The FujiFilm, The Samsung and The Nikon

It is holiday time again in August and holidays mean taking a lot of pictures. What a change in just a few years. Now we all travel with digital cameras, flash memory cards, chargers and laptops. Compare that to taking a few rolls of film four - five years ago. I was late to the digital photography, as I believed the final results were far off compared to analog films. Then in 2002 I bought the 4-megapixel Minolta F100, my first digital camera. And suddenly I realized there is no way back to analog.... Surely the quality was not there yet, but the flexibility and instant preview of the results meant better pictures and much faster learning process (the digital feedback loop is a few seconds - you shoot and you see the picture versus days / weeks long analog feedback loop). There was only the way forward - to improve the quality of digital pictures to match and surpass analog.

Chasing the quality I soon realized the battle is not of megapixels. I no longer make prints. I store my photos on a media server and either have them cycling on several digital photo frames around the house or have the PlayStation 3 play them on the FullHD TV screen. FullHD is 2-megapixel image (1920x1080). So 6 megapixel file is more than enough, even for 50-inch. The difference between 6-, 8-, 10- or more is simply not detectable by human eye. But there is more than resolution that meets the eye. The most visible difference between the old "analog" and the new "digital" pictures is in the dynamic range, or transition from dark to light. Digital sensors measure light by capturing photons. Each "pixel" captures them. As cameras tend to be smaller and smaller and have more and more pixels, the pixels are shrinking. And so is their ability to capture photons. Imagine the extreme model: a pixel so small it can capture just one photon. No photon captured it is black. A photon captured it is white. No differentiation... no whiter shade of pale :). This is what happens with more megapixel - packed tiny, sleek and sexy digital cameras. The dynamic range of their output is shrinking.... There are some basic fundamental laws of physics that rule this world. And no electronics nor software tricks are able to get around them. So is the nature of digital photography. Pixels have to be large to get good, analog - beating quality. This means the trend reverse in nature to what we have now. Big sensors (meaning big lens) and fewer pixels. Is there a sweet spot? A balance of physical dimensions, resolution and dynamic range quality? Sure, but it is different to each of us. Myself I found that balance a year ago in form of the FujiFilm FinePix S5 Pro. The FujiFilm uses a special kind of sensor with two photo diodes capturing each single pixel. One captures the darker part of it, the other the brighter. The result is one of the best dynamic ranges on the market. I love the pictures it takes. But it is large and heavy.

So recently tempted by the advances inb microelectronics, I purchased a second, point-and-shoot camera. The Samsung NV-24HD. The Samsung seemed to have everything. Wide angle zoom (24mm), OLED display shining in full sunshine, ability to record HD movies at 30fps. And very cleverly designed transfer / charging USB cable. But unfortunately after two months I realized I do not use it at all. The pictures just do not deliver. I mean they are not bad, at least on par with many other small cameras... but after the FujiFilm... they are pale.

So last week I decided to swap the Samsung for the Nikon D40. The D40 seems to be great design by Nikon. As inexpensive as a D-SLR can be (around $400 including lens), it is - to quote DPreview - "perhaps one of Nikon's most important digital SLRs":

It's certainly their smallest and lightest, their most affordable and ships with a fairly decent kit lens too. (...) In everyday use the D40 is just what it set out to be, a very capable, compact, lightweight and easy to use camera which makes a perfect first step for anyone wanting to get into digital SLR photography. It provides enough control and a large enough range of manual settings to enable you to experiment and learn but also helps you to take great pictures in the process. It's one of those cameras you can just pick up and start shooting without fuss, that you can hand to a friend who's never used an SLR and know they'll be able to do the same.

6Mp mean the pixels are relatively large to deliver. Being D-SLR type of a camera, it teaches the proper approach to photography from the start. I find it to be a great entry - level camera to introduce the beginners, and at the same time has a lot of potential to experiment and deliver high quality shots. In my particular setup, having both high - end FujiFilm S5Pro and the low - end D40, means compatibility of accessories - particularly flash Speedlights and lenses. Yes, it won't fit in my pocket, but being much lighter and smaller compared to the FujiFilm, it is a great second camera I won't be afraid to carry with me in many weird places or give it to the youngsters to play and learn.