afterwards, digital zoom is not worth an extra penny. When comparing cameras, look at the ‘optical zoom’ range.
Specialist lenses
As well as the regular zoom and prime lenses, there are various specialised types of lens. Mostly we’ll mention these in specific chapters where they may be relevant, like macro lenses for close-up work). Other types you might encounter include:
Fish-eye lenses: ultra-wide-angle lenses where distortion is allowed to run wild giving a uniquely curved view of the world.
Perspective control/Tilt and Shift lenses: lenses with a range of movements built in, allowing correction of perspective (like converging verticals when looking up at tall buildings), and very precise control over depth of field.
Sunflowers, Beaujolais, France (Chiz) Wide maximum apertures (here f/5.6 at 400mm) allow you narrower depth of field
Image stabilisation
It’s hard to know whether to deal with this under lenses or under cameras. This is a range of technologies designed to compensate for the effects of camera shake, allowing you to get sharp images at slower shutter speeds than would be possible without it. With compacts and ultra-zoom cameras it is naturally built-in to the camera but some SLR makers – notably Nikon and Canon – build this technology into the lens instead. This has the obvious advantage that you can retro-fit a stabilised lens to an older camera. This technology goes by many names: image stabilisation, vibration reduction, vibration control, SteadyShot, and so on.
It’s generally a good thing, but (there are always buts!) it has limits. You still can’t hand hold the camera and get a sharp picture at, say, 1 second shutter speed. Also, stabilisation only compensates for camera movement. It can’t do anything about blur caused by a moving subject. It certainly does not mean you can entirely forget about shutter speed. If you are using a stable tripod, it’s best switched off – or it will try and compensate for movement that isn’t there, and may actually introduce some camera shake!
Black Clough, Forest of Bowland, Lancashire (Jon) Low light, no tripod: a good case for Image Stabilisation
Accessories
SLRs in particular are system cameras and there are myriads of accessories available for all manner of purposes. We’ll mostly deal with these where they’re relevant to particular activities. Here we’ll just introduce the main categories.
Batteries
Digital cameras need batteries. Batteries run down. Using the screen a lot for Live View, picture review or movie shooting runs them down faster. Carry a spare.
Storage
There’s no film but digital images still need to be stored on a physical medium. Some cameras have a small amount of internal storage, but mostly this means memory cards. Memory cards store huge amounts of images incredibly cheaply. Don’t skimp. And as they become the repository of irreplaceable images, handle them with care.
With digital you can also back up those irreplaceable shots, and it is crazy not to. This usually means backing up when you transfer images to a computer (see Software), although some pro-level cameras have dual card slots so you can back up instantly. On longer trips and expeditions backing up to a separate device is highly recommended, whether it’s a dedicated photo-store or perhaps an iPod or iPad.
Support
Image stabilisation and high ISO settings allow much more freedom for handheld shooting, but there’s still an important role for camera support. Tripods give great support and allow you to put the camera exactly where you want it, but there are many other forms of support. The classic beanbag is light, simple, cheap and highly effective. Remote control by cable or infrared allows the camera to be triggered at a distance. This can cut down vibration and also allows you to put yourself in shot when you’re out on your own.
Flash
Most cameras have a built-in flash so why is it listed under accessories? This is a big subject and we’ll return to it several times, but in a nutshell: built-in flash is small, weak, and produces ugly light; it’s pretty awful for portraits and even worse for close-up work. Its one saving grace is that it’s handy for fill-in light (see photographs of Grize Dale in Chapter 3), but for most other purposes a separate flash gun is vastly superior, and does not have to be big, heavy or expensive.
Filters
Inbuilt colour correction means digital photography has done away with many filters that were once important. It’s still recommended to have a skylight or UV filter on every lens, mostly for physical protection. If it gets scratched a filter is a lot cheaper to replace than a whole lens. The other filter that many photographers, especially landscape photographers, still swear by is the polariser.
Carrying
You have to carry the camera somehow. Round your neck is fine on easy walks – until it rains. In the rucksack it’s well protected but inaccessible. The equation between accessibility and protection is different for every activity, so the best way of carrying the camera also varies; we’ll look at specific considerations for different activities.
Canyon, Hancock Gorge, Karijini National Park, Australia (Chiz) Some images (like this one, with a 20s exposure) will always need camera support
Care and cleaning
Much of care is prevention – carrying the camera in the right way, protecting it from impacts, splashes and so on. Changing lenses also requires care, especially in windy, rainy and dusty conditions. Cameras generally don’t require a lot of cleaning but when they do, use products designed for the purpose–especially on lenses and LCD screens. And don’t, ever, touch the reflex mirror of an SLR in any way.
Changing lenses creates the risk of dust getting into the camera and settling on the sensor. Cleaning the sensor (more strictly, its protective low-pass filter) is a delicate but sometimes necessary operation which must only be done with dedicated swabs and following the instructions carefully.
Final Thoughts
For Lance Armstrong it was ‘Not About the Bike’. For us it’s ‘Not About the Camera’. A good camera does not make a good photographer – and that’s a positive: taking better pictures costs nothing (apart from, possibly, the purchase price of this book!). However, a good camera can help; especially if we define a good camera as a camera that does what you want it to do. From which it seems to follow that knowing (realistically) what you want from a camera is a prerequisite to getting the right one.
However, just for the record, we both use digital SLRs. One of us uses Canon and one of us uses Nikon and – although we watch technological developments with interest – neither of us are planning to change.
3 PLACES AND PEOPLE
Marshaw Wyre river, Lancashire (Jon) Shot with a wide-angle lens (16mm). The closest ice is in easy touching distance. Any small shift in position would have significantly changed the framing
First Thoughts
A good photo isn’t defined by being perfectly focused and perfectly exposed. It’s about feelings. What does it feel like to be in these places, with these people, doing these things? Of course if focusing and exposure are wrong they can ruin the picture, but today’s cameras are pretty good at getting them more or less right.
Perhaps all photography is about feelings; photographing places and people certainly is. Technical skill is great if it helps you express your feelings more clearly, but it clearly isn’t helpful if fretting about white balance or depth of field gets in the