Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

Flip Screens for Multiple Viewpoints

Every digital camera has an LCD screen, but on some specially endowed models, you can flip and swivel the screen around to gain multiple viewing angles (Figure 1-3). You can frame the shot any way you want—at your waist, above your head, even at your ankles—without contorting yourself into a pretzel.

A flip screen is a godsend when you’re stuck in the middle of a crowd, but want a shot of the parade. Simply tilt the screen so you can raise the camera over your head and see what you’re shooting. Flip screens let you get more creative, too. You can do low-angle Orson Welles shots for added drama, or capture the world from your baby’s eye view (without crawling around on the carpet).

UP TO SPEEDAbout Lens Quality and Covers

Early digital cameras made a splash with their sophisticated new electronics, but their lenses were hardly state of the art. If you’ve ever tried reading fine print through a cheap magnifying glass, you have some idea of how the world looks though bad optics—lousy.

These days, the scene is much sharper. Sony, Olympus, Canon, Leica, and Nikon all take pride in the lenses for their digital cameras, and they have solid reputations for great glass as a result. (Other camera makers often buy their lenses from Olympus, Canon, and Nikon.)

Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to measure a lens’s quality, and you can’t judge for sure just by looking through it. The best way to learn about lenses (and which cameras have great ones) is to read photo magazines or consult photo review Web sites like Imaging-Resource (http://www.imaging-resource.com), Digital Photography Review (http://www.dpreview.com), or Digital Camera Resource (http://www.dcresource.com).

Of course, lenses of any quality need a cover to protect them from dirt, scratches, and damage.

Here’s the most important lens cover advice you’ll ever get: Use one. Digital cameras come with one of two types: detachable and built-in. Professional photographers (and amateurs who think like the pros) go for cameras that accept filters, telephoto lenses, and other attachments, which usually means a detachable cover.

The downside is that detachable lens covers are a pain. If you tie your lens cover to the camera with that little loop of black thread, it bangs against your hand, or the lens, when it’s windy. If you leave it loose, the cover is destined to fall behind the couch cushions, pop off in your camera bag, or get mixed in with the change in your pocket.

Built-in lens covers, like the ones on compact models, eliminate this madness. Just sliding the cover open both turns the camera on and makes its zoom lens extend, ready for action. When you’re done shooting, the lens retracts and the cover slides back into place. If your digital camera is a constant travel mate, and you could care less about attachments, a sliding cover is the ultimate in convenience and portability.

Figure 1-3. Flip screens first appeared on camcorders and were soon adapted to digital cameras.Left: The best ones flip all the way out from the camera, providing multiple viewing angles.Right: Others allow tilting upward and downward, but remain attached to the camera back.