Modern digital cameras can provide a lot of fun

Modern digital cameras can provide a lot of fun

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Digital cameras have definitely come a long way
since the day I played around with a Logitech Fotoman, which
looked so much like a martabak (Indian pizza). Today's digital
cameras -- also called digicams -- have come close to
conventional cameras in terms of look and feel. Some of the high-
end digital cameras can almost match their film-based
counterparts in terms of image quality, although their price is
substantially higher.

Courtesy of Datascrip, Canon's main distributor in Indonesia,
I was able to play around with a PowerShot A50 digital camera,
which carries a price tag of around Rp 4.8 million.

I did some homework before I went to pick up the review unit
from the company's headquarters in Kemayoran. I checked the
Internet for comments from people who own this camera, finding
three such people. In general, they all liked the camera's
features, but two of them complained about its battery life and
one complained about the time it took to download the pictures to
their PC. My own experience showed that these problems were not
as bad as they sounded. I'll return to that later.

But first, let's learn a little digicam lingo. These cameras
are categorized according to how many pixels they can capture in
each frame. A megapixel (MP) camera captures an image with
1,000,000 dots. The state of the art is two MP, but Epson is
already touting a three MP camera. With its 1.3 MP CCD, the cute
PowerShot A50 belongs to the 1.3 MP category, which many believe
currently offers the best price for performance.

Features

As admitted by the three owners, the list of features found in
the PowerShot A50 is impressive. To start with, it has a powered
2.5x zoom lens (the 35mm camera equivalent of 28mm to 70mm).
Pressing two tiny buttons with the right thumb will adjust the
optical zoom level while the autofocus mechanism keeps the image
sharp. The lens is retracted and covered by a built-in cover when
not in use or when you review stored images.

At the back of the unit there is a bright, high-quality LCD
monitor that we can use as a viewfinder or as a display screen
for previewing captured images. Its refresh rate is high enough
that we don't see any annoying blurs as we move from one object
to another.

Above the LCD is the optical viewfinder, which follows the
zoom function faithfully. This allows us to take pictures as we
do with a conventional camera. Three small buttons on the left of
the viewfinder let us control the camera menu that appears on the
screen. The flash is built-in, and there is also a red-eye
reduction lamp that will better adjust the subject's eye color to
the bright flash.

On the left side there is a digital terminal port for the data
serial that goes into the PC or the Mac for downloading. Above it
is the Video Terminal port that allows us to send the pictures
directly to a TV monitor. On the top side there is an LCD screen
that shows the status of the camera, such as the flash setting,
timer, macro mode indicator and the approximate number of
pictures that we can still take.

Picture data is stored in an eight MB compact flash (CF)
memory card. This included card can hold up to 23 frames of
pictures with the highest resolution (1280 x 960) in the highest
quality JPEG format. Choosing a smaller picture size -- 640 x 480
pixels -- in normal quality JPEG means creating smaller files (65
KB each) and therefore you can store more than 100 frames in the
8 MB CF. Optional CF cards with capacities up to 45 MB are
available. The camera is also capable of rapid-fire shots,
although it requires a couple of seconds to recycle.

Turning on the camera, choosing the automatic or manual
setting, playback and panorama mode is done by rotating a dial on
the top. The shutter knob provides enough resistance so as to
avoid accidental shots.

For real fun

This compact digicam is really fun to use. Using the automatic
mode, we can simply point and shoot. If we want to have more
control, we can use the manual mode. We can turn on the white
balance feature, which will offset the effects of ambient light
coming from sources such as tungsten and fluorescent lamps. We
can turn the flash off, set the shutter speed for night scenes
and adjust the exposure setting to compensate for more difficult
lighting conditions.

The camera also can create a horizontal or vertical 360-degree
panoramic picture by stitching several frames together. A guide
on the LCD screen will tell us where to point the camera for
subsequent frames so that they can be combined to form a 360
degree view of, let's say, the interior of a cathedral. If you
need to create a large picture, the A50 can also help us combine
four frames in the same manner.

We can also run a slide show of all the pictures stored in the
flash memory, and they can be displayed either on the LCD or on a
TV monitor. To conserve battery power, Canon supplies a DC power
coupler that we can insert into the battery compartment. The
other end of the cable goes into the adaptor. Recharging the
included Nickel-hydride battery takes only one hour. I didn't
really test the life of the battery, because I was using it off
and on, but certainly it is not bad. Canon claims that with the
LCD off, a full charge will allow us to take 200 shots. With the
LCD on, the number is reduced to about 70 shots. A full charge
will also allow us to preview the pictures for one hour.

Downloading pictures onto a PC also is very simple once the
software is installed. Contrary to the complaint I read on the
Internet, downloading is not a painfully slow process. It does
take a couple of minutes to transfer the thumbnail and a couple
of more minutes to download the real JPEG files. But, hey, how
much time do you usually spend going to your neighborhood Fuji
Image Service or any other one-hour photo service to have your
film processed and your pictures printed?

On the screen, the images look sharp and the color is great.
Canon included Ulead's PhotoImpact 2.0 with the camera just in
case we want to do some touch-up experimentation. PhotoImpact
provides dozens of ready-to-use filters and tools to manipulate
picture images.

Needless to say, the real test of a digicam should involve
printing. Unfortunately I ran out of the blue ink for my HP
DeskJet 1600C. In black and white, the printout was very sharp.
Incidentally, I have a HP DeskJet 970C Professional Series
waiting for a test drive. I'll certainly report the results once
I've tested the printer with images from this camera.

The PowerShot A50 is definitely not a cheap digicam, but I'm
already hooked on it. In fact, I'm seriously considering buying
one to complement my 35mm Olympus. Its compact size, rich feature
set, reasonable weight, the possibility of using a Li-Ion battery
and, more importantly, the positive reviews from those who have
bought it make it a safe bet.