Digital Camera Tip #1

I still love film cameras, but the low cost from savings on film and processing with digital, not to forget the instant feedback of seeing what you've just shot, has made digital photography my new favorite for paid assignments and fun. Since I don't have huge budgets to play with, I'm making do with what I have. My first digital camera is still my only digital camera...the Casio QV-3000EX, one of the first 3.3 Megapixel cameras to come to market and one of the first to drop to a price a few months later where I could afford to purchase it. I'd love to use one of the spiffy Nikons or the new Sony Cybershot DSC-F828, or make use of my Canon lenses with the EOS Digital Rebel. But with my new Epson Stylus Photo 825 color printer and something I stumbled upon, I think I can wait until prices drop some more. Here's what I stumbled upon which will be my first tip.

My hesitation with digital had been it's handicap in low-light situations. Anything in daylight looks great. But when the sun goes down or the shot is indoors, film still rules (except for the fancy new lenses and cameras which can work well to a degree).

Digital cameras in the early stages and the lower priced models don't have the best flashes in the world and they often do not come with hot shoes for attaching an external flash. This makes for tough situations in low light conditions or when trying to shoot a wide area with low light. There's also the problem of red eye and colors not turning out correctly, often with a slight bluish cast in my Casio. Pre-flash helps with most red-eye, but not always. An off to the side, diffused flash works better.

Then it hit me one night. My trusty Osram BCS44 Studio flash, a big but stylish handle flash that can do bounce flash and diffused flash, with many setting possibilities, also has the ability to flash in sync when it detects another flash (servo mode). This gets rid of the need for a hot shoe or sync connector...the Casio I use doesn't have one. I missed my old buddy from my film days and decided I would use it to experiment. 

The Osram with its solid handgrip body and metal base adds balance and helps stabilize the smaller Casio. It also looks a bit more impressive...you don't look so much like a fan shooting at a concert with a little digital camera.

I tried different settings and found, turning the Osram's flash output to the lowest setting and turning up the film speed rating on the Osram helped its circuitry figure out the best flash for closer shots (in the 10-feet away or so range) with the Casio, as it has a fairly fast Canon lense built in. All the power is there if you need more light in a low light setting.

The test worked. Nice, more even light across the whole shot with much truer color and less need to play around in a photo adjusting program (I save money using Adobe PhotoShop Elements 2.0, it's plenty for what I do). High speed Film is still best in lower light situations for me, but when it's not needed, digital is working just fine when I use the extra Osram flash. You can use most any handle/handle mount flash that has servo mode to experiment yourself.

Here's a real world test (both photos by me, Kevin Sanderson, for Smooth Jazz V98.7):

This shows nice color, good diffused flash lighting with the Osram flash and the Casio digital camera. It was taken at the Smooth Jazz V98.7 Charity CD Kick-Off concert November 9, 2003 in Detroit to showcase the artist along with his new cover art for the new CD with station management. (l-r) Artist Marcus Glenn, Suzanne Belanger, Smooth Jazz V98.7 Marketing/Promotions Director and Steve Schram, Smooth Jazz V98.7 VP/General Manager.

This shot with just the Casio flash is darker and the color has a slight bluish cast. Of course, I like the shot with the Osram flash.

Favorite Photo Links

Here's where I'll showcase links to my favorite sites with plenty of useful information.

DPReview Run by Phil Askey, this well put together site has some of the most thorough and understandable digital camera reviews, previews and news on the internet. Plenty of test shots and a busy chat section. I go here first when I'm looking for info on digital cameras.

More to come...