Shooting with Compacts - Tips and Advice

There's a couple of reasons for this post. One is that I've been asked several times now how I've been able to overcome certain limitations when shooting with a compact camera... The second is because I recently came across a great article that I wanted to share. I had actually seen the article some time before but only recently found it again... the story is about an award winning Magnum photographer who shoots only with compact cameras... If you're only interested in that part (and even if you're not interested in compact cameras I definitely recommend this article) - skip to the end.

OK so back to the main topic, shooting under limitations. The first thing you need to accept is that shooting with a compact camera is very different from shooting with a DSLR. Given the right amount of time / equipment, I can't think of a single situation where I'd choose a compact camera over a DSLR. However, in real life we're often presented with less than ideal situations. Many times I won't carry a big / expensive / heavy DSLR with me but might be willing to take a compact. Or I might not have an appropriate lens with me (or even own one in the first place), yet find that the focal length is covered by my compact camera's focal range. Or I might just want to have a bit of fun and do something different. In any of these cases, carrying a compact is a definitely a good thing I'm glad to own and occasionally shoot with one.

OK with that said, it's also nice to be actually able to take half decent pictures with a compact and understanding its limitations is the key to being able to achieve that. I'll now go through what I consider to be the biggest issues and then talk about how I overcome each one.

Auto focus and not shooting the subject

OK so this is the first thing I need to mention. It's probably one of the most noticeable things - that irrespective of how fast a compact's autofocus system is, it's never quite fast enough. DSLR's have a feeling of being able to instantly respond to your needs whereas compacts are deathly slow by comparison. Everyone who’s used a compact will know the feeling of wincing after having missed a shot – and not nearly missing - but missing it truly and completely because the AF system couldn't lock in on the target and while the subject raced by, the camera was left simply "hunting" back and forth.

OK so one of the important things to first understand about your compact is what actually affects the AF system. The following will usually cause problems for the camera’s AF:

- Low light
- Areas of similar tone or lacking in contrast
- Certain types of patterns
- Shooting at a long telephoto

So shooting a subject in bright light with a wide angle lens is usually pretty reliable on all cameras. However, turn down the available light and / or shoot at a long telephoto and you’ll often find the situation much more challenging. Add to that a subject that is of a similar tone / colour to the background or has no significantly discernible marks and “challenging” can quickly become “impossible”. So what can you do to compensate? Well, when the AF system is at its most troubled, I often will not even shoot the subject. Instead, what I do is look for an area of high contrast near the subject and aim for that. You see, the AF system works best when it has high contrast areas to focus on. So what I do is aim for something in a similar plane of focus, recompose the frame back to the subject and then take the shot. It takes practice but can be a much faster way of getting an AF lock.

So if you're not shooting the subject what about out of focus shots? Well, this is the one area where compacts have an advantage over DSLR’s. You see, because the sensor size of a compact is so much smaller than a DSLR’s, you get a multiplying effect which both increases the focal length but also “compresses” the image. As a result, much more of the image (shot at comparable 35mm equivalent focal lengths) is sharp. It’s one of the reasons why web resized files from compacts tend to be quite large in size (compared to similar scenes from DSLR's) – because so much of the image is sharp. So while this effect is not great for certain types of portraits where you actually want subject isolation (and nice blurry backgrounds), it is good for approximate framing. With a compact you can actually be quite far off in terms of focus yet still have a sharp subject – and remembering this can make the difference between making a shot and not.
 

Getting round Shutter Lag 

So this is actually an extension of the previous issue. Shutter lag, which can be very noticeable in compact cameras, is actually caused by first having to wait for the AF, and then the time for the sensor to capture the image. The latter actually happens quite quickly so the best way to speed your camera up? Remove the most time-costly component which means you have to prefocus.

It’s not going to work for every subject or every scene – this only works when you can anticipate what’s going to happen. In this situation – prefocus the AF by pressing the shutter halfway, recompose and the simply wait for whatever you anticipated, to happen. Using this technique, you can get shots that are close to impossible using the camera to track the subject. Two shots where I’ve done this in the past couple of weeks are:

By Lawrence Ripsher (click for larger version)

In this first image, it was actually the light I noticed on the floor first. Stopping to see it, I then realized people were walking through the light which was in creating interesting patterns on the floor. I then prefocused on the area where people were walking and within a couple of minutes a couple walking in perfect unison kindly obliged. All I had to do was press the shutter and an instant capture resulted. 

By Lawrence Ripsher (click for larger version)

Similarly on this image, this was a shot which would have been close to impossible to capture using subject focusing and tracking with a compact. I was watching this little energized Jack Russell for about a minute, jumping in and out of the water at that tennis ball. I noticed he was moving towards the edge first, then taking a little run up and taking off. So I waited until he moved towards the edge, focused on the point where he’d take off (ignoring him completely), reframed and just waited for him to enter the frame. As soon as I saw him – click – and voila, a mid leap action shot.

Now lets be very clear, both of these images are more for fun than what I’d call “serious” photography, but they are demonstrative that you can easily exceed your camera’s AF system by employing this little trick.

Emulating the Old Masters

A common technique by the old masters of street photography was to set their focal length to a prefixed amount, stop down the aperture (e.g. f/8 which is a smaller aperture & provides a greater depth of field) and simply point and shoot. Well not "simply" point and shoot but you get the point. By not having to worry about manually focusing their cameras, they were able to concentrate on composing and capturing the decisive moment. Again, because of the large depth of field of compact cameras, this is also possible – even with fairly “wide” apertures (e.g. f/2.8).
 

Horizontal or Vertical

Another thing to bear in mind is what kind of lines / patterns your AF system is most likely to produce an accurate focus. Depending on the type of sensors, you’re camera will better at detecting vertical or horizontal lines. If it’s a cross type, it’ll be fine with either. You can tell which you have in your camera by trying to focus on a scene of only horizontal lines, followed by a scene of only vertical lines. If it struggles with neither – you have a cross type. If it struggles with either – you need to remember this when shooting. 

For example, on my recently purchased Olympus SP-550, I discovered this weekend that it has a big problem focusing on horizontal lines when in landscape mode. I was surprised but is this a disaster? Certainly not – armed with this new info there is a simple way to get round this – rotate the camera to portrait mode, focus on the subject, and rotate back to landscape. It takes an extra half a second – but it’s a hell of a lot quicker than waiting for the camera if it’s hunting.

Learn the limitations and then where possible, find ways to compensate.
 

High ISO

The last point I think I’ll make is about noise and ISO. I always use the lowest possible ISO when shooting a compact camera. With the exception of the Fuji’s which are famed for their great high ISO performance (and even then, it’s still only relative), I’ll never use above ISO 400 if I ever have any hope of using the image for anything other than the web. In most cases, I’ll hardly ever use above ISO 200. Even the decision to use ISO 200 is a difficult one if I’m ever expecting to print the image. The point is that I sacrifice just about everything (exposure, shutter speed, blur) before I sacrifice ISO. I can live with a little softness, blur and underexposure – but one thing I think really looks horrible in the digital age is digital noise from a small sensor. And the smearing techniques to rescue them aren’t much better.

For me, the advice is simple – shoot low ISO. 

Skipping to the end

So for those who made it this far, or for those who simply skipped to the end, if you want to see how a compact is really handled in the field and proof that the photographer is the key to a great image – go to this link and read how Magnum photographer Alex Majoli produces works of art with his old Olympus compacts.

Comments

[f. kwan]

Thanks for this. Nothing I hadn't figured out for myself after much suffering, but now I feel less guilty with my Canon 710 IS in pocket and Pentax SLR gathering dust on my shelf. I just hope the camera manufacturers figure out soon that there is a vast untapped market for a "poor man's Leica".

f

[ChL]

Thanks for the tips!

I also think the SPOT focus mode is fater than other AREA modes, just don't forget to recompose.

You could give more tips on the SP550UZ too... like the AF lock, MyModes, AF predict, fulltime AF, etc...

[Chuck]

Great article. Thanks for sharing that.

By the way, did that check from Olympus arrive yet? Just kidding. Your reviews here do make a strong case for considering one of these little cameras.

[Xuk]

Hey there, Lawrence. Great tips... I have finally received my 550UZ, can't wait for tomorrow for start shooting. You are being great at showing the full potential of the camera. Great photos, keep up...

[Ariel Alexandre]

Very good, simple and right (as is the case for all your reviews, including the most recent one). AA

[AdSR]

Great article. You can do a lot with a compact camera if you know how to use it. I've been able to do decent airshow stuff using a Canon A640. Here's a short tutorial of sorts: http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/271359/

[Chris (Sugden-Smith)]

Lawrence, thanks for your generosity and spirit of sharing. A wonderful, practical, informative review of the LX3, as well as comments and insight into shooting with compacts, all with some great links, not to mention photographs with style and 'flair'.

[Peter]

Hi Laurence
thank you for the good review of the LX3. I'm an absolute beginner in photography. I bought my first compact camera when i became father. Lumix FX-8. The difficoulty is to shoot children mowing fast and indoors with bad lightining and still get at good picture.
On other rewiews I read that the IA mode of LX3 is really good. Could this mode save/help me when taking pictures of my children.
Thanks alot again for some good articles about thaking photos