Very good write up and equally matching photographs. Thanks Pankaj ji. Well said "Photography is an art and that is within you and not in the camera." Perhaps you can give a good interpretation. I find my Sony alpha 100 DSLR (with normal lens and a telephoto lens; my son has alpha 750 which I used in California for photography) giving good results for focusing plant parts and I use extension tubes (have not yet bought a real macro lens) for close ups, but for general profile of plant especially habit I find my Panasonic Lumix (DMC-ZS3, 25 mm wide angle, 12 x, HD movie; Leica DC VARIO-ELMAR 1:3.3-4.9/4.1-49.2 ASPH.) giving good results. All parts are equally focussed. I also use it for portraits and video recordings. Perhaps you can throw some light on that.
-- Dr. Gurcharan Singh Retired Associate Professor SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018. Phone: 011-25518297 Mob: 9810359089 http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 1:20 AM, Pankaj Kumar <[email protected]> wrote: > How to perform preliminary test? > > Checking the camera. > 1. This includes checking that camera pack was not tampered and then > the camera body as well as all the accessories. > 2. All accessories inside the package. > 3. Put the battery inside and start to check if it switches on and off > properly and there is no extra noise. Dont mind repeating it 4-5 > times. > > Checking the image quality. > You can just do preliminary checking of the quality of the images at > the shop, before buying,...IF THEY ALLOW YOU TO DO SO!! > > 1. Try to focus on anything to hear the extra noise of the lens and > camera body. Noise may indicate some problem in the camera. > 2. Focus something at a distance, it should be angular, preferably 90 > degrees at the lowermost zoom, for example, use the edges of some > nearby building which is straight. Take a picture and view it over > the screen. If the sides of the buildings are straight then its good, > if it looks distorted and curved, then its not good. Through some > wideangle lens it may look curved which is natural, so dont get > disheartened. But it shouldnt be very much distorted!! > 3. Focus at the sky and take the picture. View the image on the > screen. If your sensor has any dust or scratches over it in extreme > case then those dust particles or scratches will appear prominently on > this image. Also look for the brightness of the image on the screen, > it should be as good as it looks originally in sky. There should be no > variation in the brightness towards the edges. > 4.Focus at some distant object at minimum zoom. Take a picture and > view the central part of the image in full zoom on the screen to check > the sharpness and the colour. Then zoom in the corner side of the > image and check. For this you need to experiment between various > camera models. Choose from the one that looks best. > 5. Take a picture of some person with and without flash and match the > skin colour. Camera offering best match will always be better. Some > camera do show good image of the person but actually they dont look > original so dont get lured by that. It should give the actual colour > of the skin or the closest. > 6. Testing the macro mode. Take some picture at minimum closeup > distance, and compare the corner block and central block. Corner block > may give some distortion, but minimum distortion in the central block > is always better. Some camera do make a lot of noise and take lot of > time while taking macro shots. Then they keep slipping out of focus. > Though they may give good results but its up to you if you wish to > choose such camera. > 7. If you can carry a graph paper with you, then take a picture of > graph paper. View the image and check for the sharpness of the lines > as well as the distortion. Minimum distortion in the centre is always > better. Or you can just find any checkered subject and take a picture > to compare. > 8. If you can carry a pouch of crayons then, take a picture of the > pile of crayons with and without flash and check the colours. More it > matches, better is the sensor. Or you can just find any multi coloured > subject and take a picture to compare. > 9. I personally prefer a more multi point focusing over a lesser one. > More points gives more options of creativity. > > Regards > Pankaj > > PS: These informations in current and previous mails may help or guide > you in getting a new camera. These doesnt mean that I claim to be a > good photographer. I am just a techno freak and a much lower level > amateur who learns photography every day he holds his camera in his > hand. We really have some good photographers in the group, who usually > dont come up to share their photography experiences and skills. > Photography is an art and that is within you and not in the camera. > You can do miracles with the lower end camera too, because it all > depends on your own ability and not of the camera. > > Sharing four pics, two of which are taken from a simple digital > camera, COOLPIX S1 and other two are taken with a DSLR, D300 using > 60mm Macro lens + vivitar Ring Flash. > > -- > *********************************************** > "TAXONOMISTS GETTING EXTINCT AND SPECIES DATA DEFICIENT !!" > > > Pankaj Kumar Ph.D. (Orchidaceae) > Research Associate > Greater Kailash Sacred Landscape Project > Department of Habitat Ecology > Wildlife Institute of India > Post Box # 18 > Dehradun - 248001, India >
