davidd's A Doll A Day 2019

[davidd]

Camera frustration: four different cameras, four crummy photos:

7 November – Camera Test with Pinky Street Figure

Panasonic Lumix TS30

Canon PowerShot D20

Fujifilm FinePix S1

Canon EOS 80D

The first three photos were taken from the exact same position with identical lighting. The fourth photo, taken with a full-size DSLR camera, was totally blurry and blown out the first time. And the second time. I tried three times to finally end up with the not-very-sharp image seen here.

I am extremely discouraged about photography right now. Years ago I purchased my first DSLR camera, a Canon EOS 20D. I pulled it out of the box, popped on the kit lens, took it outside, and snapped a half-dozen extremely crisp macro photos of the coins that I found in my pocket. Bright light, low light, high contrast light, that Canon DSLR could handle it all. I was very sad when it finally stopped working after many years of use and abuse.

Last year, after a long period of saving, I purchased the current equivalent of the EOS 20D, the EOS 80D (since superseded by the 90D). As the result of one thing and another, I've barely used it. Tonight was my first attempt to actually "take a picture" with the 80D. The blurry mess you see here in the fourth photo is the best of about a hundred snaps. I can't get the auto-focus to focus on the right spot (should be the eyes, but it keeps focusing on the hands. Even when the auto-focus points in the viewfinder indicate the focus is on the face, it is not). Some of the blur is probably from camera shake, but I never had issues with my previous DSLR under inadequate lighting. In fact, I ended up increasing the lighting for this photo compared to the other three.

I dunno, this may be the end of my Doll A Day. I'm about ready to throw the DSLR against the wall. 

Photo three, taken with a Sony "bridge camera," illustrates the problem I have always had with that camera, and why it has seen very little use: extreme contrast. Highlights are always overex-posed. In this photo, the ex-posure was manually reduced by 2/3 of a stop relative to the other cameras in this test, and the highlights are still blown out.

Photo two is probably the best of the bunch, taken with a little Canon PowerShot point-n-shoot camera that is six or eight years old. It does not perform very well under low-light conditions, but it may be the best I now have with which to work.

Photo one is the new Panasonic Lumix TS30, and illustrates the grainy, noisy, overly contrasty results that it produces. Focus is reasonably good, considering its other shortcomings, and it is comparatively easy to hold steady for less camera shake. But the image quality is sub-par.

Just for fun, here is a similar test from 2015. Two of the cameras are the same as today. They appear to have been performing better four years ago than they are today:

Panasomic Lumix TS5 – The Camera I Recently Dropped and Broke

Canon PowerShot D20 – Same Camera As Photo Two Above

Fujifilm FinePix S1 – Same Camera as Photo Three Above

Canon EOS 7D with 50mm Lens – Different Camera and Lens

Same Focal Length as Photo Four Above