42nd Street Photo

42nd Street Photo has been one of New York’s most trusted digital camera stores for over 40 years now. The biggest reasons to shop Christmas with us though, are our great prices! If you’re looking for a high quality digital camera that’s easy to use - be sure to look at the Casio EX-S10 . It’s on sale right now for $219.99! It will make a great gift for that loved one who’s looking to take better pictures.

If your loved one has an interest in photography and wants the camera that does everything, they might want the Nikon D300. The D300 is one of Nikon’s top of the line 12.3 megapixel cameras. There are very few digital SLR’s on the market that capture stunning images like these. Visit our store for more Christmas bargains!

We all know that sharing digital image captures is easy through email, blogs, and photo sharing websites such as Flickr! However, printing your images to share with family, or stick into a photo album, can prove to be a bit more difficult of a task. Either you need a good printer, or you need to spend a little extra to have them printed professionally.

If you’re one of those that likes to have a lot of pictures to pass around, you may want to think about investing in the Epson R2880. Not only does Epson have a good reputation, but their hardware is consistantly improving. The R2880 does photo printing right, which is due in large part to the 8 cartridges of UltraChrome K3 inks. In other words, the transitions between colors on most printers can change from matte to shiny in appearance, especially in blacks - but the R2880 maintains consistancy between shades.

In addition to the improvement in the ink, the particular algorithm used to translate the colors from screen to print was developed in conjunction with the Rochester Institute of Technology. This translation is known as Radiance technology, which is unique to Epson. When compared to other inkjet printers, the difference is as noticable as the bands that others will create between colors. Also, black and white prints come out astoundingly close to the appearance of traditionally developed black and white photography.

Here at 42nd Street Photo, we want you to get the most out of your digital photos, which is another reason we created this blog. To learn more about the Epson R2880, check out the official Epson website, and to learn more about us, check out 42photo.com.

It may come as a surprise to some of you that knowing how to use a digital camera is just the beginning. Still, to some, it may be common sense - don’t feel bad if you are of the former, as there is enough technology to force even the most savvy consumer to turn their head 360 degrees. Sure, the digital age is moving faster than ever, but that doesn’t mean that the staff at 42nd Street Photo need a crash course - they know digital like you know your own children.

So, what about this whole HDTV thing? Obviously, many of us are taking the neccessary steps to ensure we don’t get stuck without our digital converter box for broadcast television, come February 17, 2009. But how many of us know about other areas of compatibility? This one area of which we speak, is of course, the compatibility between your digital photos and your HDTV.

Wait, you don’t have an HDTV, you say? Well, then you may want to consider it.

While the purchase of a high definition, flat screen television is not neccessarily a must, there are many advantages to owning one, including a great way to view your digital photos. Many models are now built with SD card slots, and if you’re one of those “always prepared” digital photographers, you more than likely use SD cards as your preferred storage device for images captured with your digital camera of choice. This is good.

As of now, the highest resolution available for an HDTV is 1920×1080 pixels, and most DSLR cameras can capture better resolution images than that. Furthermore, if you decide to purchase one of the more modestly sized HDTV’s, you will get around a 1280×720 pixel resolution. Either way, there is little to no concern for the images not displaying well on an HDTV.

Before you begin wondering why the best resoultion HDTV’s have a lower pixel count than many digital cameras, consider the fact that larger images require more memory, so all your images can be taken at (or resized down to) your televisions resolution for the best compatibility. Unless you’re shooting photos for a magazine, newspaper, or other print media, there is no need to capture your images at the highest resolution your camera offers, nor is there a need at present for an HDTV to display as many pixels, since pixels displayed on a screen are displayed differently from pixels printed on paper. SO, what does this mean? It means your images will look better at the same resolution as your HDTV than they will at a larger resolution, and it also means you have a lot more room to store images.

But, in case you are still hung up the HDTV peak at 1920×1080 resolution, let us educated you as to why. While some would debate this fact (probably those with eagle eyes), that particular resolution is best viewed at a distance from the television equal to, or greater than, twice the height of the screen. If they were to squeeze any more pixels into the screen, there would be no significant difference in the quality you view at that distance. So why pay more for resolution you’re not going to be able to appreciate?

A lot of times, we need to sit back and enjoy the digital age, instead of pushing for more memory, better resolution, faster processors. Digital is moving fast enough as it is - we don’t need to speed it up, we need to enjoy it, and with an HDTV, you’ll have a whole new way to enjoy your digital photos.

The short answer? Yes, Absolutely. Here’s why.

1. Point-and-shoot cameras offer very limited capture options. While sufficient for family photos in which one can stand still, smile, and say cheese, DSLR cameras offer far more in the way of quality, stability, and capture options. In addition to greater optical zoom and a higher quality sensor chip, there is no delay with a DSLR camera. What you see when you snap is what you get.
2. DSLR cameras are made of higher quality parts. Period. Digital photography, no matter what the brand or model, is image capture technology at its best. However, the DSLR camera is digital image capture technology at its very best. Since point-and-shoot digital cameras are made for casual use, the megapixels only go so high, which means sensor chips need not be of superior quality, nor does the point-and-shoot lense need to reach a high level of optical zoom.
3. Interchangable lenses. DSLR cameras have them, point-and-shoot cameras do not. While many might view the option to buy extra lenses as an unnecessary expense, anyone from the ambitious amateur photographer to the professional can appreciate the value of a telephoto-lense or a micro-lense. The likelihood of snapping the exact image you want is only as high as your options are many. With more lense choices, manual settings options, and a better sensor and resolution, investing in a DSLR is the best way to give you the advantage over the elements.

There are many more reasons to invest in a digital single lense reflex camera, but we thought these were the most important to most photographers. For more information on digital single lense reflex cameras, please visit the 42nd Street Photo website at 42photo.com or visit our store, located at 378 5th Avenue (between 35th and 36th St.) New York, NY 10018.

While many might have been asking themselves this questions for the past few years, it seems that we’re getting to that point in time that VHS reached when DVD technology became widely available to, and far more affordable for, the general public. The fact is, film has fewer uses, extra processing steps and a lot more hastle to it than digital photography.

Many of you might remember the days of film. You’d flip open the back of your camera, insert the roll, close the case, wind it, and snap away - until you got to the end that is. Then, 27 shots later, you would attempt to take one last picture to get your money’s worth, just in case there was extra room on the film. And it would always be a goofy picture, because if it didn’t come out, it wouldn’t be any great loss.

Afterwards, you would take your film to the photo shop, or your local drug store’s photo lab, and decide between the regular development process, or the 24 hour deal for a few more dollars. The anticipation was part of the fun, but the real joy came in the sleeve you used to fill out your order, along with the original, developed film - was it double or single prints? Did you go for the 4×6 or the 5×7 size? Choices, choices. Of course, there was always that one that didn’t come out quite as you had hoped, or that snapshot of your brother-in-law was plagued by the dreaded red eye. Who remembers Kodak Advantix? We do.

Yes, the days of film were fun while they lasted, but there comes a time when technology becomes to good for the previous generation. While many professionals and a few amateurs still prefer good ol’ fashion film, many have stepped into the digital age with their photography. The ease of use, the ability to delete a photo that wasn’t quite right, and the ever growing storage for thousands of pictures - these are just a few reasons that make digital photography the preferred medium in our modern society. Furthermore, the ability to print as many copies as you wish from your home computer, the option of emailing them to family members, the opportunity handing a CD or DVD disc full of pictures to all your friends, are all great ways of sharing that traditional film never allowed.

We will never forget the days of film, but technology calls, along with convenience, and we at 42nd Street Photo answer that call.

Most will agree that it is a good idea to read up on reviews of a camera before shelling out the cash for it, but it may be wise to look into who is actually writing the review. While consumer reviews can be a great source of information about a product, since generally speaking, the purchasee has first hand experience using that particular model, often times, lack of information leads to a less-than-satisfactory opinion.

Let’s look at a good example of this, the Nikon D300. Here is a digital camera from a well known and established company, with an impressive range of shutter speeds, high-resolution screen, a myriad of options for shooting conditions, built in flash, long-lasting battery and continuous shooting at 6/second. Now, suppose this is all our reviewer knows about the camera. Suppose they used it for a few days on a family vacation, encountered a number of features they didn’t necessarily understand, and therefore decided they did not get their money’s worth. They might jump on Amazon.com, or wherever is was that they happened to pick up the digital camera, write a poor review and return the camera, never knowing about its 12.3-megapixel self-cleaning DX-format CMOS sensor, HDMI port for outputting images to a high-definition screen or that it was “2007 Camera of the Year” on PopPhoto.com.

Purchasing a digital camera may seem like a simple task, however there are many things to consider beforehand. Perhaps there will be things that were not so obvious before, like what options there are for the flash, what ratio the screen is, how much it weighs, etc. These are the types of details that 42nd Street Photo would love to help you figure out. We don’t just want to sell you a digital camera, we want you to purchase the right digital camera for you. Trust us, we like satisfied customers.

Thanks for stopping by the new 42nd Street Photo blog. We hope to keep you informed of the latest products and special offers from 42nd Street Photo here, as well as post relevant information on digital cameras and accessories.

If you haven’t been to our online store yet, visit www.42photo.com today to enjoy our large selection of digital audio and video products. We have been in business for over 40 years, and we’re one of New York’s finest camera stores.