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Professional High-end Digicams: Weaving Delight for the Serious Shooter!

Professional High-end Digicams: Weaving Delight for the Serious Shooter!
By Lopa Bhattacharya

Are you a serious shooter looking for more precise controls, enhanced features & better lenses, superior image quality while purchasing your cherished digicams for professional product shoots, adwork or publicity campaigns? Well, come out of the idea once and for all, that all these cameras are necessarily big and expensive beyond your affordability. Truly, digital has really come a long way in a short time, and professional high end digital cameras today cover every assignment for real-life application, so that the photographer can concentrate fully on making stunning images with cutting-edge technology. After all, there is the growing need for digital images in both print and electronic media, for which most photographers and graphics professionals are examining the options for capturing images digitally, whether by scanning film or by using digital cameras. And here, they are preferring the functionalities of the professional high-end digital models because of the gains in control, efficiency, flexibility, and productivity.

Did you know before reading this that with consumers worldwide buying 10 million digital cameras in 2003 and 2004, the sales of film scanners have declined considerably? Ask any commercial photographer today about his/her purchasing plans in the near future, and you’ll find a whopping percentage say that they plan to buy a professional SLR over a usual point-and-shoot variety. "Our point of view is that color scanners are past their sweet spot," says Vince Naselli, director of TrendWatch Graphic Arts. "Increasingly, we think that creative professionals are going to be acquiring their content digitally in the first place so that, down the road, the increased use of digital cameras will lead to a decreased use of color scanners”, he adds. Kerry Flatley, research analyst at InfoTrends, also comments that "as digital cameras continue to improve in quality and provide professionals with needed flexibility, they will most likely cut into film scanner sales”. Thus, at the cusp of a migration from film and scanners to digital cameras, we are standing in the face of a vast expanse where the buzzword has shifted from ‘scan’ to ‘direct digital capture’.

Now, let us have a look at some of the market-leaders of this huge variety of professional high-end cameras, the ones that creative professionals are buying and using for the best-quality scans, with high resolution, wide image density, large film format as their hallmark.

Kodak EasyShare DX6340 (MRP: Rs. 18,900): a unique combination of advanced performance, ease of use and value in a sleek design, this 3.1 MP camera, with a large high-resolution 1.8" Indoor/Outdoor LCD display screen and unique, wide aperture professional-quality 4X Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon zoom lens that provides stunning image quality, has high-performance features such as aperture and shutter priority modes for the discerning photographer. No wonder that it has been declared the “Best performance” and “Best value camera” for the year 2003 (as per the Digit magazine's Test Drive on digital camera comparison)

The latest offering for the Indian consumers from Eastman Kodak Company is the sleek EASYSHARE LS755 zoom digital camera (priced at Rs. 21,900/-), sized like a deck of cards to fit the pocket of the person having acumen for design and style. Featuring a professional-grade 4X Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon 3X (36 –108 mm equivalent) zoom lens and 5.0 megapixel CCD sensor to optimize photo quality, it comes with a 3X optical zoom and continuous auto focus capability.

Cannon India Pvt. Ltd., a pioneer in manufacturing a comprehensive range of the latest digital imaging products, has come up with professional high-end models like Canon PowerShot A95, Canon Ixus 500 and so on.

Featuring an increased sensor size of 5.0 Megapixels, the A95 has a total of 21 shooting modes – more than any other Canon digital camera. Including many features found in Canon’s higher end S and G series cameras which offer users flexibility and creative control, it stands for outstanding image quality and ease of use. While the 5.0 Megapixel CCD sensor enables it to provide superb image quality (suitable for high quality photo prints up to A3 size), its 21 shooting modes, ranging from fully Auto to Manual, offer users total control for complete creativity. An added advantage of it is that it can simplify things to ensure great looking photos in tricky situations.

On the other hand, Canon’s Ixus 500 model happens to be the ultimate in stylish, high performance digital photography, delivering quality prints up to A3 size. With a super hard Cerabrite finish, it brings together uncompromising build quality and an abundance of integrated technologies. With a 3x optical zoom offering a wide angle of coverage, with the 9-point AiAF ensuring accurate focusing, even with off-center subjects and with its DIGIC delivering superb image quality at high speed with less drain on the battery for extended performance; beautiful, instant photo prints are achieved effortlessly, thus making I an obvious choice for professional shooters.

Again, with the Digital SLR range of Canon’s professional high-end digicams (like the EOS 300D high resolution 6.3 megapixel cameras, the EOS ID Mark II cameras with faster processing of large files with superior color rendering and detail precision), digital technology is taking a quantum leap.

Thus, offering an extensive range of professional hi-end digicams, these brands are gratifying any and every need of entertainment and digital imaging. And, we welcome the new technology and price cuts for the quantum jump of sales of these “hi-end photographers’ toys”.

Lopa Bhattacharya is a content writer/developer working on websites for overseas/Indian clientele. Has worked for various corporate website projects, CD-Rom presentations, brochures, flyers and other communication materials on varied themes ranging from travel, hotel industry, photography, web design and software development to US-based clubs and network communities. Was previously an editorial associate for a news, culture and entertainment portal based on the life and times of Kolkata.


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