Digital Camera for texture sourcing?
Im not sure if this is the correct place to put this, sorry if it's not.
I am thinking about obtaining a digital camera so i can source my own textures from the environment, however i happen to know absolutely nothing about cameras.
Could anyone give me pointers/suggestions on things i should be looking for or things to avoid?
What i want to do
- Be able to take high resolution pictures that can be transferred to the computer easily.
- Able to have decent zoom to zoom in for leaves and out for large areas like pavement or fences.
- Anything else it needs to do that i don't know about because i don't know cameras.
Questions
- Do digital cameras have he ability to choose the rough size dimensions of the picture
- Do camera flashes mess up the saturation of a photo to much, is it advisable not to use it?
- What things should i be looking for?
I am thinking about obtaining a digital camera so i can source my own textures from the environment, however i happen to know absolutely nothing about cameras.
Could anyone give me pointers/suggestions on things i should be looking for or things to avoid?
What i want to do
- Be able to take high resolution pictures that can be transferred to the computer easily.
- Able to have decent zoom to zoom in for leaves and out for large areas like pavement or fences.
- Anything else it needs to do that i don't know about because i don't know cameras.
Questions
- Do digital cameras have he ability to choose the rough size dimensions of the picture
- Do camera flashes mess up the saturation of a photo to much, is it advisable not to use it?
- What things should i be looking for?
Replies
To get the best photo with the least amount of lens distortion you will want to stand as far from the object as you can and zoom in with the lens, this flattens out the image drastically.
You can set the image size to a limited extent in cameras. It's just best to do that in photoshop during cleanup.
In general you will never use a flash. There are some cases where you can, but when you are shooting for texture you need the least amount of directionly light as possible. The best shooting conditions are a complete overcast day. This casts a soft light with no harsh direction and allows for the easiest cleanup and cleanest texture.
Be careful with point and shoot cameras. Many PnS cameras will say they are 18MP, but will actually have an 8MP sensor and then digitally upscale to whatever their marketed resolution was. This absolutley destroys fine detail image quality, which is exactly what you need for textures.
Use this website to snag a good entry level DSLR: http://www.dealzon.com/digital-cameras
You may also want to purchase a photography color checker, they are used to get the right color balance and hues.
The problems are some chromatic aberrations and unsharp areas, the good part is that it's very cheap, and faster (F4) lens then a zoom one would be (F5.6 or even F6), allowing me to keep the ISO low and noise down. When I need to get closer, I simply switch the lenses - a cheaper alternative than paying much more for a decent zoom lens that can go to 200mm.
Generally speaking, if you want really high quality images, high resolution etc, you need a very good a lens. A zoom lens with a lot of range will generally mean a low quality lens. Even though you might have a 16 or 24mp camera, if you have a poor quality lens you're not going to actually get resolution anywhere near those numbers.
In addition to that, you need to understand which aperture a lens is best at. For a zoom lens that is usually stopped down about 1-2 stops, which means shooting F8 or so in many cases, which means you will need good IS, or a tripod to use low shutter speeds and low ISO. Even still, zoom lenses tend to have poor resolution in the corners (very high quality/expensive ones are an exception).
Generally a macro lens is a good choice, macro lenses tend to be extremely sharp, and sharp throughout the entire frame.
What others have said ring true as well. A longer lens to flatten perspective is good. Make sure you line up as level and you possibly can to the surface, shooting at even a slight angle will introduce perspective issues and unless you know what you're doing in terms of selecting the right aperture for the required depth of field, may result in softness due to elements being out of focus.
Shooting on overcast days is also a good idea, you want as little contrast in the lighting as possible.
Shooting in RAW and learning how to process your files will also be required if you want to squeeze the most detail out of your images. Shooting in JPEG means compression and often poorly processed default camera settings (noise reducing that blurs detail, and over-sharpening that adds halo artifacts).
What is your budget? Its hard to give any specific recommendations without knowing what you want to spend.
I would probably suggest an Olympus EMP2 or EPL5 (or OMD EM5 if you have a large budget), plus a Panasonic 20mm 1.7 pancake, which is very small and very sharp, this lens plus a EMP or EPL will mean a camera small enough to take it almost anywhere and take reference shots on a whim. Also a Olympus 60mm 2.8 macro lens to give you more reach and help with perspective as its a short telephoto lens.
EPM2 with kit zoom :$450
Panasonic 20mm 1.7 pancake: $350
Olympus 60mm 2.8 macro: $450
Though you can certainly build a system for less (or significantly more!).
You requirements for resolution are going to be a big factor.
1. Photo ref just for reference? Any camera will do
2. Photo ref for 512x512 textures? Any camera will do
3. Photo ref for 1024x1024, a decent camera with almost any lens will do
4. Photo ref for 2048x2048 textures? A very good, high megapixel camera (atleast 16mp) with a sharp lens will be required
5. Photo ref for 4096x4096 textures? A very expensive, extremely high resolution camera like a 36MP Nikon D800E with a very, very good and expensive lens. Or a medium format camera in the 40-80MP range.
- Short/fast shutter speed is better for minimizing blur
- F number = lens brightness and that combined with shutter speed determines exposure value
- Aperture = depth of field
To answer some questions
1. Im looking to spend probably around (or up to) $500.
2. I have small hands, so i need something i feel comfortable holding so there is little movement. Obviously this is something that cant be answered here, i need to go hold cameras.
3. Im not looking for something like a tripod. I want everything to be easily moved, i want to take my camera on walks in case i find a nice patch of ground or leaf.
4. Im looking for around 2048x2048 or 1024x1024 size. The larger would be ideal but i can live with smaller.
5. I probably won't be taking huge wall shots or sides of buildings
So how do you recommend i judge something like this for example
http://www.cameraworld.com/product/FJ16301535.htm
This camera for example says its a long zoom, but i don't believe is has a separate lens, so im assuming from the info in this thread that it would preform worse
It says it has a 'powerful optical image stabilization feature.' but how do you judge that?
Its also fairly cheap so im assuming its not as good.
Im unsure how to judge all the statistics. i have no idea what 30x optical zoom (24mm-720mm) means.
Edit: I am trying to decide if i need to go the expensive route for interchangeable lens or if i could be fine with a regular camera. Since i have no idea on cameras this decision is hard to weigh. I want to be cost effective (since $500 is a lot for me) while still getting the quality i need and not paying for all the extra gadgets or quality i may not need.
Thanks in advance for answering all my questions guys. I feel so clueless here.
Now first of all the two cameras I use are my Nikon D3100, which I love to pieces, and a GE X500 which is fantastic in its own right, but not as good.
Now why would you want a bridge camera as well when the advantages of a DSLR are so prominent?
the best reason I can give for this is, its smaller, more compact, can still produce great quality images, its cheaper, I have less worry about breaking it or losing it, and less fear of it being stolen.
the quality of images can vary on my bridge camera I must admit, but its more then often been very acceptable for what i've been doing and i've been carrying it at times and in places I simply wouldn't with my DSLR.