Digital Camera Specifications-I would Love to Have

I want to buy an advanced compact digital camera ! I don't want it to be bulky with lengthy lenses and kilogram weights to weigh vegetables. It should have a SLR (Single Lens Reflector) look and feature sets, but should work as a point and shoot digital camera.

(photo from: Canon )

But i have my own list of specification that must be fulfilled by Camera model which i am finding myself very difficult to satisfy !

Let me list it myself...

Camera effective pixels should have at least 10 Million Pixels with respect to CCD (Charge Coupled Device). I know, there are several articles, views, critics about million pixel myth, but you know it makes me happy to have more pixel numbers ! After all we do everything in our life to be happy..right? Why should i loose it?? So this is about image sensor resolution requirement. I don't bother which image sensing processor is used. After all i have to believe whatever camera manufacturer say.


Another integral part of the Camera is lens itself. Forget of detachable lenses. All those mounting capability issues, costlier prices. Let it be fixed with camera itself. Any way, i don't want just a SLR body. Talking in terms of 35mm film equivalent, focal length of the camera should range from wide angle 35mm to a minimum of 400mm telephoto capability. This means to say, i expect at lest 12x to 15x zoom considering 35m as basic reference value. I would be really glad to have telephoto range extended to 600mm, wide angle coverage widened by up to 28mm ! I wish even to incorporate a fish eye lens, but i know, i may be asking too much ! What is wrong in demanding a damn good photography feature? Considering current trend in advanced compact cameras, time being i am ready to sacrifice fish eye lens feature, anyway ! But listen Canon, Ricoh, Kodak, Olympus, Sony, Panasonic, FujiFilm, Samsung, Nikon, Pentax and many more...you must develop it for my sake !!

(photo from: Panasonic)

Digital zoom, I almost hate it ! While it zooms by double distance, it kills your photo with the same dividing factor. Most of the common user of the digital camera go crazy over digital zoom, without noticing about loosing quality of picture. I have decided i don't want digital zoom ! Optical zoom is the one which really matters.



It is not over yet, without Macro shooting capability how can i shoot small insets, beautiful butterflies, running ants, greenish leaves, water droplets, colorful flowers? If i buy a SLR i must buy a Macro lens to accomplish these macro photography. Hence i am going for an advanced compact camera, which must provide super macro shooting mode as well, starting from near zero distance to infinity !

To summarise this when lens is in macro mode it should be able to take photos from near zero cm distance to something around 100cm. From 100cm to infinity should be covered in normal mode of lens operation. Again, practically i could not find a single camera which has this feature, rather we have some brands comes close to this.

When you talk about lens, focusing of the subject using these naturally comes in to picture. So auto focus feature must essential. If auto focus engine can detect smiles, then i think it can really helpful to photograph human beings who really likes to smile ! Personally i am not bothered about this feature as my interest lies in candid photography where i want to catch natural mood of the society, nature and bird photography, physically i can't recognize them smiling, even if they do !

How can i loose control over my camera without manual focusing capability? So manual and auto focus, both are must as part of specification. How this focusing is achieved, i am rather less concerned about it. In the case of video recording faster auto focus would enhance total video experience.

(photo from: Nikon )

What i need with respect to flash? Integrated flash almost common in compact cameras. What i need to inspect is the effective range of the light that is produced by the flash. If i get a range up to 7ft to 9ft i am glad ! If i need still higher range for still photography i know how to achieve with the help of higher ISO setting ! If intensity of integrated flash can be controlled as per the requirement of Macro mode, then it can be extra bonus feature anybody would love to have that !

Let us look into the shutter speed, aperture and metering system that when integrated decides exposure control of the photo.

As per shutter speed is concerned, manual full opening option is essential for night photography. Normally Camera metering won't help in judging the exposure value for night photography requirement such as fire works, light illumination of buildings etc. then 2sec to 1/2000 of a second speed of shutter speed can suffice for normal speed photography including bird and wild animal movement at telephoto range.



An Aperture f stop of 2.8 to 8 is a must for normal mode of operation of the camera and lens. It is desirable to have same range for telephoto mode as well. I must find a camera which can give me lower f stop setting at telephoto mode to capture distant subjects, such as birds, with greater depth of field.

Centre weighed and Spot metering systems are well accepted by the industry with great success. I don't want to loose it as well. But there are several other metering topologies have emerged to produce super quality pictures. Camera manufacturers call it in different names, grid metering, honey comb metering etc. All does the same job, split the frame into pieces, take light reading from each frame, then general adopted procedure is to average it. Sometime i just feel it is old wine in new bottle. I want to mention one essential requirement of this metering result. The exposure value judged by the metering system must be indicated both in viewfinder and digital display. Traditional photography lovers may find it more exciting to see the metering value through viewfinder. I think i am one among them, as i own Olympus OM2000 with spot metering, i has to peep through small world of viewfinder to see the world !! I love that !!!

Rest of the control information can be viewed through LCD panel. Since LCD quality won't decide the quality of picture, again i am not much bothered about it. Let camera manufacturer do all technical circus to make it more attractive !

There is a word of caution,though, brighter the LCD more it consumes power from the battery. Hence i won't forget to have at least one look at this aspect of the camera !

When it comes to traditional film photography we generally used ISO rating of either 100 or 200. Even in digital cameras i can find ISO settings options which decides sensitivity of the output photo generated. Even though, manual and auto ISO setting option is a must feature, i would opt for manual ISO setting my photography. A range of ISO setting from 100 to 400 is sufficient in my personal view as i am not much interested into action or sports photography.

Those who are into it will disagree with me as higher ISO will help them to achieve higher shutter speed with low aperture opening to achieve more depth of field of the subject. With increased ISO setting you are more prone to pixel binning effect (photo looks creamy, blurred) and pixels becomes more visible lowering sharpness of the image, which i can't accept in my photos. So i my interest lies into finding a camera which gives best result for ISO settings of 100, 200 and 400, and that's enough. At the same time, if i don't have a higher ISO setting option, i must agree the fact that i may become handicapped with low lighting condition, while doing wild life photography ! I may need to struggle to balance the exposure value with full open aperture. Since the available light has low intensity, i have to open aperture more, if i need to maintain higher shutter speed. Wild animals are never as lazy as me. Hence i have to settle for higher shutter speed with telephoto mode. With aperture opened more i am compromising on depth which may ultimately produce a failed picture. This is where higher ISO speed comes to help with a compromise on quality of picture, but not a failed one. By increasing ISO rating by one step I can achieve same balanced exposure with one stop lesser opening of the shutter ! So camera must have another two ISO steps 800 and 1600. I will learn to live with visible or binning pixels !

Usually we can observe barrel distortion effect at wide angles. Some time it yields good 3-D effect, but most of the time it irritates me ! It is good to higher wide angle capability in the lens. If this produces higher barrel distortion it is almost useless to have wider angle lens. probably i can settle with a camera having lens range starting from 35mm.

One can't completely avoid barrel distortion, but i have to look to those cameras which produce minimum distortion. How can one change the laws of optics?

There is one more natural enemy called Chromatic Aberration, again i can't avoid it completely. This is part and parcel of optics. Remember basic physics theories? Light has 7 color spectrum. When you pass through the prism each color bends in different angle. Same happens within the lens as well. Each color gets focused in different focal points causing the effect called "Chromatic Aberration". Achromatic lens elements are inserted in the lens to minimize this effect. I must find a camera which can produce lesser chromatic aberration for a lesser price !! There is one way to minimize it..open aperture less! Now i understand the benefits of small apertures...less chromatic aberration and more depth of field.

What else i want?
Red eye effect must not be there. Exposure value setting must have basic three options: manual, Shutter priority, Aperture priority. With three setting options, i have better control over quality of the picture i take.

What about shooting modes? I am not much crazy about it. All these modes are helpful to those who doesn't have much idea of shutter speed, aperture and exposure value system. Different shooting modes have predefined set of exposure value. If camera decides on the quality of the photo what i have a job as a creative photographer? But, as a common man who is interested in buying good camera, i wish to have more and more shooting modes...portrait, night, landscape, sports, nature, cloudy, outdoor, indoor, still, panoramic and many more.

I would love to have multiple exposure mode of operation which i feel, enhance my creative freedom.

Certainly my camera must support video shooting, preferably in High Definition (HD) mode. VGA quality video is boring to watch. I must agree, though, that video shooting doesn't excite me as much as a simple photo. But, as a family person, my camera must have HD video mode to capture good moments of life.

There must be USB interface facility. I would appreciate if i can get Bluetooth as well ! Camera must have minimum 2GB SD or SDHC or miniSD memory card support. If it can be upgradable to 8GB that can be wonderful ! Must save picture, audio and video in different resolutions in different standard formats such as JPEG, RAW, MP3, WAVE etc.

What about the material used for the camera body? It is really good to have full proof metallic body finish. We can live with plastic body as well as they are providing rock solid strength, thanks to good material research ! Common factor for me it should be strong enough to tolerate common wear and tear of the world ! It should not happen so that it breaks into pieces if it slips first time from your hand. If it is slipping from my hand 10th time and then it breaks, that is acceptable !!

Of course, i don't expect weight of the camera to be more than half kilogram. Where buttons are fixed, whether it has a side grip or not etc won't matter as long as all above mentioned must requirements are satisfied. And finally price tag, i must get everything within 20000 Indian bucks, maximum i can go up to 25000. Do i have cameras with all these features within this price tag? Yes...there are available...and that's the reason behind all these screaming about cameras.

Models to name a few include:

Canon Powershot SX 10 IS
Canon PowerShot SX110 IS
Canon PowerShot SX200 IS
Kodak EasyShare Z980
Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd
Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD
Fujifilm FinePix S8100fd
Nikon CoolPix P80
Nikon CoolPix P90
Olympus SP-590UZ
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50/B
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1
Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ28


All cameras are best in some or the other features, and all cameras are not best in all features. I finding it difficult to select one which satisfy my requirements. Anyways, let me dig deeper !