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Scanning For The Big Print

Keep Scanning That Film • Charge It • Pocket Pro • Comparing Sensors • Volunteer Photographers • Shameless Self-Promotion Department

Charge It
Q I have a Canon 50D with the Canon Li-Ion Battery Pack. Two questions: 1) The night before going out on a shoot, I charge the battery regardless of whether the little battery icon indicates it needs a charge. Does this create memory at a partial level so the battery capacity is reduced over time? 2) On hikes, while looking for birds and wildlife, I leave the camera “on” all the time, letting the one-minute auto-turnoff work—the shutter button brings it back to life so quickly. Is this using excess battery reserve or decreasing the battery life in any way?
D. Rabun
Via the Internet

 A One of the advantages of Li-Ion batteries is that they don’t “take a memory” as did some previous types of batteries, so topping off the charge prior to a shoot isn’t a bad idea at all.

When the camera is on “standby,” there’s a negligible amount of energy lost. The camera is almost completely powered down in that mode. However, be aware that touching any button (not just the shutter button) will bring the camera back to life. That’s great unless your camera is in standby mode and rolling around in a camera bag, or hung around your neck and bouncing against your vest; it can be cycling on and off without your knowledge. This will take a toll on the battery.

Pocket Pro
Q I’m a stock photographer who uses Canon D-SLRs, but I’m looking for a pocket camera that will meet the quality requirements of stock photography agencies. Will something like the Canon G10 do the job?
G. Corbett
Via the Internet

A Even though the Canon G10 has 14.7 megapixels, it (like other high-end point-and-shoots) has a very small sensor. The camera’s image quality is excellent for most uses, but it doesn’t meet the criteria of stock agencies for commercial uses, such as advertisements, billboards and other high-impact, high-resolution printing. Frankly, the G10 produces an image that would suffice for most uses short of a billboard, but it takes some time for agencies to expand their criteria to include new technology. Each agency has different standards, and you need to talk directly to the editors at the agency to which you would like to submit G10 images. The output from this and similar cameras might very well be accepted for editorial uses, such as textbooks and newspapers, and for websites. That said, I also would welcome a compact camera with a larger sensor!

Comparing Sensors
Q I’m trying to understand the difference in capture quality obtained from a full-frame sensor and a 1.6x (APS) sensor. If I were to take exactly the same photo from the same position with a 400mm lens on a Canon 50D and a Canon 5D Mark II, then crop the 5D image in Photoshop to give the same composition as the 50D’s, which image would be better?
Steve Dimock
Via the Internet

A A Canon EOS 5D Mark II has a full-frame, 21-megapixel sensor. The size of each pixel is 6.4 microns. The Canon EOS 50D’s 1.6x APS sensor has 15.1 megapixels at 4.7 microns. If you crop the image generated by the 5D Mark II to match the image generated by the 50D at 1.6x, the area covered is 11 to 12 megapixels, less than the number of megapixels in the 50D’s image. So you’d think that the 50D’s image would be of higher quality. However, the 5D Mark II’s larger pixels have greater light-gathering capability and less noise at higher ISOs. In the end, you probably wouldn’t see a significant difference between the two images.

If you find you’re always cropping images from the full-frame sensor because you can’t get close enough to your subjects, then you’re probably better off using the 50D. The real advantage of the 5D Mark II is when you do fill the full frame, using all of its pixels and its higher ISO capabilities, the captures can generate a very high-quality, large-format print.

In the end, you should be making your decision based on what your primary subjects are. The 50D’s 1.6x APS sensor and its faster capture rate (6.3 frames per second) are an ideal combination for wildlife photography. The 5D Mark II’s full-frame sensor and higher ISO capabilities (due to the larger pixels) perform exceptionally well in landscapes. The price point also may be a factor, as the 50D runs about half the cost of the 5D Mark II.

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