What's the Best Digital Camera?

I get asked this question a bit. I used to find the question annoying. For me this question implies that the person asking the question thinks all photography is the same, that all photographers have the same needs, and that photography is a pursuit made easy with just the right equipment. Outside of a flippant, the best camera is the one that's with you response I would try to avoid answering. Partly because I didn't want to get into a discussion about learning photography and partly because I really don't know what's best for anyone except me.

But while ruminating on this question this morning while driving to work, I think I found an answer that will help the questioner while also being instructive about photography. Getting upset about the question belies the truth of why the person was asking the question. There is so much information on the web, they don't understand much if it, and they wanted an "experts" advice. I'm not an expert but when I frame the question in that context I don't feel the annoyance. So what's the best camera.

The best camera is the one that fits into your budget. Seriously. Modern digital cameras are so good and have so many features that any of them will be sufficient for the novice photographer. I don't think there is any meaningful difference between a Nikon, Canon, Sony or Fuji. All of these camera brands make excellent cameras. The main difference in price level can be mostly be attributed to features that will only matter to an advanced amateur or professional. For beginners the Nikon D3300 will suffice for many years. Even longer if the photographer has no interest in developing more advanced skills.

What lens should you get? That depends on what you want to photograph. For landscapes you'll want a wide-angle lens. For portraits you'll want a portrait lens. Most people asking the question that started this post don't know what they want to do. Most likely they want to take some pictures of family or a trip to a historic scene etc. A good general purpose lens with a focal length of a 24-70 f/4 lens. I recommended crop-sensor cameras above. The crop-sensor version will be a 16-50mm lens. Most of the entry-level cameras will come with a kit lens, usually an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, that will meet the needs of the beginner.

Should I get a DSLR or a mirrorless camera? Do have friends with a Nikon and want to be able to borrow their lenses? If yes, then get the same brand of camera as your friends. If you want to carry lighter equipment, if you want a camera that easy fit in a backpack, then get a mirroless camera. The lighter ones are the in the micro 43 format. Other than weight, there is not need to care about DSLR versus mirrorless. You'll get excellent results from both.

What about megapixel? They don't matter. The haven't mattered for a while. Most people are taking photos to share online, either on a blog, or on social media like Facebook. Facebook and many social platforms limit the size of the image you can upload. It's a lot lower than the 8 megapixel camera in the iPhone. My research indicates that most people are viewing their images on portable screens on their smartphones and tablets. These devices have screens that can't display more than 2-3 megapixel. So what's the point of having a 36 megapixel camera if you are uploading the images to Facebook to be seen by someone using a 3 megapixel screen?

But what about prints? When was the last time you made a print? Will buying a multi-megapixel digital camera make you want to make more prints? I doubt it. And even if you do, 8 megapixel is enough to make the 4x6" and 8x10" prints. Since the most bare bones modern digital camera has at least 12 megapixel, you will have enough resolution to make 16x20" prints. So stop talking about megapixel.

Set your budget, buy a camera, and start taking photos. Or maybe your smart phone is all you need.

Photo Editing on iOS is a mess

Why I think the iPhone and iPad are useless image editing machines. #iOS

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I edit a lot of images on my iPhone 6. Most of them are images taken on the phone with the native camera app or imported and then edited in one of the several apps. Sometimes I used the non-destructive editing tools and the "Edit In.." feature to edit my images via third-party editing tools that I access right from the Photos app.

The challenge is that only a few of the popular third-party editing tools or filter apps support this feature. Here is the list of third-party non-destructive editing tools and filter apps that support "Edit In..".

  • Afterlight
  • Photoshop Express
  • Litely
  • Camera+
  • ProCam

Here are the other apps I have installed in a "Darkroom" folder on my iPhone.

  • Adobe Lightroom
  • Snapseed
  • RNI Films
  • AnalogFilm
  • VSCOcam
  • Darkroom
  • Prime
  • Photogene
  • Filters

If more apps were supported, my iPhone editing workflow would be simple. I would snap an image in the native camera app, then use the "Edit In..." feature of Photos to non-destructive edit or apply a filter.

But instead, my workflow involves snapping a photo in the native camera app, launching one of the filter and editing apps, opening the image in that app, making changes, and exporting a JPEG version of the edited image to Photos. If I want to use multiple apps to edit images, I end up importing and exporting copies of each successive image.

iOS edits JPEG images only. JPEG is a lossy compressed image format. Did you know that each time a JPEG image is edited and saved, it's re-compressed and image detail is lost? Only a few iOS photo editing apps — Afterlight and Darkroom are the standouts — use the “Edit in …” share sheet for non-destructive editing. Doing more than minimalist editing on an iPad or iPhone requires repeated import/exporting of JPEG images. I end up with several copies of the same image in various Photos folders.

Some editing and filter apps, such as Snapseed, Darkroom and Prime, allow the user to do non-destructive editing of images. However, the images have to be opened from Photos directly via those apps. Other than these three apps, I don't know of any other apps that allow this.

The situation is worse if I want to edit images taken with a DSLR or other interchangeable lens camera. The Apple Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader will import standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW, but iOS doesn’t allow the photographer to edit RAW images. Just JPEG. I shoot images in RAW only. That makes the iPad almost useless to take on a photo excursion. Unless I set my Nikon to capture images in RAW and JPEG, I will not be able to make edits in the field. I guess Apple expects me to buy high-capacity SD cards or assumes that users only shoot JPEG. What's the point of editing the JPEG version of a RAW if I can't sync the changes back to the RAW image?

So I solved this problem by first importing my images to Adobe Lightroom on my iMac and then syncing them over to my iPad for editing in Adobe apps.

Here are the three Adobe iOS apps I use for photo editing RAW DSLR image on the iPad/iPhone.

The workflow is simple. I copy the DSLR images I want to work on into a specified collection in Adobe Lightroom. I then wait for the photos to sync to Adobe Creative Cloud. When I feel that the images have been copied, I launch the Adobe Lightroom Mobile app on my iPad. I wait for the photos to sync down to the iPad from Creative Cloud and then start working on minor edits and adjustments. If I need to do a bit more advanced editing — remove objects, work with layers etc. — I push the image to Adobe Fix or Adobe Mix. Adobe Fix/Mix pulls over the image with all current Lightroom edits. When I have finished my edit, the changes are synced back to Adobe Creative Cloud and available in Adobe Lightroom on my iMac.

Using these apps to edit the images in Adobe Lightroom requires a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud and sufficient storage on an iPad or iPhone. On a 64GB iPhone, this isn't a problem, but I have already exhausted the storage on my 32GB iPad. Before I start editing images on my iPad, I spend some time, removing unnecessary synced folders and images from Adobe Lightroom Mobile.

I can use the share sheet to export images from Adobe Lightroom mobile to other iOS editing apps, but none of the changes syncs back to Lightroom. The "Edit In..." feature only works with other Adobe apps.

If the photographer is willing to shoot and edit JPEG images only, is happy with reduced image quality, doesn't mind the extra administrative tasks of removing old edits, then the iPad and iPhone could be used as a mobile editing studio. But for me, using my iPad or iPhone as a serious mobile editing platform has too many limitations.

iPhone 6 Camera Specs

How to Use Your iPhone Like A Pro: Manual Photo & Video by Harry GuinnessHarry Guinness

At the moment there are four iPhone models for sale: the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 5S and 5C. On paper they all have similar technical specifications, but the newer models have better image. All four iPhones have an 8 megapixel camera, but the newer models have better image quality because they have larger sensors. The cameras all have a fixed aperture 4mm lens; f/2.4 in the 5C and f/2.2 in the 5S, 6 and 6 Plus. Given the crop factor, the lens is equivalent to a 30 to 35 mm lens on a full-frame camera.

The iPhone has a shutter-speed range of 1/2000 of a second to 12 a second. The ISO range is 34 to 2000 in the 5S and 5C and a slightly wider range of 32 to 2000 in the 6 and 6 Plus.

It's interesting to know the photographic abilities -- and limitations -- of the iPhone 6. Not that much different than a Nikon F2.