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DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY - Getting the most out of your camera

Rather than a guide to buying a digital camera, I intend this section of the website to be a guide to getting the most out of your camera.  I have owned and used a Canon Ixus V3 intensively for over two years, and have used various film cameras for several years.  The cost and specification of these digital devices is now such that film is practically dead.  As far as buying goes, I will say that many high street camera shops are willing to price match deals found on the internet - so shop around and haggle.

Aside from the usual specification considerations (such as physical size, weight, megapixels, memory, build quality & other features), an important performance characteristic for me is battery life.  It then follows that it is important to know how to maximise the battery life of your camera:

  • Make your purchase with battery life in mind - read plenty of reviews by users; the internet is usually the best source for reviews of real world use.
  • Get a card reader (more below)
  • Read the instructions regarding power saving features.  Switching off the TFT display panel, and those annoying sound effects, will help for example.

Card readers come in many forms, but all enable one to remove the memory card from the camera, and allow the PC to read images/data directly from the card. Using a card reader offers several advantages over a direct connection of your camera and PC:

  • Increased camera battery life.  Direct download connections suck up a surprising amount of juice.
  • Fewer cables to worry about.
  • Several camera owners can share a single PC for downloading images (multi card readers are available), without having to install software for each camera.  Equip a shared office PC with a card reader, and employers can passively encourage employees to use their own cameras for work activities. Watch they don't start clogging up the server with baby pictures though!
  • Memory cards can be used to to store and transfer any data.  Transfer data between PC's, between home and work for instance.

Most card readers comprise a card slot that connects to the PC's USB port.  However there are alternatives and variations:

  • Single Card, USB Readers - Available from ~£10
  • Multi Card USB Readers - Available from ~£10
  • Single Card, Floppy Drive Readers - Available from ~£40
  • Single Card, PCMCIA (Laptop PC Card) Readers - Available from ~£10

Personally I have a multi card reader on my work desktop, which colleagues can share, and a PC card in my laptop at home.  This coupled with a 128MB memory card enables me to store a significant number of photos, as well as data files that I wish to transfer between work and home.

On the subject of memory cards, I recommend that you buy direct from the internet. &nSignificant savings can be made compared to prices on the high street. I suggest that you check out www.crucial.com, www.ebuyer.com, and www.amazon.co.uk, though it is worth a general trawl for other internet sources.  If you find a cheap source, be sure to drop me an e-mail.

Useful sites:

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