What Can a "Point & Shoot" Do?

So here is a run of the mill, very basic, very old, very worn "point and shoot".  So what can we do with this? Is it really a camera like the DLSRs that a lot of people use?

Well it turns out that even this 5 year old "point and shoot" has the ability to do a lot of things that a big, expensive camera can do.  It can't do all of them, it can't do what they do as fast, it doesn't have as much flexibility either.  BUT it does give you some control to creativily make a photograph.   Even with this camera you don't have to just "point and shoot"!

You can change the aperture two stops from 2.8 to 4.0 which controls the "Depth of Field" (DOF).  It also allows you to control the shutter speed by quite a few stops either faster or slower.

So even an old basic camera has built into it some features that can help you be more creative.  And if you happen to have a much newer one you'll have even more features and flexibility. 

Grab that manual and if you need, grab that mentor and start to explore!

Point & Shoot for Professional Photographs

One neat thing about our club is the lack of emphasis on the equipment, for the most part.  The excitement and joy of taking a good photographs has overcome that issue long ago and it makes it much more fun for all.

However there are many of us that are nippling around the edges.   We've always wanted to learn more about photography but one thing that seems to hold many people back is the belief that we do in fact need good equipment to take a great photograph.  That belief needs to be put to rest.  Three of the best photographs that Eva and I have taken over the years were with one of Olympus' first ventures into the digital world, a 1.3 mega pixel point and shoot that is now 11 years old.

I've got several books by Rick Smmon, who is one of Cannon's "Explorer of Light" photographers.  They are simple and interesting to look at and most importantly, inspiring!  This latest is called "Confessions of a Compact Camera Shooter".  This just might be the book you need to inspire you to pick up that camera no matter what you think about it and use it.

Now the fact is that Rick's compact camera still might be in the upper end in that class of cameras but the point is well taken, a compact camera can take great photographs, it isn't the camera, it is the photographer.  Pick that thing up and get involved!  This book just might be the one to help you with that!

So You Think You Need the Best Equipment?

I often hear discussions about photographic equipment.  And I suppose being a "toy and tool" guy I can really understand the desire for some really great photographic equipment. But we need to know that the club is about learning to take better photographs and this can be done regardless of how good you think your equipment is.

These two photographs are a case in point.  I often go back to them and use them as examples of what a simple "point and shoot" camera can do. Now you certainly could do more with them in post processing if they were taken with more expensive equipment but these are very pleasing pictures to look at and they were shot with a 10 year old Olympus D-340R.... which only has a 1.3 megapixel sensor. It is pretty basic.

One of the things that always strikes me when I look at Paul Cyr's or Ken Lamb's work is how they compose their shots and how they use light. I think that their skills are what make their work so good and these skills can be learned with any camera. I'd bet that we could give Paul or Ken a D-340R and they could regularly create beautiful shots with it.

So as you use your camera, whether you join the club or not, remember to work on your skills as a photographer first and enjoy the equipment secondarily.  John H. reinforces this for those of us that the expensive eqiupment in his comments on the forum under "Image Stabilization".

The photograph above is our daughter and was taken by my wife, Eva. The photograph to the right was taken one morning very early 8 years ago on Creasey Ridge Road in Mapleton after a freezing fog.