New camera tests? Book suggestions? Web sites?

(newbee alert)

Hi All,

I am due to receive my first digital camera any day, an Oly 2100uz. I have lusted after this camera since dpr's first review.

Can you suggest tests that I might run to ensure that it does not need immediate exchange, e.g. what is the easiest way to find dead pixels, or how much is excess vignetting?

Also, what books are recommended for the person new to the digital medium and becomming re-acquainted with photography? (Not a utter neophyte I am passing my 35mm Maxxum down to a friend).

Web sites? (dpr rocks yes, but what others do you like?)

Thanks!

Bill Burton

To test for hot pixels, keep the lens cap on and take exposures from 1/2 second up to 16 seconds. The images should be totally black up to 1 or 2 seconds. At 4 seconds or more it is likely that you will begin to see some noise, this is very typical. As long as the images are clean at 1 second, you should be pretty happy with the camera. A true stuck pixel will show up at any shutter speed - this would be unacceptable.

Also note that it seems that almost all cameras have a stuck pixel on the LCD or EVF. I figure that their quality control allows for a tolerance of one pixel. As long as your images are clean, then don't worry about a single hot pixel on your LCD.

Vignetting shouldn't be a problem unless you are using additional lenses or filters. If you have vignetting with the camera on its own, then you definitely have a bad camera. Take some pictures and look at the corners for signs of shadowing. I'd be pretty surprised if a camera would make it out of the factory with such an obvious defect, but stranger things have happened.

Check out this link for a great book that will help you get the best pictures out of your 2100.

http://www.shortcourses.com/bookstore/olympus/book_olympus2100.htm

Have fun with your new camera!

Rob

Rob said:

To test for hot pixels, keep the lens cap on and take exposures
from 1/2 second up to 16 seconds. The images should be totally
black up to 1 or 2 seconds. At 4 seconds or more it is likely that
you will begin to see some noise, this is very typical. As long as
the images are clean at 1 second, you should be pretty happy with
the camera. A true stuck pixel will show up at any shutter speed -
this would be unacceptable.

Also note that it seems that almost all cameras have a stuck pixel
on the LCD or EVF. I figure that their quality control allows for
a tolerance of one pixel. As long as your images are clean, then
don't worry about a single hot pixel on your LCD.

Vignetting shouldn't be a problem unless you are using additional
lenses or filters. If you have vignetting with the camera on its
own, then you definitely have a bad camera. Take some pictures and
look at the corners for signs of shadowing. I'd be pretty
surprised if a camera would make it out of the factory with such an
obvious defect, but stranger things have happened.

Check out this link for a great book that will help you get the
best pictures out of your 2100.

http://www.shortcourses.com/bookstore/olympus/book_olympus2100.htm

Have fun with your new camera!

Rob

Click to expand...

Thanks for that rob, I noticed they had a book on the 3030 so I've ordered one myself - I had a general book on order from Amazon which I've now cancelled - this should be more tailored to my needs !!

http://www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/
Worth any time you can spare from picture making.

Bill Burton said:

(newbee alert)

Hi All,

I am due to receive my first digital camera any day, an Oly 2100uz.
I have lusted after this camera since dpr's first review.

Can you suggest tests that I might run to ensure that it does not
need immediate exchange, e.g. what is the easiest way to find dead
pixels, or how much is excess vignetting?

Also, what books are recommended for the person new to the digital
medium and becomming re-acquainted with photography? (Not a utter
neophyte I am passing my 35mm Maxxum down to a friend).

Web sites? (dpr rocks yes, but what others do you like?)

Thanks!

Bill Burton

Click to expand...

Ditto to all that was said above. I just received my "ShortCourse for 2100" and read it in a weekend. Great Stuff!! However, I would recommend that you visit this site as much as possible. I have learned as much here as I did in the book. Some of the people on this board know their stuff and are helpful.

If you want to learn some of the basics about photography (and you are into nature photography a little) "John Shaw's Field Guide to Nature Photography" is a great book for the basics of getting a great picture. Its not specific to Digiphotography but basics are basics.

Have fun and share you successess.
Erik

David 2100uz said:

Bill Burton said:

(newbee alert)

Hi All,

I am due to receive my first digital camera any day, an Oly 2100uz.
I have lusted after this camera since dpr's first review.

Can you suggest tests that I might run to ensure that it does not
need immediate exchange, e.g. what is the easiest way to find dead
pixels, or how much is excess vignetting?

Also, what books are recommended for the person new to the digital
medium and becomming re-acquainted with photography? (Not a utter
neophyte I am passing my 35mm Maxxum down to a friend).

Web sites? (dpr rocks yes, but what others do you like?)

Thanks!

Bill Burton

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Bill,

I'll also concur on the DFWIF site. Excellent. Also, at the shortcourses site I think you can find a free manual summary, so you can get an early start on it (I'm on my second DC, and studying the manual is a must to truly get the most from it). Regarding the checkout tests, here's a piece of a 2040 FAQ, (pre Alpha v0.01), on hot/stuck pixels:

peTe

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Q. What are some things I can do to determine if my new camera has obvious flaws?
1. Check for stuck and/or dead LCD pixels.
2. Check for Stuck/hot CCD pixels.

Q. How do I check for stuck and dead LCD pixels?

Stuck LCD pixels (always on): Take an image of a dark surface (and under expose by several stops). Display the image on the LCD, zoom in, and move the image around. If you notice a bright pixel that doesn't move when the image is moved, you have a stuck LCD pixel.

Dead LCD pixels (always off): I've never actually heard of one of these, but if they exist, this test will reveal them: Take an image of a bright surface. Display the image on the LCD, zoom in, and move the image around. If you notice a dark pixel that doesn't move when the image is moved, you have a dead LCD pixel.

Q. I found one or more stuck/dead LCD pixels. Should I return my camera?

You make the call. IMO, a couple of bad pixels on the LCD is no big deal, as long as they don't obscure information displayed in manual modes, and chances are 2 or 3 won't do that. These defects are not in your images. If you have a bunch, it more a matter of what you can tolerate. I have only one stuck pixel, and it doesn't bother me.

Q. How do I check for hot CCD pixels?

Hot pixels are ones that have have an appreciable intensity even in the dark, and in general their intensity is a function of the exposure time. (If it's very bright even at fast shutter speeds, effectively it's stuck). If your camera has them, they will be present in every image you take, their dark signal added to the signal present in the image. To determine whether your camera has them [or more accurately: to determine how bad are the ones your camera has], you'll need to take a series of images in the dark at progressively longer exposure times. Note: the higher the temperature, the worse a problematic pixel will appear, so you might want to do this test with a warm camera (90 F or 32 C) to simulate conditions you anticipated working under.

Put the camera in full manual mode, SHQ or TIFF. Set the ISO at 100 and turn the flash off. Set the shutter speed for 1/800 sec (its fastest), turn the LCD off, step into a pitch dark closet and block the lens (taking care not to scratch it), and shoot. Shoot similar images as you progressively decrease the shutter speed all the way down to 16 sec (a factor of 4 each step is fine). Load the images into your computer and examine them at a high zoom factor. Make sure you evaluate them without using any exposure enhancement.

It is quite common to detect a few hot pixels at longer exposures, but faster than 1 sec, things should look pretty clean. In the range of common shutter speeds (1/30 and faster), the images should be very clean.

Q. I tested my camera for hot pixels and found some. Should I return it?

You make the call. It really depends on how bad they are, and where they are, under the conditions (e.g., temperature) and shutter speeds you expect to shoot at. Someone who intends to take a lot of night shots or for astrophotography will be more concerned about hot pixels than the rest of us. Examine actual images to see if they are detectable. In my opinion, it would be unacceptable if they were noticable in more than a trivial number of shots. FWIW, at 70F, ISO 100, and 16 sec exposure, my 2040 camera has one faint reddish cluster of 4 pixels (intensity value of about 20) in the center and a greenish white cluster of 4 pixels near the upper right corner (intensity value of about 70).

peTe said:

Bill,
I'll also concur on the DPFWIW site. Excellent. Also, at the
shortcourses site I think you can find a free manual summary, ...

Click to expand...

The link to the Shortcourses pocket guides (what I refered to as a "manual summary" above):

http://www.shortcourses.com/guides/guides.htm

peTe