Going digital the answer for slick pics

IT editor CHRIS BARTON goes out on the town with a digital camera and finds hidden photographic talents
now that he doesn't have to peer through a lens.

Let me admit it right now. I'm a terrible photographer.

I have trunkloads of holiday and family gathering snaps - mostly blurred, with heads cut off, badly framed and sometimes all of the above.

But bad - some say grotesque - as they are, they do provide our family's pictorial history. Which is why I and the other family members (who are only slightly better photographers than me) persist.

Over the years we've owned a variety of "point and shoot" 35mm film cameras - all of which have had the uncanny ability to break just after the warranty runs out. But it doesn't seem to matter whether the camera is good or bad, I still take lousy photos.

Because I'm so hopeless at peering through a lens, I've always handed digital camera reviews on to people who know better. But when I saw the new Panasonic DMC-F7 Lumix I decided it was time to face up to my ineptitude.

After a month of messing around, I have to confess I'm now a digital camera convert. And yes, my photos really have improved.

Why? Because I've discovered a whole new way of taking snaps. Like most digital cameras the F7 has a LCD viewer. Simply hold the camera up, get your subject properly framed on screen, and snap.

But that's not all. You can immediately view what you've just shot and if you've bungled it, simply hit the delete button and shoot again. No more wasted prints. Brilliant.

The magic that makes this possible is an eight megabyte (Mb) "SD" (Secure Digital) storage card inside the camera instead of film. All digital cameras have something like this - the other "standards" being CompactFlash, Smart Media and Sony's Memory Stick.

The downside of an 8Mb card is it stores only about 13 good-quality photos. The upside is you can quickly empty your card by moving your photos over to your PC and start shooting again. No more buying film.

You can also buy cards with higher capacity - 16Mb ($100), 32Mb ($150) and 64Mb ($200) in the SD format, which cost about the same as Memory Stick and about half those prices with the other cards.

Getting the images from camera to computer involves attaching a wire between the two - and copying or moving the photos, just like files or documents on your PC.

Once inside your computer, you get yet another chance to fix up bad photography using programs such as PhotoImpression that came with the F7 or software such as Microsoft's PhotoDraw and the leader in the field, Adobe Photoshop.

I have a terrible habit of forgetting to turn on the redeye adjustment when using a flash - so most of my shots have people with devil eyes.

These sorts of programs have a range of touch-up effects that fix not just redeye, but also let you crop, lighten or darken photos, and adjust sharpness and colour. Be warned, the creative manipulation of images like this can be addictive.

So what do digital cameras have to do with the internet? With your photos stored on your PC or burned to CD-Rom (see below) you can also post them to websites for others to see or email them to family and friends.

But while viewing a digital photo slideshow on your PC or TV screen is fantastic - the images are so big and detailed - sometimes you want prints to pass around. No problem. Just take your camera card down to your local photo store.

Not quite. Shops that develop SD cards are few and far between and CompactFlash capable shops, while more common, certainly aren't everywhere. But it was the bill that gave the biggest shock - $2.50 per postcard-sized print. Ouch!

Thank god for photo-quality inkjet printers. Within a few minutes of trying the Epson Stylus Photo 895, I was sold. The prints were stunning - far better than I've ever got from my local print shop.

Depending on which paper you use - I tried Photo, Premium Glossy Photo and Archival Matte - costs are between 70c and $1.50 for an A4 page (four postcard prints).

The printer also has brilliant software - PhotoQuicker - for organising and enhancing printing. Plus it has a slot to plug in your SD or CompactFlash card directly and print its contents - no PC required.

So what's the downside? The cost. The F7 I used will set you back $1299 - which is about what you'll pay for a 2.1 megapixel camera, the minimum I'd recommend if you want the quality of a 35mm point-and-shoot.

Megapixels are the key issue when buying digital - the more megapixels the better the resolution of your photos and the higher the price of the camera. But after that it's just like buying any camera - personal choice and how may features can you get for what you're prepared to pay.

For me the F7 is great because of its size - being able to carry it in my shirt pocket. But for others, portability may give way to the need for more zoom and a better flash.

By the time you've added a photo printer - $981 for the Epson 895 with all the bells and whistles, but thankfully only $427 for the 810, which also does beautiful prints - the cost mounts some more.

But when I think of what I wasted on film over the years, I reckon a digital camera would pay for itself in no time.