Digital Photography and Publishing
 

An organization I'm involved with is interested in buying a digital camera. The trink is we want to use these pictures in our newsletter and possibly blow them up to poster size for publicity purposes. The newsletter is very professionally done, and goes out to a lot of donors to the organization, so the pictures need to not look like crap.

So the question is, how many megapixels does the camera need to have for our purposes?

easy answer: 6-8MP

long answer, you may want to look into a digital SLR with a couple of lenses. The nikon D70 with 18-70 lens is running just under $1000 right now, the digital rebel and rebel XT are also under $1000 with the rebel under $700 or so with lens.

depends on what skill level you are looking to have also. if you just want a camera you can pick up and use and print, then a good nikon or canon P&S will fit the bill.

www.dpreview.com has a lot of good reviews with updated pricing.

hoep this helps in the slightest

What Paq said. 6-8MP will do you fine, assuming its a good camera. Id also agree with his camera suggestions. Id go with the Nikon over the Canon at this point--the nikon is a better built camera. I have the Canon because my system is already all Canon and I wasnt going to switch it all over for one digital camera. The Canon is a great camera, but it isnt built like a $1000 camera should be.

Last summer my Digital Rebel got knocked out of my hands and it landed on pavement. It hit pretty hard, broke the lens filter and scratched the body/pop up flash, but that's all. I too wondered about its durability since its a plastic, but its a very strong plastic. No worries any longer.

it's a polycarbonate somethinger other that is actually capable of withstanding more of an impact than metal with no visible signs of damage. added bonus...it doesn't get as cold in your hands as a metal bodied camera.

as for a psychological detractor, it still looks and feels like cheap plastic.

I've noticed though if you aren't prepared for how much info you need to know for DSLR's you are in for a world of hurt. I've learned more about photography over the last 2 months then I would of ever known, but unless I take pictures along with it that knowledge is crap.

It's worth it though, and ultimately the shot is determined by you so you don't have the get the best gear. A 300D(Rebel) from Canon would be perfect for you guys, and it's about $600 now for body and lens from some places.

I would highly recommend a Digital SLR if you are prepared to spend some time learning principles of photography and/or digital camera use to an advanced level.

If not, just go for a Prosumer type camera. They are more than adequate to your level.

Go to this site:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech.htm

The guy is good and cuts to the chase regarding cameras and techniques. He's not a retailer so he won't try to sell you on anything. Some articles are a bit dated and some he keeps up to dated.
Warning: he is biased toward Nikon, but for advice, I've found few better.

In particular 3 good links:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/2dig.htm - Which camera should you buy? (less of which model and more of why a specific model.)
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digicam.htm - Should you buy a digicam?
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm - The megapixel myth.


Konichiwaneko is right, but with DSLRs the beauty is that you have all the manual functions of traditional SLRs with which you can get creative, but no longer have to wait till your pics come back to check the results. You can practise a master technique and get it down pat within an hour or two.
The lower & midrange DSLRs also usually have a good programmed setting for foolproof photos anyway.

Ah, Rockwell. Glad his name came up. He's a good reference, and in that article raises some good questions.

One thing he does not talk about, at least on that page, is sensor size. Yes, this has everything to do with image processing and all that, but to me it seems really important. I mean, if you have a 5MP camera with a 1/2.5" CCD sensor, it couldn't really be the same as a 5MP camera with a 22.5 x 15mm sensor. Take a look at this article from dpreview for more meat... http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glos...r_Sizes_01.htm

Oh, one more thing: here's another neato link from dpreview about pixel quality. http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=Pixel_Quality Good stuff.

Have fun shopping!