Technically Grumpy

Recently, I stumbled upon a photography forum in which a technically grumpy fellow ranted about how a camera maker (Was it Ricoh he/ she had in mind?) should not market the point-and-shoot camera with a tiny sensor and a zoom lens as capable of reaching a focal length in 35mm-equivalence, like the CX3 branded as having a lens of 28mm to 300mm.

Technically, he brought home to us some fact which might not known to the newbies. But, practically, for most of us who don't make cameras or lenses but simply take photos, the fact is irrelevant. Someone can as well point out that the good of a P&S capable of zooming the lens that far. Take for example, the shallow DOF. This is in fact more practical for photographers.

These technically grumpy photographers are galore around the Internet. It is one thing to learn about the technical aspects of a camera. It is entirely another thing to fuss about such aspects which have no practical value to doing photographs. Just this morning when I read the post on a renowned blog about how closing down the aperture (or something else? I didn't quite bother to read to the end anyway) rendered the difference between two sensors of separate sizes indiscernible in print, I was utterly bored.

What can I say to them? What will you say to them actually?

So, we know that the a 35mm-format lens with a long focal length has a unique optical characteristic: very shallow DOF. As pointed out above, it is not the case for a tiny-sensor camera like my CX1. This gives such a camera the edge in taking street photographs. (Note: the DOF also depends on the distance between the lens and the subject. If we are talking about a landscape photo, the DOF may not give any difference no matter what format the camera you're using is.)

Unlike a 35mm-format zoom lens, the 200mm focal length of CX's lens is best for compressing a scene without compromising the DOF. This is great for doing street photographs because we can really make use of the farthest focal length to, say, photograph subjects standing across a street without ending up with a blurred background too.

Using a bit of creativity, you may bring a long-zoom P&S to take photos with a bird’s eye view. Certainly, if you're going high up enough, the DOF does not matter with either a large- or small-size sensor. But fact is, the P&S is way more portable, enabling the photographer to stealthily bring it to a place where he or she is not really supposed to take pictures therefrom.

Oh, I've been hearing that the CX3 is interesting. If you're interested to know about the camera, email me or leave a message so that I have a reason to borrow one and evaluate it.