My Camera has lots of dial presets. Like I said and have said many times I am no pro photographer! I am a hobbyist. Having so many dial presets, snow mode, beach mode, fireworks mode, and so on is definitely an advantage over a phone camera. Many more advantages exist with my camera over a phone.
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The future of digital cameras
- Thread starter jwolf6589
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My Camera has lots of dial presets. Like I said and have said many times I am no pro photographer! I am a hobbyist. Having so many dial presets, snow mode, beach mode, fireworks mode, and so on is definitely an advantage over a phone camera. Many more advantages exist with my camera over a phone.
I've pretty much abandoned any camera other then the phone. I am most definitely a hobbyist as well, but like many other things, the best camera is the one on you. I always have my phone. I can't remember the last time I took out the DLSR. Of course if I was a professional or more serious I would probably feel different. The phone cameras have certainly come a long way.
To be honest...
You keep saying that the manual is too long to learn all the features.
Typically higher end cameras don't have preset modes. I don't have them on any of my full-frame Nikons, or on my better crop sensor cameras.
The reason for that is that you can "make" all the modes you want if you understand the basics of how the camera works.
Do you want sports mode? Perhaps you set the focus to AF continuous with dynamic focus point tracking, and if you really want to get fancy you decouple focus from the shutter release("Back button focus"). Then you set the ISO to somewhere that's going to give you a reasonable shutter speed, and set a continuous frame rate you're happy with. Yes, this takes longer than moving a little dial, but you get SO much more control. BTW, none of this is really necessary-back when I was in high school I did my fair share of "sports" photography using a Canon A-1, which is manual focus and manual film advance. Pre-focusing, anticipation, and timing were the name of the game.
Snow mode is easy. Set the exposure compensation to +1 or +2 EV, fine tune it for your desired results.
Apple has increasingly added the ability to do a lot of this stuff to the built-in camera app, but there are also 3rd party apps that give you full control over the camera.
Also, the scene modes in a camera are meant for average conditions, and tend to give average results...
I'd dare say most of us here are not pros, but are hobby photographers or amateurs. Learning all of this stuff is beneficial, though.
I don't have the money nor the interest to get a SLR. Its much easier and faster for me to use my Powershot SX740HS. I don't want 3rd party apps on my iphone to control my camera. If they cant build it in then its better to use a Powershot. It is true that my phone is with me everywhere and for that I get average shots everywhere. However when I take trips I always carry my Canon for serious shooting.
Getting 3rd party software would be the same as doing that for apple's voice recorder. It's just average and lacks many features of a dedicated recorder such as VOR. True my phone is always with me, but for serious recording use a dedicated recorder. The same can be said of apples video recorder on iPhone/ipad. For serious video I use a dedicated Camcorder by Canon.
How is it beneficial for a hobbyist like me to learn SLR features when I cannot afford one?
Only you can decide whether something is beneficial. While there are a few people here who may be photographers for a living, most of us are amateurs/hobbyists. You don't need to keep referring to yourself as one as a reason for wanting to limit your knowledge intake. That's on you
. Many people who pursue a hobby often want to soak up knowledge about the subject like a sponge.Being an amateur/hobbyist often means that one has a tremendous interest in the subject. Such people join clubs and communities and like to be around people who enjoy their hobby as well. Photography is a great hobby. It has science (aperture, lenses, sensors) and art (composition, lighting). It can be expensive. It can also be done fairly cheaply. It can be done on a phone, on an interchangeable lens camera, on your Powershot. In all scenarios, there's light going through some optics through a narrow or wide hole that's open for some duration to hit an image sensor (film or digital). It's my hobby because I am interested in all of those things and more.
You expend a tremendous amount of energy referring to your income and the fact that you're a hobbyist, as if either of those things precludes you from learning about things "out of reach". While it's totally up to you to live your own life, my advice would be to not lock yourself in to a box.
Due to all the robo calls I have literally stopped carrying my phone everywhere with me. Its actually quite nice not having it with me - such a Time Suck. I however do carry my rx100 most places except shopping.
I do hope the camera manufactures get hit hard with a down P&S market. They have built too many dumb cameras, look at your Powershot SX740HS, seriously Canon couldn't put a decent size sensor in that??? Back in the film days I had multiple Olympus P&S that were the same size but had a lens to cover a 35mm piece of film. They, the camera companies, have fractured their offerings with too many different sensor sizes and honestly those tiny sensors are just a waste of money an effort. Live in the moment capturing photos is not that important nobody really wants to see your pics, heck I cringe at reading these posts. just procrastinating actual work.
The future: Cameras have Always been nothing more than a box for their lens. I don't want a phone with a 500mm lens, a macro lens, a wide angle lens. I want a phone for emergencies that I will carry in the back of a bike jersey. It would be nice if my phone's camera could OCR. I will never buy another P&S that's not Waterproof with a larger sensor. So yes I hope the future holds less cameras but ones that are designed for actual usability not just another model to sell as an upgraded model from the last piece of craptacular.
I do hope the camera manufactures get hit hard with a down P&S market. They have built too many dumb cameras, look at your Powershot SX740HS, seriously Canon couldn't put a decent size sensor in that??? Back in the film days I had multiple Olympus P&S that were the same size but had a lens to cover a 35mm piece of film. They, the camera companies, have fractured their offerings with too many different sensor sizes and honestly those tiny sensors are just a waste of money an effort. Live in the moment capturing photos is not that important nobody really wants to see your pics, heck I cringe at reading these posts. just procrastinating actual work.
The future: Cameras have Always been nothing more than a box for their lens. I don't want a phone with a 500mm lens, a macro lens, a wide angle lens. I want a phone for emergencies that I will carry in the back of a bike jersey. It would be nice if my phone's camera could OCR. I will never buy another P&S that's not Waterproof with a larger sensor. So yes I hope the future holds less cameras but ones that are designed for actual usability not just another model to sell as an upgraded model from the last piece of craptacular.
Your Powershot can operate in the four exposure modes available on DSLRs. Exposure is exposure, and it doesn't really change(ignoring things like bellows factor) whether you're using an 8x10 view camera or a digital Leica.
Canon's starter DSLR retails for $50 more than your Powershot...
For some bizarre reason we purchased a Canon camera a few years back. I think it was my wife, actually... and I recall the conversation with her - what do you need it for - you have your phone...
And now it sits at the bottom of my junk tech drawer.
I also have my Panasonic TM900 prosumer video camera, that I absolutely love, but haven't used in well over 5 years... Video cameras are also dying for the same reason. Who needs one, when your phone has something better than most stand alones? (Not better than the TM900! Probably...)
And now it sits at the bottom of my junk tech drawer.
I also have my Panasonic TM900 prosumer video camera, that I absolutely love, but haven't used in well over 5 years... Video cameras are also dying for the same reason. Who needs one, when your phone has something better than most stand alones? (Not better than the TM900! Probably...)
While true that "always have camera with you" mask the memory management that impulse convenience clickers fail to understand...and video makes it even worse. Ready to take a photo/video and "no memory" message...delete, delete, delete. While wife has an A6000, deferred upgrade due to lack of use and preference for "always with you" phone. Her original SE paid for the upgrade to 64mb which during the final year my refrain to her frustration was delete, delete, delete those treasured (i.e. impulsive garbage) photos and videos. Upgrading to 12 mini, again paid to bump memory to 128 mb, of which 64 was immediately taken and she has now used half the remainder in less than 6 month. Myself? With my 6s, never had a problem with standard 32mb, and the 12 upgrade with standard 64mb was simply gravy. My files sit nicely on my computer, trash (coded 1 star in Lightroom) mass deleted with select (not all) processed ones imported to special related albums in iCloud for phone/tablet access assuming not in some remote area without internet/cellular.
TO address the "too large" description of the a6000 purchased $99 entry level P&S and even she noted that the optical quality of the iPhone SE was superior. That phone was given to my 4y/o grandson which was far superior to the "dead battery after 10 minutes" kids camera given to him at Christmas.
TO address the "too large" description of the a6000
purchased $99 entry level P&S and even she noted that the optical quality of the iPhone SE was superior. That phone was given to my 4y/o grandson which was far superior to the "dead battery after 10 minutes" kids camera given to him at Christmas.I do agree about robocalls as I get a ton of them. I block one number and the scammer calls from another it’s very tiresome.
regarding cameras. What’s wrong with my Canon???? It’s a wonderful camera!!!!
I am trying to learn more about my Canon. It has allot of features. For example was playing today and saw it had a TV mode. What is TV mode?
No doubt it's in your "big manual."
Tv(note the capitalization) stands for "Time value". It's what Canon has always used to abbreviate shutter priority exposure. You set a shutter speed and the camera chooses the correct aperture.
This is your prerogative. As for me I prefer a Canon Powershot and a Canon video camera over a phone. For one they have more features. For two I grew up this way and smart phones were not available back in the day.
Using the "creative modes"(not sure if that's Canon's term or not)-P, Tv, Av, and M, puts you in control of a lot of the parameters of taking a photo. You can set the shutter speed as appropriate to minimize motion blur...or create it if you would like. You can adjust the aperture to give you the desired depth of field or sharpness. You can set the ISO to give you the "cleanest" images possible in good light, or as high as needed to keep the shutter speed where the camera can easily be hand-held.
Try this as an experiment. Go to Tv and set the shutter speed to 1/4 and then 1/250, both while holding your camera in your hands. Look at your final result. That gives you some idea of at least one of these things.
Then, as a second experiment, go out and photograph something moving. Cars are a decent subject for this. Set it to say 1/60 and then 1/1000. Look at the result.
Yes, auto mode allows you to just not think about setting this stuff, but learning how exposure works(which is something I think many of us have been telling you) helps you both actually understand what's going on in your camera and also get the most out of the tools you have.
When I have owned digital P&Ss in the past, I have picked them on the basis of having exposure control.
You're fortunate that you can play with settings to and it doesn't cost you anything to see the result. Back when I learned on film with a Canon A-1(which is a high tech camera compared to the Nikon F2 and FM2 I now like to use, but low tech compared to my F6) I didn't know what I'd done until I got the film back.
Have you considered taking an online "Basics of Photography" course or seeing what your local library offers? There is a great deal of free information out there. You can go as slowly or as quickly as you wish.
Lol... Tv mode is Shutter priority.
Stop learning "about your Canon", I would recommend you start learning about exposure and composition and making nice images. It will benefit you much more than working out how to get the TV signal on your canon
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This...the scourge of society. I keep the ringer on my phone off 24-7 unless expecting a call as I get about robocalls 15/day. Really a problem when you own your own business dependent on phone contact and new customers won't be in your contact folder! Shopping for car (just looking for when chip issue resolves and incentives return) and so many now are dropping dedicated NAV and only offering Apple CarPlay. I just envision enjoying a playlist while coming to a critical intersection and some spammer decides they are more important overriding everything.
Classic spammer ID is then they start with the classic "fake caring" sales line "How are you doing today?" My automatic reply is not what they are expecting "Terrible" and it takes them off their sales skit. If they ask what is wrong, my reply describing them is not safe for work or this forum. Reality is, the biggest mistake people make is thinking they have to be courteous...even accept insincere apologies. They called me...they earn every bit of abuse I throw at them. I actually benefit as it enhances my critical/impromptu thinking skills as I try not to repeat prior responses.
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"How is it beneficial for a hobbyist like me to learn SLR features when I cannot afford one?" - Don't. Like a carpenter with a saw, it is not about the saw so much as what you make WITH the saw. It is about learning to manipulate the wood. To shape it and construct with it - the same as a camera. Learn to work with light, learn to capture the light, the scene, the juxtaposition of subjects in a compelling way. The camera is a tool - the professional version doesnt do something the consumer doesnt, it just makes the job at hand easier or quicker to complete - within reason of course.
In the time you take asking questions on this site you could have learned quite a bit from a book.