When Should Photographers Buy a New Camera?

The reality is like this, when a photographer wants to buy that new camera, they will find all the excuses in the world to prove that the current camera is no longer suitable for them, only the new camera they want can make them shoot better. nice photo.

But is this really the case? Camera manufacturers are upgrading their cameras every year. Even if you know clearly in your heart that they are just squeezing toothpaste, you are still willing to offer your continuation to them. What does the new camera bring you? Is it more pixels, better sense of height, faster shutter speed or more continuous shooting? Can you take good photos with these?

First of all, let’s talk about pixels. The development of camera pixels over the years has been very stable. From the early 6 million or 8 million pixels to the current higher 40 million or 60 million pixels, the mainstream in the market is generally 24 megapixels or the slightly earlier 16 megapixels. On the contrary, the pixels of mobile phones are soaring higher and higher, until hundreds of millions.

Why do camera pixels look inferior to mobile phone pixels? Is the higher the pixel, the better? Compared with a 16-megapixel GR and a 100-megapixel mobile phone, can a mobile phone really beat the camera?

Really can not. As the basic unit in an image, a pixel represents an abstract sample in a picture. In most cases, whether it is a photo taken by a mobile phone or a camera, we cannot see the pixels.Also read:best beginners cameras

The pixel determines the size of the photo, the higher the pixel, the larger the photo and the larger the file capacity. Just like the 16-megapixel GR can take photos with a size of 4928×3264, a jpg format is about 6MB, and a raw format is about 12MB, while the 42-megapixel α7r2 can take photos The size is 7952×5304, a JPG format is about 10 MB in size, and a raw format is about 40MB in size.

However, the size of photos taken by a mobile phone with 100 megapixels is as high as 12032×9024. What is the significance of such a large size? Maybe the only function is that it can bring a higher degree of freedom in cropping. The higher the pixel, the better you are The more you can crop later, it won't affect the overall quality.

High pixel does not mean good image quality. The main determinant factor affecting image quality is the frame. For the same pixel, the smaller the frame, the fewer photons a single pixel can obtain, and the amount of information obtained by a single pixel will also decrease. If it is small, in order to compensate for it, the electrical signal must be increased, so noise will be generated. The sensor size of a traditional full-frame camera is 36mm*24mm, and the sensor of most mobile phones is not even the size of a fingernail. This is why the high-sensitivity of the larger format is better, and this is why the night scenes of mobile phones always have a lot of noise, or they are simply adjusted by the internal program to have a strong sense of smearing.

The advantage of the mobile phone is the powerful processor, which can be combined with hardware and software, and can directly optimize the photos through the internal program of the mobile phone when taking pictures, so that the photos we take have a better look and feel. In other words, the photos taken by the mobile phone are all through the internal program of the mobile phone "Processed". One of the reasons why many people think that the photos taken by mobile phones are better than those taken by cameras is that the photos produced by many mobile phones have been processed and optimized by the internal software of the mobile phone, which is what we commonly call P. photo. And if you watch it on the small screen of your mobile phone, it will naturally look even more brilliant. But if you watch it on a big screen or output it in a large format, the difference in details will be obvious.

The "straight out" of most cameras may not look as bright as the photos taken by mobile phones, and may even be a little dull, but don't forget that the depth of detail of the camera's raw determines that the photos of the camera have a high possibility of post-production, and will People who do post-processing will know that the details of mobile phones are incomparable with cameras. If you have the habit of doing post-processing by yourself, then taking pictures with a camera is a must. If you never post-processing or only use the filters in the app to color, then the mobile phone is enough.Also read:Best Backpack Mount for 360 Cameras

As far as the current situation is concerned, it is difficult to make qualitative changes when upgrading equipment. Most of the time, it is the improvement of the limit index, just like the shutter speed is increased from 1/2000s to 1/8000s, and the continuous shooting speed is increased from 10 frames per second to 1/8000s. 15 frames per second, the highest high sensitivity is raised from ISO 12800 to ISO 102400 and so on.

The improvement of the shutter is very useful for certain subjects, such as sports photography or wildlife photography, which may be useful for subjects that require a high-speed shutter to capture the moment, but for our daily shooting, such as shooting portraits and streets Scenery, landscape and other subjects may be rarely used if it exceeds 1/1000s, let alone such a high-speed limit index.

The improvement of sensitivity may be useful, especially for low-light photography, but the improvement of the index cannot be seen only. If the index of the highest sensitivity is only improved without optimizing the high sensitivity, it is actually meaningless, just like Some cameras may have a maximum sensitivity of 25600, but the highest sensitivity we can actually use is 3200 or 6400, and the digital quality beyond this is unacceptable.Also read:Best Hand grip Camera Strap

The new camera is very good, there is no doubt about it, it can bring us more advanced image processing technology, bring more excellent details to our pictures, and also help us break through our creative bottlenecks, allowing us to create more More handy. However, if you don’t understand the meaning of the new camera to yourself, but just pursue the improvement of the parameter value, you may be able to get a finer picture quality and a higher resolution photo. Compared with the previous photos, there is no breakthrough.

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