If you aren’t careful, you can find yourself caught up in one little number as you shop for digital SLR cameras: megapixels. But digital cameras have come far enough that the megapixel isn’t the most important feature to maximize within your budget, not by a long shot. So what’s in a megapixel and how many do you need? Understanding megapixel and photography basics will make it easier for you to choose the right camera for your goals and budget. Put simply, you don’t need more than five or six megapixels.

Unless you are printing photos at mammoth sizes of more than 11×14 inches – you’re probably a pro and already know how many megapixels your uses demand – you won’t be able to see any difference in image quality or crispness in your prints or on a monitor if you go above that threshold. However, even budget point-and-shoot digital cameras for a few hundred dollars feature sensors with more than 12 megapixels, and 20 is easy to find. So the first point is to realize that as an amateur photographer of almost any level, you don’t need to concern yourself with finding a camera with enough megapixels for your need.

Just for the sake of completeness, take a look at a few options and the rough megapixels-price ratio as of Fall 2013. At under $150, you can get a simple hand-held with minimal features and 16 MP. Move up to around $350 and you have access to the range of Canon Powershot cameras and their Nikon competitors, which have between 12 and 15 MP and a host of other features.  The most popular introductory DSLR cameras, like the Canon EOS Rebel SL1 cost between $600 and $800. About that same price gets you an intro-level digital SLR camera kit with somewhere around 18 to 20 MP. The same rough number of MP, 18-20, is present in the next tier of DSLR cameras priced around $1,000. Then at the top of the range, you find housings priced anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000 and up for just the body, offering anywhere from 18 to 22MP with little correlation between price and pixels.

So not only do you find not much correlation between price and megapixels except at the very top and very bottom of the price range, but if you’re like most amateurs you really don’t care about these differences. Most people will never do anything with their photos that would allow them to see the difference between 16 and 22MP.

But for the sake of argument, consider what you get if you do spend the thousands necessary for something like the Nikon D800, which boasts a whopping 36.3MP. On the one hand, you do gain a bunch of flexibility. This digital SLR camera captures shots that you can crop for days without sacrificing resolution. If they can blow up to multiple feet in dimension, it means you can crop down to a very small space, expand it to the desired print dimensions, and get a crisp photo.

However, there is a tradeoff at the top of the range. Sensor sizes on non-full-frame housings haven’t gotten larger, which means that to squeeze 36.6 million pixels on the same space each one must be much smaller, and thus captures less light. This can give pictures a grainy appearance due to higher image noise, especially with higher ISO settings.

In summary, megapixels are important for the quality of photos taken with digital SLR cameras, but you probably shouldn’t use them as a metric when shopping for a new camera. Nearly every camera on the market has enough pixels to meet all your needs, and you can end up paying a lot more to achieve top-of-market numbers while maintaining the overall quality of the camera.

Last weekend Focus Camera sponsored the 3rd Annual Championship Bike Ride to support St. Jude Hospital for cancer Research. A team of five employees representing Focus Camera joined over 300 riders in completing the 33 mile ride crossing multiple bridges and hills through the beautiful fall countryside

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Focus was happy to join the community and support such a meaningful event. Esty, a buyer at Focus, said of her experience: “The bridge was the hardest part for me, but everyone was so nice and encouraging. The spirit on the ride was amazing, and that made it easier.” Another employee who works in the IT department said: “I would like to thank all of the riders for coming out, and to the law enforcement agents for providing a safe ride.” The Champion Ride raised funds to keep St Jude’s Hospital for cancer research open, and each supporter of the Champion Ride walked away with a Focus Camera gift bag filled with a $25 dollar gift card and other photography goodies. We had a wonderful time at the ride, and are looking forward to sponsoring future events in the community!

Inclement weather isn’t the enemy of digital cameras and photography, or at least it doesn’t have to be if you have the right gear in your camera bags. In fact, intense weather creates opportunities to capture a number of uncommon shots and take advantage of especially dramatic lighting. But you need the right equipment and strategies to protect your camera and get those shots so you don’t come back with a ruined camera and no photos to show for it.

Precipitation – Rain or Snow

The first thing to do with precipitation might seem obvious, but an oversized, waterproof jacket makes keeping digital cameras and DSLR lenses dry easier, so you can protect them against your body until the moment when you see the perfect shot. A clean, lens-safe cloth to wipe off your lens element is another easy accessory so water droplets don’t mar a perfect shot. And most photographers carry several spare plastic bags in case a deluge threatens to soak through everything.

You can opt for a rain sleeve if you have a larger lens or are using a tripod that prevents you from keeping the camera close to your body. If it’s just a light drizzle without much wind, your lens shade may be enough to keep the element dry, but you still need something to keep water off the housing. The most important thing to do is be sure you dry everything off thoroughly once you’re done shooting and go inside.

Cold

Cold weather and temperature changes create a host of threats to your camera and challenges for shooting good photos. Whenever moving from somewhere cold to somewhere warmer, whether it’s exiting an air-conditioned building or coming inside from the winter, keep the camera in a bag that won’t let a lot of moisture in during the transition from cold to warm. Wrapping in a plastic bag is effective, and keeps condensation out while the camera warms up.

Cold weather also saps battery life incredibly fast, so you need to carry spare batteries in pockets close to your body and minimize energy use on your camera. There aren’t any tricks or special equipment for this problem, although again keeping your camera close to your body and in a coat so it stays warmer can help. You may also want to have special garments for cold weather to keep your hands and face warm and nimble, and especially so using the viewfinder isn’t so uncomfortably cold it discourages you from shooting.

Wind

Wind might seem innocuous, but it can be a killer. First, choose your lens (or lenses) carefully. Strong wind means lots of motion, so you have to think about the best lens for your camera’s ability to perform. Think about questions such as: How much light will there be; what type of subjects will you shoot and how far away will they be; and how high can you set your camera’s ISO before shots get grainy? Shooting people where a blurry background is fine requires less performance than shooting animals or events far from the camera, when you’ll need super fast shutter speeds even in low light.

Next, consider protective gear for the camera. If there may be any dust or sand in the air, such as at the beach, you want an inexpensive natural light filter to protect the lens element at the very least. Probably, you also want to wrap the entire camera in a plastic bag or plastic cooking wrap to seal out dust and moisture. Rain sleeves are OK for this as well. Lastly, an umbrella can be incredibly helpful if you have someone to hold it for you. Whether there is precipitation, fog, or dust, the ability to block some of it and protect you and the camera while you shoot increases your chances of getting the photo you want and keeping the camera safe.

Shooting great photos with digital cameras requires the right tools and tricks. If you buy the few necessary accessories and take the right steps, you can capture stunning photos and protect your equipment from damage, turning inclement weather into an advantage instead of an adversary.

After you get familiar with a DSLR, you will start to wonder how to get those incredible shots that you see plastered across the Internet on amateur blogs. There are a few essential “cheater” accessories that can take your photographic awaking to the next level and help you achieve superior quality in your shots. From DSLR lenses to camera lens filters to a host of other tools, the right equipment makes a huge difference from what you can produce with the starter kit.

1. 50mm Prime Lens

This is the first piece of “cheater” equipment everyone who knows anything recommends to a budding amateur photographer. The most popular Canon option, for example, is lovingly referred to as the “Nifty Fifty” and it is only an affordable $125. This lens has a fixed focal length of 50mm, meaning it can’t zoom in or out, and boasts a very wide maximum aperture or f.1/8, enabling it to function at very fast shutter speeds even in low light conditions. This makes it ideal for a lot of casual indoor photography and stills, as well as for shooting normal life like children playing.

The wide aperture offers a shallow depth of field, making it great for artistic shots of a subject with a blurred background. Many photographers also feel that this type of lens adds a slightly ethereal quality to the light in outdoor shots, which is desirable. With just a bit of practice with the king of beginner DSLR lenses, you’ll find your shots turning out beautifully, full of rich, natural colors and vibrant details that almost feel like you’re cheating.

2. Polarizing Filter

Lens filters are already a must, ranging in price from $15 to hundreds depending on quality. A mild UV filter costs $35 and protects the actual glass on a $250 lens so scratches don’t ruin your investment. But a polarizing filter adds a desirable effect to your shots beyond just protecting the lens. Polarizers serve two purposes. They reduce glare and reflections on glass, water, and metal objects, which helps keep the focus on your subject and lets you control the lighting and composition of outdoor shots better. Second and more relevant, they pump up the color saturation so blues in the sky, natural greens, and the warm yellows and oranges in skin come through with more power. This adds an energy and vibrancy to shots.

3. A Tripod

If you want those beautiful, artistic night shots of low-light subjects like the moon or which show streaming city lights, you need a tripod. Professional-looking landscapes and even macro stills are all about crisp details and perfect composition, and a tripod helps you achieve that. You can get all these shots holding your camera in your hand, but you will know the difference when you look at a group of shots taken with a tripod compared to those you took without. The crispness and details of the stable shots will have people wondering where you got your awesome camera and when you got so good at photography.

Upgrading your equipment and DSLR lenses is far from cheating. But for how affordable they are and how easy improving your shots is with these accessories, you just might feel like you’re cheating compared to friends who put in the hours in classes and walking around trying to “get to know” their camera and gain “a feel” for light.

When you take the plunge and decide to purchase your first digital SLR kits, the number of options can be overwhelming. Most people will tell you to either choose Nikon or Canon DSLR cameras and go from there. There are a number of other reasonable brands as well, such as Pentax and Olympus, but it’s important to understand why people emphasize the magnitude of this decision. Once you buy a kit, all your future purchases will be from that brand as well because otherwise they won’t work together. So you’re stuck with your starting brand unless you’re willing to jump ship, sell off all your old gear, and start from square one.

When you buy a body and all the other basics that come in a digital SLR kit – usually a basic 18-55mm lens, a memory card, a battery and charger, a carrying case, and maybe a UV filter to protect the lens – you’re buying into that brand, because any lenses, flashes, or other accessories you buy in the future have to be of the same brand to work together. Combined, Canon and Nikon sell roughly 80% of all DSLR cameras purchased and they have huge support communities online, speaking to the fact that either brand can be great for an entry-level photographer. But they do have a few specific strengths and weaknesses you should know about before you make this personal decision.

The biggest difference is the range of lenses available and the cost of upgrading to certain types of lenses. Canon offers a much larger range of lenses, making them more appealing to some who anticipate ending up doing highly specialized types of photography where they need the best lens possible regardless of price. However, many of them cost more than their slightly less specialized Nikon parallels.

With Nikon, you get slightly more affordably options for great, entry-level expansion lenses that you are most likely to purchase when you’re ready to upgrade your kit, such as a 50mm prime f/1.8 and a telephoto zoom. But their big advantage is a much longer range of backwards compatibility with older lenses. Nikon has used basically the same mounting system since the 1950s, so you can purchase a new, entry-level housing and have access to a huge selection of artistic effects from these older options if that interests you.

The other thing to consider is upgraded housings. You might outgrow your camera body if you do a lot of photography and start with an entry model. If that’s the case, your preferences impact which brand works better for you. The top-end DSLR cameras that aren’t full-frame do diverge a bit. Nikon’s most expensive aren’t quite as aggressive with integrating new technology, instead focusing on refining established tech to maximize the quality of the images their sensors capture, getting very close to pro-quality without breaking into that price range. Canon pushes into WiFi, new imaging technologies, and versatility in shooting movies.

Realistically, the most important thing that differentiates the two brands for most new photographers is the dial layout and how the camera feels in your hand. And this can be a good reason to try other brands with smaller market shares but respected names. Each brand’s housing has a different shape, but most models within the same brand feel very similar, and you will certainly have a preference for one or the other. So it’s important to go play with them at a shop and get a feel for which brand suits you. This will influence how much you enjoy using all the fun components in new digital SLR kits, one of the most important factors in determining which brand is the best for you.

You want control and the chance to learn how to take beautiful photos, and you’re ready to dive into DSLR cameras. Buying your first DSLR and understanding what makes digital SLR cameras worth the extra expense and effort is half the fun, and it’s a massive topic, but the basics are essential. For out infographic about the different types of cameras click here.

The Basics

The primary elements of a camera that influence your photos, and which DSLRs improve are exposure, white balance, and the quality of the sensor that captures the actual image. For our infographic about the basics of camera settings click here.

Exposure is affected by shutter speed – how long the iris of the camera stays open – and the aperture – how wide the iris opens to let in light. If the lens is open for longer with a shower shutter speed and if the aperture opens wider, more light gets in. Shutter speed also determines how long you have to hold the camera and the subject steady to avoid a blurry image. The aperture, measured in f-stops – the smaller the f-stop number the bigger the opening – also influences the depth of field, meaning how much of the shot is in focus in terms of distance from the camera.

White balance refers to the fact that “white” light has a number of different potential hues, called color temperature. For example, sunset can appear red, while Tungsten lights are an orange color, and some Halogen lights are bluer. White balance is how you or your camera adjusts for these temperatures so the colors in the picture are accurate.

Relevance

DSLR cameras offer two advantages that make more sense in light of how all these settings impact your photo. First, the components of the body and lens tend to offer a wider range of higher quality settings for each of these elements. You can even change lenses to get more specific ranges of settings to achieve a desired effect. Second, you get as much or as little control over them as you want. Some digital cameras and point-and-shoot cameras offer manual controls, but many of these still rely at least partially on the camera’s sensors and don’t give you the ability to completely control everything.

Leaving behind your reliance on full-automatic mode allows you to specify how much light you want, what you want in focus, and what color and mood should infuse the light of the shot. This is important for shots in which the camera’s chip can’t correctly adjust settings to get the best outcome.

DLSR cameras also have better sensors as a general rule. They are larger, with more, better  pixels, and thus take higher quality photos with better, crisper lines and details – improvements you can see. Also, with SLR (single lens reflex) cameras the viewfinder shows exactly what hits the sensor through the lens because there is only one lens, as opposed to most compact cameras that have a separate lens for the viewfinder

Choosing Your DSLR

That’s a lot to digest but you should have an idea of the increased power and customizability you’re getting in exchange for a larger, heavier, more complicated camera. So how do you find the right one? Pros and scores of people who have become enthusiastic amateurs all say the same thing; choose an affordable body that you like when you hold it, get a starter kit with a basic lens, memory card, lens protector, charger, and case, and save your money for your first lens upgrade.

The most important thing about your camera is that you like taking pictures with it. Finding it comfortable in your hand as you shoot goes a long way to making you carry it around. Go to a store to see what cameras you like before you order online. With lower and mid-range DSLRs, the lens has a much larger impact on the outcome of your shot than the body in terms of more expensive models. So saving on an average housing to enable you to purchase another lens in the future when you have a clear idea of what you want to do is the best way to grow your hobby affordably.

The face of photography continues to change as Micro 4/3 , smart cameras, and now Sony’s new Alpha 3000. The Alpha 3000 is a Hybrid camera because it is an E-mount camera (shares lenses with the NEX family) in a DSLR body.  The Alpha 3000 could be the best of both worlds for someone looking for their first DSLR.

Ergonomics

Though it has a larger body and solid grip, it is lightweight for maximum ease and comfort while shooting and has a multi-interface shoe so you can expand your capabilities. The battery can take up to 470 shots on a single charge, but must be charged inside the camera using a bundled USB cable. It is designed to be very intuitive and effortless for any consumer.  The viewfinder has 100% coverage and boasts 200k dots of resolution to show any adjustments you make in real time.

Picture Quality

The A3000 has a 20.1 MP APS-C size HD image sensor, designed with the same format that Sony uses for their full sized alpha DSLR cameras.  This sensor also carries the same noise reduction technology from Sony’s A99, offering an ISO of 100 to 16,000. The Dynamic Range Optimizer will improve results with backlit subjects, and recover details that get hidden in shadows. The A3000 has an optimized auto focus feature which you can use in live view mode. There are also 11 “Picture effect modes” and 6 “Creative Style Settings”, for fun.

Video and Quick action photography

The Alpha 3000 can take 3.5 frames per second, though continuous shooting speeds vary depending on the shooting conditions or the speed of the memory card. It can record 1080 HD 60i footage (or 24p if you like the “cinematic” look).

In Conclusion

We are excited to test out the Sony Alpha 3000, and see how the hybrid capabilities give it an edge over the lower level DSLR’s like the Rebel Series or even some high end compact cameras!

Photographer Shane Drummond (https://shanedrummond.com) shows us how to do light painting  on a beautiful night at the South St. Seaport using contemporary dancers.

What you will need:

1. Camera
2. Tripod (or a place to keep camera still)
3. Source of Light (for this video we used glow bracelets, and when they prove to be too dim we improvised and used cell phones)
4. Yourself or friends

Set the camera to:

1. low shutter speed
2. low ISO
3. high aperture/F-stop

What we found out:

1. The brighter the light, the easier to paint with. The bracelets produced a faint and colorful glow, which could be a cool effect, but in order to really do the painting we needed a strong source, like the iPhone flashlight.
2. Be creative! test out all different things you can produce with light, tracing people, using different light sources, different movements and combinations. Have Fun!

Special thanks to dancers: Jonathan Priester, Tessa Peterson and Jen Moore for being such a good time. They’re all truly talented and we hope to see their skills on another shoot.

The items you will use to make your boom pole will change depending on the offerings of your local hardware store. The important part is to get pieces that work together and fit tightly so they will not create any noise that the microphone will pick up.  We used:

1.  Extension Brush Holder
2. 5 foot pole (You can use whatever length you want, just make sure it fits the extension you pick!)
3. ¾’ Screw (The size that matched the screw hole on the microphone)
4. The tape is pictured, but we did not end up using it. But hey, tape is always handy, and masking tape leaves no residue so you might as well pick some up in case you need to strap down any wiggling at the last minute.
5. A Zoom H1 Microphone.

First we had to remove the top of the extension piece in order for the microphone to be able to fit. A strong pair of pliers did the trick!

Then we removed the large screw that was made to hold a paint brush in, and replaced it with the screw that matched the size of the Zoom’s hole. Once the screw was fully tightened, the microphone was completely still and stable.

Then screw the extension head onto the pole, and voila! Microphone on a stick! If you want to plug the microphone directly into the camera, plug the cord into the mic and wrap it around and down the pole. You can use some of the masking tape here to tape the wire into place and cut down on mic handling noise showing up in your audio. You will have to make adjustments depending on the shape and size of your microphone, but once you get the idea it is easy to reproduce! Our version ended up being only about $10. (Pole was $3, Extension was $5, tape was $2, and the screw was 10 cents.) If you get confused, post a comment and we will do our best to help you out and make the right boom pole for your microphone!

Photographer Nathaniel Johnston brought us along on a portrait photoshoot! We picked up some great basic pointers while watching him work!

Give your subject direction to try different moods and expressions. Someone might feel more comfortable with one emotion than another. Keep shooting as the person changes, because often times a genuine smile will come when the person laughs at themselves for making different faces.

To get the stereotypical headshot, keep your subject at an angle. Start by positioning their feet at a diagonal to you, and the rest of the body will follow. Let them turn their face to you while their chest stays at the angle.

Let the subject interact with the environment. The background can be more than just an aesthetically pleasing blur. Let your model sit, lean, climb, jump, and get inspiration from the surroundings.

Try shooting landscape style. Most portraits are taken vertically, but explore turning your camera on its side, as well as different angles and distances from your subject.

Get a good portrait lens. The 80-105mm range is perfect, but the 70-135mm range will work as well. Smaller than 75mm puts you at risk of distorting your subject’s features, whereas longer than 135 and you risk flattening the subject. For this shoot, Nathaniel used a 85mm F/1.2 Canon lens, which enabled a beautifully blended background and helped to make Deb, our model, really pop out with full features.