In my contemporary article, I discussed how digital photography and videography are transforming how we practice law and how to make persuasive visual exhibits. In this first of two articles, I’ll examine currently available digital cameras suitable for use in a law office to determine which give you the best possible image quality and value. This month, I’ll examine digital single lens reflex (dSLR) and ultrazoom models. Next month, just in time for Christmas, I’ll discuss compact and ultracompact cameras that may be suitable not only for your law office but as a gift for your more mature children, your spouse, or yourself.

These days, the shelf life of any particular digital camera is at best about one year; marketing and even, in some cases, technology, moves that quickly. The leisurely pace of film photography, where top manufacturers such as Leica and Nikon made major model changes every five to ten years, is definitely over. Many new “features”, such as face detection, allegedly ultra-high ISO sensitivity, and the ever-increasing megapixel arms race are, at best, probably not worth an upgrade. Some emerging standards are much more useful, such as optical image stabilization which reduces image blur due to camera shake when low light precludes using a sufficiently fast shutter speed, a RAW file format option that allows much better correction of exposure and lighting problems while improving resolution and image noise, and improved noise reduction allowing the use of higher sensitivity settings in low light. These latter features are extremely beneficial to higher image quality when done right. The trick is to differentiate between truly useful new capabilities and marketing gimmicks forced upon the engineers.

Prospective first-time purchasers face a daunting hurdle: loud marketing hype and consumer electronics salesmen who know a lot more about iPods and loudspeakers than they do about producing quality photographic images and about what makes a digital camera truly useful for a professional person. As a result, you’ll do better if you do some careful Internet research, checking technically detailed reviews from prominent Web sites, actually handle the cameras in which you are interested, and then buy the right one either from a local camera store or from a good Internet vendor like www.amazon.com, www.newegg.com, www.adorama.com or www.bhphoto.com. I found that prices were generally lowest at www.newegg.com but this site is primarily a computer hardware vendor rather than a full service photographic vendor and hence does not always carry a complete photo product line.

There are a number of Internet guides that illuminate whether a digital Single Lens Reflex (dSLR) or compact consumer camera would be best for you and which camera model best suits you. The Imaging Resources photo web site includes an excellent interactive tool to help you identify the camera models that are likely to be best suited for your intended usage. I found that its weighted recommendations generally matched my own sense of which cameras would best suit my needs. Imaging Resources also has a unique image comparison function that allows you to make a side by side comparison of identical high resolution photos taken with almost all current cameras. There are also several reliable web sites dedicated to objectively reviewing digital camera models that you really should check out. If you are in the market for a new camera for your legal or personal use, then I recommend using these resources. One real problem is that product lines sometime change faster than reviewers can write about them!

The Megapixel Arms Race - Bigger And More Expensive Is Not Necessarily Better:

Although ease of use is very important, image quality is paramount. Easily making a poor quality image is essentially useless. It is worth remembering that any camera’s resolution and image quality are NOT a function of the sheer number of megapixels on a tiny sensor; instead, the quality of the lens, the sensor’s noise (“grain”) level, and the camera’s ability to correctly interpret brightness and color are all far more important than the number of megapixels. In fact, a few of the newest compact and consumer models boasting 12 megapixel sensors have lower overall image quality compared to their immediately preceding models. Trying to fit that many megapixels on to the very small sensor of a compact or consumer camera is a recipe for a hot sensor, which usually translates into much more random noise in your photo and degraded quality. As a further glimpse into the relative unimportance of sheet megapixels, many of the better (and more expensive) semi-pro dSLR cameras, such as the Pentax K10D, Canon 40D, and Nikon D80 use 10 MP sensors. Digital SLR cameras, with their much larger sensors, are not significantly degraded by increasing the megapixel count and hence a higher megapixel count in a dSLR is generally not a problem. The principal potential drawbacks to buying a dSLR are the substantially higher cost, noticeably greater bulk and weight, and an inherent inability to incorporate the sorts of useful video clip modes found in almost all non-dSLR consumer cameras.

A high quality 6 or 8MP compact digital camera with an excellent lens can often produce more than adequate images that look as sharp and detailed as those taken with newer 10 and 12 MP models. In one recent experiment, the New York Times prominently exhibited extreme enlargements of the same image taken at 6 MP, 10 MP and a whopping 16 MP and hardly anyone could tell the difference. In fact, at a recent fine arts photo seminar, I put up a series of 24"x36" enlargements demonstrating that, under the right circumstances and with good lighting, a high quality 6 MP or 8 MP compact camera can produce images that appear to be just as sharp as those made with an entry level to semi-pro dSLR camera. Of course, all of this assumes good lighting. Compared to a good digital SLR camera, most compact digital cameras fail miserably under dim lighting.

Know Your Equipment: One point that I cannot emphasize enough is that every camera, no matter how expensive, has its own idiosyncrasies and that you must take the time and patience to become familiar with its strengths, weaknesses, operation, and overall characteristics before you’ll know its real capabilities and the best way to capitalize upon them. It is a real waste of money to buy something, fail to understand its capabilities and quirks, and then repeat the process by buying something else. By way of personal example, even though I somewhat disparaged the Fujifilm E900's lens in my March 2007 article, I later bought one after much thought because it was then the best compact camera on the market that included a RAW file capability. I didn’t really like it at first and didn’t use it for really serious fine art photography where very high image quality is imperative. Instead, because it was so compact, I carried the E900 under the seat of my car in case I needed to document something in a case without time to run to the office and get a camera, a fairly common situation for attorneys in real estate and personal injury practice. With experience, and after reading several other detailed reviews of the E900, I learned that the E900's lens aberrations were much reduced when used at an optimum medium aperture like f5.6 and that I needed to set the E900 in its Av (aperture preferred) mode and dial in f5.6. I also found that the E900's residual lens problems were mostly color aberrations of the sort that are easily corrected using Adobe Photoshop CS3 or Adobe Lightroom 1.2 and that the E900 did better under low light conditions than almost any other compact camera. As a result of learning its strengths and weaknesses, my photographs taken with the E900 improved greatly and I ultimately found that the E900 could be both effective and pleasant to use. Now, my 13 year old uses the E900 with ease. Yet, I nearly gave the E900 away before I finally understood it enough to enjoy using it. Similarly, it took me quite a while and quite a bit of wasted paper and ink before I figured out how to consistently get quality prints out of my HP DesignJet 130 printer. Now, after learning the best way to use the DesignJet 130 and after carefully calibrating my system, I much prefer this professional grade printer to anything else and it reliably produces excellent extreme enlargements on the first attempt at a lower cost.

Popular Types of Cameras

Over the past two or three years, the non-professional photographic market has grown from the standard 3X zoom pocket camera to include a wide range of relatively high quality cameras in four broad categories.

Digital Single Lens Reflex Cameras: These increasingly popular models are most closely akin to the classic 35mm SLR cameras familiar to any professional person over the age of 30 or so. Until recently, Canon and Nikon were the clear category leaders in this market, which includes consumer, semi-professional and professional segments. Now, though, there is a lot more choice and some clear value leaders, particularly Pentax and Nikon. Because this series focuses upon getting the most value for your money when you’re starting a law practice, I’ll skip the multi-thousand dollar professional models whose additional features don’t make any difference in a legal environment. Instead, I’ll focus upon current 10MP to 12MP consumer and semi-professional models. Although Canon remains the most popular brand in basic consumer grade dSLR cameras, there’s a general sense that Canon is coasting to some extent in this product category while Nikon and Pentax are putting some truly cost-effective and exciting consumer and semi-pro dSLR cameras on the market.

When assessing whether to purchase a digital single lens reflex camera, you should assess whether you are willing to spend two or three times as much money relative to a comparably sharp compact digital camera. A digital SLR’s advantages are interchangeable lenses, faster shot to shot performance, and a larger sensor that performs better under low light conditions. The disadvantages of a dSLR are substantially greater bulk and weight, higher cost, lack of any video mode capability, the likelihood that you’ll get annoying and hard to clean dirt on your sensor sooner or later, and the generally poor quality of the low cost “kit” that ship with the dSLR camera body.

Basically, dSLR manufacturers want to sell you an expensive camera body and then later sell you expensive high grade lenses. The lowest cost “kit” lenses typically included with consumer grade dSLR cameras are basically intended to get you started and hooked into a particular manufacturer’s unique lens system. Some higher quality compact cameras, such as the Canon G9 and A650, Kodak P880, and Fuji S9100 include fixed lenses that can be noticeably sharper than low end dSLR kit lenses. As an example, the Canon kit lenses included with Canon’s consumer-grade Rebel XT and Xti series cameras tend to get generally poor reviews for sharpness and optical quality, which mirrors my own examination of photos made with them Similarly, the basic 18-55mm f3.5 Nikon kit lens included with Nikon’s consumer grade D40 and D40x dSLR cameras, although better than the comparable low end Canon kit lens, is not particularly sharp. However, Pentax’s 18-55mm f3.5 kit lens for their semi-pro K10D, about $750 to $900 retail for body and lens, is actually pretty good as is the Nikon 18-135mm kit lens for their semi-pro D80 camera, which costs about $1,150 to $1,300 retail for the lens and body. If you plan to buy additional lenses, then at least consider upper end lens from a third party vendor such as Tamron and Sigma. As an example, Sigma’s 18-50 mm F2.8 EX DC Macro costs about $400 and is generally considered to be markedly superior to Nikon’s $1,200 17-55mm high end lens. Remember that most digital SLR cameras have a sensor that is not quite as large as full frame 35mm film cameras, so you will need to multiply a digital lens focal length by 1.5 in order to get its equivalent in traditional 35 mm terms.

Here are the leading digital SLR cameras, including the ones that I particularly like as providing excellent value.

A. Pentax K10D: Pentax’s K10D is a 10 MP semi-pro camera that’s priced hundreds of dollars less than equivalent cameras from other manufacturers. Image quality is generally excellent and Popular Photography magazine named it as their semi-pro dSLR of the year for 2007. This is a rugged camera that contains just about every feature that you might need, including an internal optical image stabilization system that works with even older Pentax lenses, some unique and useful exposure modes, a self-cleaning sensor that sheds at least some of the small dirt that causes so much trouble with interchangeable lens cameras, and a fully weather sealed body. In order to use this camera to anywhere near its full potential, you really need to read the manual and be prepared to work with the K10D for a while because its design is somewhat oriented toward more experienced photographers. For example, JPEG photo files made using this camera’s default settings will tend to look a little flat and fuzzy right out of the camera because the camera’s default menu settings are set up to allow maximum flexibility later along with retention of detail and accurate color. That’s actually a benefit to a more experienced photographer who will either shoot in one of the K10D’s two RAW file formats and later correct the RAW files on a computer using Adobe’s Lightroom or Photoshop, or one who will change the menu settings to suit his or her particular needs. It is, however, a potential issue for the novice or unwary. As I mentioned above, the K10D’s 18-55mm wide angle to normal range kit zoom lens is better than average and provides a 35 mm focal length equivalent from 28 mm wide angle through 82 mm short telephoto. Pentax’s companion 50-200 mm telephoto zoom lens provides a 35 mm equivalent focal length of 75 mm to 300 mm long telephoto. This lens is of average to somewhat better than average optical quality, very compact and light, and reasonably priced. I use a K10D and am quite pleased with it, both as an innovative, high quality semi-professional camera, and also as quite a bargain for what you get. Pentax also has a new consumer grade dSLR cameras, the 6 MP K100 Super, which retails in the mid-$400 range with the Pentax 18-55 mm kit zoom lens. At that price, which is lower than some compact cameras, the K100 Super is an excellent bargain.

B. Nikon D40x: The D40x is a 10 MP consumer grade Nikon dSLR that retails for about $700 and that can produce very high quality images, particularly if you swap its mediocre 18-55 mm F3.5 kit lens for something better, say the Sigma 18-50 mm F2.8 EX DC Macro or the Nikon 18-135 mm kit lens. The D40x is an excellent value that’s often sold through stores like Costco as a complete two lens kit that includes a basic telephoto zoom lens for less than $1,000. Because it is oriented more toward consumers, the D40x buries a lot of its more frequently used functions within a menu structure, which may slow you down somewhat but which is perhaps more comfortable for average users. The D40x is fairly small and light for a digital SLR camera.

C. Nikon D80: The D80 is a 10 MP semi-professional body that’s a step up from the D40x, costing about $300-$400 more but including a much better 18 - 135 mm kit zoom lens. The Nikkor 18-135 lens that may be all that most people might need because it’s sharp and includes both a usable 28 mm equivalent wide angle view and a relatively long 200 mm equivalent telephoto capability. The D80 is becoming a little dated but remains an excellent camera that’s probably a better buy in the long run than the D40x although costing a few hundred dollars more than the K10D

D: Canon Rebel Xti and Canon EOS 40D: The consumer grade Canon Rebel Xti is the most popular digital SLR camera at the retail level and is capable of making very good photographs. However, it’s fairly bulky and does not feel as solid as I might like. It’s also hobbled by a poor quality kit lens. If you are interested in buying a Canon product and have some degree of photographic knowledge, then I suggest that you consider Canon’s new 10 MP EOS 40D, a recently introduced semi-pro camera body that’s getting exceptionally good reviews. The 40D body alone, however, retails for around $1,300 and you’ll need to spend several hundred more dollars to get a comparably high quality lens, so the EOS 40D, although an truly excellent and modern dSLR camera, is not a high-value bargain like the Pentax K10D or the Nikon D40x.

D. Sony Alpha Series: Sony’s initial foray into the digital SLR market was the 2006 A100, a decent consumer grade 10MP camera currently retailing for about $600-$650 with an 18-70 mm kit lens. The A100 is on par with the Nikon D40x but does not reach the level of the Pentax K10D, Canon 40D, or the Nikon D80. More recently, Sony introduced a semi-pro grade A700 that retails for about $1,500 and includes a new 16-105 mm kit zoom lens. The A700 is only now starting to reach the market and remains something of an enigma as of this writing. However, it will likely turn out to be a very competent semi-pro camera. Sony sells some exceptional Zeiss lenses designed for this camera but be prepared for a walletectomy at the cash register.

E. Recommendations: The Pentax K100 Super, Canon Rebel XT and the Nikon D40x are the least expensive brand name dSLR cameras on the market and each is an excellent choice in its own way. However, the Pentax K10D and the Nikon D80 probably give you the most for your money in the long term, include noticeably better kit lenses, and are more likely to provide lasting value, longevity, and rugged construction. My recommendation would be either the Pentax K10D or the Nikon D80, with a preference for the K10D due to its lower cost compared to the D80, dirt-shedding sensor, weather-sealed construction, and innovative features. The Canon 40D is excellent and deserves a look but is substantially more expensive.

Ultra zoom models: Ultrazoom cameras incorporate a very wide range zoom lens that typically runs from moderate wide angle through long telephoto, usually about 35mm to 420 mm equivalent or so. I believe that the telephoto and video capabilities of ultrazoom cameras are their strong suit in a legal environment, allowing you to take optically stabilized photos and videos of distant objects. In a word, they are excellent surveillance cameras. They’re also good when you can’t get too close, such as when documenting construction details on the upper reach of a large building.

Ultrazoom cameras are generally larger than “compact” cameras but still small relative to their extensive telephoto reach. The relatively small size of an ultrazoom camera is usually made possible by using a very small 1/2.5" sensor that in turn does not require a very bulky lens to achieve a long telephoto effect. A few ultrazoom cameras use larger 1/1/8" sensors and these tend to produce better quality images. Here are the ultrazoom cameras that I believe offer high quality and good value in 2007:

A. Fujifilm Models: Fujifilm makes several good ultrazoom models, most of which do not include optical stabilization, a real deficiency when using a long telephoto lens that will magnify any camera movement due to hand shake. On the positive side, the Fujifilm ultrazoom S6000 and S9100 cameras use larger, lower noise 1/1.8" or 1/1.6" sensors and lenses that are much sharper than average. Fujifilm’s 9 MP flagship S9100 retails for about $550 and its lens covers a magnification range equivalent to 28 mm to 300 mm. The S9100 has always been well regarded for exceptional image quality and includes a RAW file option but does not include optical image stabilization. The palm-sized S700, which retails for about $200 is very compact because it uses a smaller 1/2.5: sensor. Its lens has an equivalent optical range of 38 mm to 380 mm. In between these extremes are the 6 MP Fujifilm S6000 and the 8 MP Fujifilm S8000. Both cameras include a RAW file format and video capabilities. While the S6000 uses a highly regarded large 1/1.8" sensor, the newer S8000 achieves its wider zoom in part by substituting a smaller 1/2.35" sensor. However, the newer S8000 includes optical image stabilization while the S6000 does not. The S6000 in particular shows very low noise and excellent sharpness due to its high grade lens and sensor. The S6000 has a 28mm to 300 mm equivalent zoom range and retails for about $275. This is an excellent buy for a high quality all-around camera. The S8000 retails for about $320 to $400 and uses a different lens with a longer 27 mm to 486mm (18x) zoom ratio. I tend to be skeptical of extreme zoom ranges such as these and, because the S8000 is such a new camera, there are not yet very many reviews that objectively examine its image quality in depth.

B. Kodak Ultrazoom Models: Kodak’s three best ultrazoom cameras basically differ only slightly, with the z612 using a 6 MP 1/2.5" sensor, the z712 using a 7 MP 1/2.5" sensor, and the newest z812 using an 8 MP 1/2.5" sensor. All of these cameras are inexpensively priced and yet include effective optical image stabilization and surprisingly sharp Schneider zoom lenses with a 12x range spanning the equivalent of 36 mm to 432 mm. None of these cameras includes a RAW format option. Overall, these three cameras, particularly the z712, are excellent bargains and definitely recommended, providing very sharp, stabilized photographic images and video clips despite their very low price. A factory refurbished z712 sells for about $185 while a new z712 retails for about $225. A z612 is slightly less. Despite their low price, these cameras include a surprising amount of advanced features and manual control capabilities. The z612 and z712 are probably the best bargains in the ultrazoom category and provide a great deal of quality for the price.

C. Panasonic ultrazoom models: Panasonic and Fujifilm have both concentrated a lot of design and marketing effort in the ultrazoom category and, not surprisingly, both offer a similar range of cameras. There are some striking differences, though. All of Panasonic’s models include effective optical image stabilization and most include a usable RAW file format option. On the other hand, Panasonic’s sensors tend to be very noisy above ISO 100 while Fujifilm’s sensors have a good reputation for very low image noise even at higher sensitivies. Take your choice, I guess. I prefer a low noise sensor if at all possible but you can get good image quality with a Panasonic camera if you use the lowest possible ISO setting and a slower shutter speed in the hope that the image stabilization will counteract resulting camera shake. Usually it does. Panasonic’s flagship FZ50 is a large camera that retails for about $500 on average, uses a relatively large 1/1.8" sensor and includes a 12x 35mm to 420mm Leica-branded zoom lens that’s very sharp. The $370 FZ18 is a smaller camera with an 18x 28mm to 504mm zoom range and a small 1/2.5" sensor. The $260 TZ3 is a pocket camera with a 10x Leica-branded zoom lens, a small 1/2.5" sensor, and a very nice compact form but does not include any RAW file option. All of these Panasonic cameras are well constructed, with excellent feature sets and good lenses. Their Achilles Heel remains their noisy sensors and blurring of detail at all but the lowest ISO sensitivities when the camera’s processor tries to reduce image noise. Noise is probably not going to be a big problem when making video clips with these cameras nor when processing RAW format images made at low ISO sensitivities. However, under dim lighting, you may find that noise and blurred details become a problem.

D. Sony and Canon Ultrazoom Cameras: I do believe that either Sony or Canon provide good value in this camera group relative to Fujifilm, Kodak and Panasonic, and so I will not belabor a discussion of their products.

E. Recommendations: The best values for the money, and among the best in terms of image quality, are the least expensive cameras mentioned here, the Kodak z612 and z712. I bought a z612 for my office and am pleased with it, bearing in mind that its image quality was never intended to compete with a digital SLR camera costing four or five times more. Among the more expensive options, the Fujifilm S6000 and S9100 are both excellent all-around cameras that provide very good image quality and sharpness but their lack of optical image stabilization means that you will need to be very careful about camera shake when using them at higher magnifications. Although the Panasonic FZ50 is more expensive than some entry level dSLR cameras, the FZ50 is another high grade option and probably the ultrazoom camera of choice if you need to make video clips a long telephoto magnifications, something that no digital SLR camera can do.

Next month, we’ll conclude our tour d’horizon of digital cameras for the law office by examining some high grade compact and ultracompact cameras just in time for Christmas and end of year purchasing.