Details of the phenomena and shooting conditions under which they are likely to occur are as follows.

1. “Black dot” phenomenon (the right side of point light sources becomes black)
When shooting night scenes, the right side of point light sources (such as lights from building windows) may become black. The phenomenon may become visible if the images are enlarged to 100% or above on a monitor or if extremely large prints of the images are made.

2. Vertical banding noiseIf the recording format is set to sRAW1, vertical banding noise may become visible depending on the camera settings, subject, and background.
Vertical banding noise is not noticeable if the recording format is set to sRAW2.
Vertical banding noise does not occur if the recording format is set to RAW or JPEG.
Noise can be reduced if C.Fn II-3: Highlight tone priority is set to 0: Disable.

Canon has made a statement regarding concerns that have been raised about the EOS 5D Mk II. The message addresses the widely discussed ‘Black Dot’ and ‘Vertical Banding’ issues that have been reported by current and prospective owners who have been studying the camera’s output.

The company says it is looking into both issues and is planning to develop measures to reduce or eliminate these phenomena.

Canon statement:

We have learned that some users of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR camera have identified two types of image quality phenomena that appear under certain shooting conditions.

1. “Black dot” phenomenon (the right side of point light sources becomes black)
2. Vertical banding noise

We are currently investigating and analyzing the causes, and examining measures to reduce or eliminate these phenomena by providing correction firmware. An announcement will be made on www.canon-europe.com as soon as measures have been determined.

A marketplace favorite is the Canon PowerShot A640 (2.5″ screen; 35-140mm F2.8-4.1; should be responsive); WP-DC8 should be the SCUBA case. For my part I don’t like the Canon PowerShot A6xx cameras for the following reasons:

(1) It uses four AA batteries, which typically last for only 50 pictures (you can go out and buy four rechargeable NimH batteries, but these are even heavier than the regular batteries),

(2) the A6xxx cameras have a record/play switch (if you are going through photos that you’ve already taken and something interesting catches your eye, pressing the shutter release does nothing–you must first remember to switch the camera from playback to record mode)

Another great camera is the Canon PowerShot A710 IS; it’s chunky but has a useful image-stabilizer for low-light photography; 35-210mm (equiv.) lens

Compact cameras usually fit inside a coat pocket, a purse, or even a belt case. They usually will have more advanced sensors than the ultra compacts, and tend to give better low-light performance.

Compact cameras also typically have heavier, higher quality lenses. Personally I recommend compact digital cameras for those vacationers who know that a photo will be taken every 15 or 20 minutes.

A personal favorite compact camera is the Fuji F30 (2.5″ screen; 36-108mm (equiv.) f2.8-3.5 lens). It is a very responsive camera with minimal shutter lag. Similar to professional digital SLRs, the Fuji does not have a “playback mode” in which you can get stuck. You only need to press the review button to look at photos you’ve taken.

To take a photograph you simply press the shutter release and the camera automatically switches to “recording mode”. The camera includes a lightweight rechargeable Lith-Ion battery that should be good for nearly 600 photos between charges.

There are some drawbacks to this camera since there is no optical viewfinder as well as no orientation sensor, if you take a picture while holding the camera vertically, the image will show up sideways your computer and you’ll need to rotate it using software.

Since people don’t want to wait for film to be processed and returned, the demand for digital cameras continues to grow.

Since there is no longer need for mechanical parts to move the film cartridge the size of a digital camera is only determined by the size of the battery needed to power it. This feature has made it possible to manufacture easy to carry models and subsequently made them so popular.

Digital cameras are available in a variety of types such as Digital camera, Underwater Digital camera, IP camera, Hidden or spy camera, Mini camera, Polaroid Camera, Camera phones.

Daily more models/systems with the latest technology are coming to the market. Naturally people need a place where they can view latest models and that too at affordable price.

To find them all at one place where information is updated every minute, and every item is available at the prices you desire/offer you can do an internet search using the keyword “compare digital cameras”.

Photography has been reinvented through the use of digital cameras. Based on a “no film theory,” digital cameras have created an entirely new era of photography where the information is stored as digital-bytes in the form of pixels.

The pictures you have taken are stored directly on a digital card, inside your camera, safe and ready to view/ store/print. Since the photos are stored in digital form nearly every computer and other electronic viewing and printing device can read them too.

Similar to the conventional cameras we have used for decades, digital cameras use a series of lenses that focus the light and create the image that you want to capture. Using an electronic system, digital cameras do away with film completely, even though it is still capturing the light as with a traditional camera.

Digital cameras uses one of two sensors to capture the image, CMOS or CCD; CMOS sensors are less expensive and are easier to manufacture than CCD sensors. Because of this CMOS is used in less expensive cameras and generally does the same work as a CCD.

More expensive models will typically use a CCD sensor. After becoming comfortable with digital photography you can usually see the difference between images captured with a CMOS and CCD system. A camera with over 6 megapixels will provide decent images as higher the resolution of the camera the better the photos that can be printed.

A couple of things you may want to note:

For super close ups taking a picture 1 inch away from your subject is often difficult since the lens has little patience for being even a little too far or too close to the object. If you move away from that 1-inch in-focus area, your subject will quickly get out of focus. My tip is to mount your camera on a tripod in order to get really good shots!

You will want to pick a great location to take your photo. If it is an inanimate object you can place it on a table with a white background, either cloth or paper. Ideally, you want your camera to be facing straight at the object. The best idea is to get a chair and sit down in front of your camera.

The best advantage to using a tripod is that you can use long exposures without worrying about camera shake. To be on the safe side you can either use a shutter cable or, if your camera can’t accept one, the built-in self-timer. Unfortunately, even the shake from holding down the shutter button can blur the image.

Finally, prior to taking your photo, it’s a good idea to measure the white-point of the image and set your camera accordingly. Doing this will save you lots of color-balancing work later in Photoshop. You can do this by selecting the Measure White-point feature on your camera and holding the shutter halfway down.

The camera then measures the light of your image and bases the white-point on the particular lighting you are using. If you can’t measure the white-point manually, some cameras will let you choose from a menu of pre-sets, such as Tungsten, Fluorescent, or Daylight. Its best to set your camera appropriately to get the best color balance possible.

Nearly everyone who has ever held a camera has been intrigued by the thought of photographing the world up close—super close in fact. Fortunately nearly every digital camera includes a “macro” mode that allows you to get extremely close to your subject. Some cameras call this mode “close-up” and it is depicted by a flower icon on your camera

Depending on which type of camera you have “close” can be defined as anything from 6 to 18 inches,you can read your manual to find out what your camera allows. However, what if your desire is to get even closer than that? Below are a few tips that can help you get started.

Here are a few ways to get great up close shots.

One thing you could do is buy a “macro” lens that is made specifically for this type of shot. Unfortunately, these lenses are often quite expensive. An alternative to buying a new lens would be to purchase extension tubes for your DSLR.

An extension tube is a light-tight tunnel that extends the distance from your lens to the camera body, thereby increasing the magnification—note: the greater the distance, the higher the magnification. What do you do if your digital camera isn’t an SLR or doesn’t take interchangeable lenses?

The last, and most inexpensive, option is to purchase a zoom lens that mounts directly on top of your current lens, much the same way that you attach filters. Some cameras already have built in adapters for these types of auxiliary lenses.

Even if your camera doesn’t have an adapter you can purchase accessories from third-party manufacturers such as Raynox who have manufactured adapters to enable this capability on just about any digital camera. The advantage to this option is that you don’t have to buy a whole new lens and you can use the close-up lens with any camera, including an SLR.

There is something wrong if your memory card is lasting for months without becoming full. Essentially the problem is that you’re not experimenting enough.

Ideally your memory card should have 50 pictures of the same subject, all of them bad. These 50 photos, even though they are bad, prove that you are not afraid to try out different exposures or different techniques. And then, hopefully, there should always be one good picture. This one picture proves that you are not completely incompetent.

The general rule is that it takes approximately 10 frames to get one good picture of one person. If you are doing group photos you will need to hold down the shutter release button and take loads of photos, hoping to finally get a good one of the entire group. You want to take pictures from different angles, different heights, flash on, flash off, etc.

My recommendation: buy a stack of 2 GB SD cards and challenge yourself to fill them up!

If you are an avid photographer you may already realize that photographs that catch your eye typically don’t have the subject in the center of the frame.

Unfortunately many of us rely on point and shoot cameras; however, with point and shoot the sensor brings into focus whatever is in the center of the frame.

To put your subject off-center and still retain focus on them you want to center your subject in the frame and then press the shutter release halfway down, now you can move the camera until you like the composition and press fully on the shutter release button to take your photo.

Almost all point and shoot cameras work this way, however since not everyone is willing to read the owner’s manual not everyone knows how to fix the problem.

You might notice, when using the above tip, that one side-effect of using pre-focusing is that most point and shoot cameras also tend to preset the exposure as well. If you are using a reflected light meter ideal exposure is achieved when the reflectance is 18% gray.

If you are uneasy about messing with the exposure compensation menus you can try to pre-focus on something that is the correct distance from the camera and is also a reasonable mid-tone. The goal is to avoid focusing on something that is pure white or black.