
For all those beginners who are looking at purchasing a digital camera, this price range is a great starting point. Spending a large sum on a device with complex controls will not create any interest as the complexity will discourage the beginner level to use the camera in the first place. To avoid this the Nikon Coolpix S2800 is a great model for a user new to photography to understand the basics and learn from that point on. The camera features a 20.1 MP CCD sensor and 5x optical zoom for best photographic ability.
Best Underwater Camera Available Below 100 Dollars
For the outdoor enthusiast an underwater camera in this price range would be a great investment. These specialized devices are able to withstand splashes which arise from normal day-to-day use and some even can withstand predefined depths of submission. The Fujifilm FinePix XP80 is one such great model which is available at this price point together with very attractive deals not to be missed. Being able to be used at a depth of about 50 feet makes it one of the best in the category.
Nikon is a well-known company all over the globe, and the cameras it manufactures are simply wow. Nikon’s DSLR stand out of all other DSLR s available at the stores. DSLR cameras have become a sign of honor now a days and the individuals owing one really gain an upper hand against the rest- If yo...
READ MORE : 10 Best Nikon DSLR Camera for Beginners of 2016
Nikon is a well-known company all over the globe, and the cameras it manufactures are simply wow. Nikon’s DSLR stand out of all other DSLR s available at the stores. DSLR cameras have become a sign of honor now a days and the individuals owing one really gain an upper hand against the rest- If yo...
READ MORE : 10 Best Nikon DSLR Camera for Beginners of 2016
Once you’ve tried all the various ways of taking photographs, or at times way before you even hold your first camera, it is an interesting exercise to take a pinhole photograph. These are images made with cameras stripped down to the bare essence of what photography is, the basic physics and geometry of it minus all the mechanics, that results in something completely unique and infinitely surreal and interesting. These are a great way to really understand the workings of a camera and make an exposure. They are used by many schools to introduce students to the concept and to teach them an alternate way of making exposures.
What Is Pinhole Photography?
Pinhole strips down a camera to the bare essentials, but to be more specific, it is a camera that uses a pinhole instead of a lens to focus the light. As a result, the images produced have a soft and hazy quality and an atmospheric, ethereal look. These pictures also have an infinite depth of field, with all parts of the image in focus no matter how far the subject was.
The pinhole only lets the light reflected off the subject in at certain angles, and this light forms an image on a surface at the opposite end of the otherwise lightproof contraption. Since the light reflected off the bottom of an object travels at an upward angle and hits the top of the surface and vice-versa, the resulting image is upside down. The image is captured by placing a light sensitive paper or film on this surface to record the light and make the exposure.
{Homemade pinhole camera photograph by FX Lantrua}
The Camera Obscura
There are various claims on who first discovered the ability of light to pass through a tiny hole and produce an image in a darkened room. Some say ancient Greeks, while others point to the Chinese. In any case, the phenomenon is quite extra ordinary, and can be observed by blocking out all light in a room and puncturing a tiny hole in a window shade or something similar placed on a window that looks out upon the world. Whatever the scene is outside will be transferred upside down on the far wall, or a sheet of paper held a few inches from the whole:
The Italian Renaissance dubbed this contraption a Camera Obscura, literally translated as “dark room”. These can be full sized portable rooms that you can walk into, thought to have been used by Renaissance artists to trace out their large drawings and paintings, with the image brightened and sharpened through a lens attached to the hole. The advent of photo sensitive materials is what made photography itself possible, but the pinhole phenomenon came to be regarded as just a method of explaining the workings of a camera. It is more than that, however; it is essentially a smaller hand held, box version of a camera obscura which can be used to create an image through pure natural processes and no complicated machinery. It is pure, simple, cheap, and extremely cool.
Making A Pinhole Camera
The best part about pinhole cameras is you can make your own very cheaply, or invest some money if you want to do a more proper job. The box can be made or any opaque and sturdy material, cardboard, tin foil, metal, wood, or whatever else you prefer. You can also improvise with existing boxes, but don’t go for flimsy shoe boxes. The trick is to make sure all light is completely blocked out and the inside is painted black.
{Film Canister Pinhole by Juan Felipe Rubio}
Here’s what you should generally need:
Sturdy lightproof box
Scissors
Black acrylic paint
Black vinyl electrician’s tape
Ruler
Needle
Pencil
Model glue
Spare cardboard
First thing to decide is the format, or basically how big you want the camera to be. There have been cameras made out of old discarded fridges, so there really isn’t any limit to how much you can improvise and how big you can go, but to begin with it’s easier to stick to basic, easily available film and photo paper sizes. Accordingly you can set your local length, or the distance from the pinhole to the paper/film. For 4x5 image format, go for about 10” of focal length. This is for straightforward normal focal length, once you’re a bit familiar you can look into “wide-angle” focal length pinhole cameras which can be made with cylindrical and semicircular boxes.
To keep light from bouncing off the inside walls and ruining the exposure, make sure you paint the inside completely black with the acrylic paint. It is also a good idea to use spare cardboard pieces to create a holder for the film or photo paper. This makes for easy loading in a darkroom and ensures the film stays put while you move the camera around and make the exposure.
While there are many calculations available as to the perfect size of hole for different focal lengths to get the best image, and you can use these if you want to get into technicalities, but I feel you can get a good enough image with any combination of focal lengths and hole widths. The main thing to remember is, the smaller the hole, the longer the focal length should be and the sharper the image will be. However, this will increase the exposure time (shutter speed), naturally. Since the pinhole is so small, your f-stop is usually very high, in the hundreds, and so you get infinite depth of field with everything in focus.
{Zero Image 4x5 pinhole camera photograph by Scott Speck}
The more round and clean your hole, the better the resulting image will be, so make sure to make it with a sharp needle (not pin) and in a thin brass or aluminum foil. It helps to attach the needle to a pencil eraser for easier handling, and then pressing it into the foil with it flat on a surface, flipping it around, sanding it to even it out and then pressing in again with the needle. You might have to repeat this a few times to get a nice clean round hole.
Making A Pinhole Exposure
Pinhole exposures are usually long exposures, anywhere from 15 seconds to many hours. This is because the pinhole is quite small, and so the aperture very narrow. In order to make sure you don’t have to expose for months, it is always better to shoot outdoors in bright daylight.
{ZeroImage 69 Deluxe Edition pinhole photograph by Alexandre Bertin}
It is possible to calculate the exact seconds of exposure by knowing the speed or your photo paper or film, and by calculating you f number with the ratio of hole width and focal length and then using the sunny 16 rule. This basically means you keep the shutter speed the reciprocal of the ISO and the aperture 16 on a sunny day, but since your aperture is also fixed you can adjust the shutter speed according to how many stops the f stop is decreased. If it’s all a bit too technical for you there is always room for experimentation.
Take for example a pinhole made with a number 10 needle. The hole width should be about 0.018”. The best focal length to keep for this width is 5”. F stop can be calculated by dividing hole width by focal length, which means 0.018/5 = 277, which you can round up to 280. If your photo paper has an ISO of 4, then at aperture 16 your shutter speed should be 1/4th of a second, and when you increase 16 to 280 you will probably come to some like 1 and a half minute or so of exposure time. This is probably the standard without getting too specific, but of course, you can calculate the exact time using these basics.
Since the exposure is so long, you can make a manual shutter with vinyl tape which you can use to cover the hole until you’re ready to develop. If you’re fairly close to the dark room even a finder over the hole would do.
That is pretty much all there is to it, without getting too technical and advanced. Pinhole photography is more than just 5th grade science projects; it is a great way to understand the roots of photography and get familiar with the basics of exposure and light. The resulting images have a haunting aura and unlike anything else you’ve seen.
{Holga Pinhole by Matt Pringle}
Feel free to experiment with different objects and materials. Here are some inventive homemade pinhole cameras to get you inspired:
