The Photobook

Digital cameras with built-in lenses were designed for convenience and simplicity. That's great in many respects, but it's not always ideal. The LCD monitor makes for a convenient alternative to the viewfinder. As a result, we sometimes hold the camera with one hand, twelve inches away from our eyes. The monitor does provide the most accurate framing but this one-handed technique can lead to blurry pictures caused by camera shake. The Menu includes a vast range of options that can be tedious and complicated. Consequently, it’s tempting to “keep it simple: to shoot in a fully automatic Program or Scene mode with all the default settings. We may ignore useful features such as specific White Balance and ISO options, exposure compensation, flash intensity reduction, specific apertures (f/stops for depth of field control) and the many JPEG size/quality levels but the photo posters look great. The wide-area (multi-point) autofocus sensor is very convenient. We may be tempted to use that feature instead of selecting a single focus detection option - and using autofocus lock when recomposing - for more precise control. The wide-area AF mode is fine for snapshots. But the camera may focus on a person’s stomach instead of the eyes: the essential subject area in people pictures.