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Tips for Using a Point & Shoot Camera
Interesting ideas, Ian. But I'd like to see your pictures first.
-- Yuriy Vilin, March 30, 2000
I must say that I respectfully disagree with the preceeding diatribe against point and
shoots. As has been pointed out elsewhere, a camera is a tool. A wise artisan will learn
the strengths and weaknesses of that tool, and adjust accordingly.
My own P&S experience has been most rewarding. First of all, if you view it as simple
tool that can be used (with experience, and planning and reading the @#$@($* manual)
you CAN take great shots. I know that some of my all time favorites were taken with an
Olympus Stylus Epic. Framing, composition and having the maturity to realize that
you're not going to get every shot, are part of the P&S experience. Also, if you have the
camera with you, you can use it. A P&S, especially one with a spotmeter, that's with you
beats all the fancy stuff sitting on the shelf at home.
It's equally true that a T4 or a Stylus Epic aren't, and won't be, a good substitute for a
good quality SLR under every circumstance. Or even some circumstances. When I really,
absolutely, positively have to be cetain of getting the picture, (like, say, confirmations,
graduations, etc), I do use the old SLR. But the P&S can go in the briefcase, glovebox,
etc. I mean, how can you get that picture of Elvis without a camera.
-- Bob Yates, March 30, 2000
Amen, Bob.
If you know how to use a P&S, you can indeed get some gorgeous pictures -- and my
experience has been that these little cameras succeed much more than they fail.
And, as others have pointed out, they keep getting better all the time. In the last decade,
point and shoot cameras have taken a quantum leap forward in size, design, and optics.
(You wouldn't have seen something like the Epic in 1990.) More of us can carry them
more easily to more events, and thus get more shots we would have otherwise missed.
And that's what puts the POINT in "point and shoot" cameras, isn't it?
These cameras are tools, designed for capturing moments on the fly. But someone with a
little patience and persistance can also use them to more creative advantage -- and the
results can be rewarding, indeed.
http://www.photo.net/learn/point-and-shoot-tips (21 of 35) [5/15/2002 7:15:46 PM]