Datasheet

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CHAPTER 1 : BEFORE YOU SHOOT ■
Know Your Camera: General Quality Test
There are many things to consider when determining the overall performance of your digital
camera. How does it perform in low light? How well does it handle a wide dynamic range of
light? Are the colors accurate? How well does the autofocus work? How well does the expo-
sure system work? Is the camera responsive? Increasingly, camera reviewers are establishing
standardized tests that answer these and other questions and publishing their findings on the
Web and in print.
You can easily test for yourself at least two important quality issues: image sharpness and
color fringing. (You’ll need an image-processing program such as Photoshop, Photoshop
Elements, Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft Digital Image Suite, or proprietary software that comes
bundled with many digital cameras.)
To start:
1. Pick a scene that includes a lot of color and detail, such as the one shown here.
2. Use your camera’s controls to select the highest resolution setting. If you can, set your
camera to save your file in the TIFF format. If you must save your image as a JPEG, use
the best quality setting, meaning less compression. (Since this is a test of the imaging
capabilities of your digital camera, saving your data in RAW data format isn’t as useful.
RAW data, an option in mostly higher-end digital cameras, generally isn’t touched by a
digital camera signal processor, and therefore doesn’t suffer or benefit from onboard, on-
the-fly image processing.)
3. Place your camera on a tripod and make an exposure. Since this is a general test, it’s
okay to use your camera’s autoexposure settings.
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