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2003 was a year of enormous change for us. We decided early in the year that technology was moving so fast it was innevitable that we would be capturing images digitally eventually. Rather than hang on to the "old technology" we decided to get in early and so for most of the year we shot digitally using the Fuji S2 Pro. It was a rollercoaster ride, although we have never regretted the move. In fact it seems inconceivable in 2007 that we would still use film. When they learnt about our decision, Practical Photography magazine asked us to write a series of articles about our experiences. This ran for most of the year in PP and we actually wrote the articles and shot the pictures in real time each month. Sometimes this meant that we contradicted ourselves in later articles and occasionally said things which we later regretted! However, the complete set of articles are reproduced here in largely the same format as they were originally published in PP. Sometimes the writing is a bit cheesy but that's what a monthly photo magazine needs to sell. We hope that you find them interesting and useful. We are about to write a new article with our current thoughts on digital to be published on these pages in the near future

Part 10 - Top Ten Tips for DSLR Users

Loch Ewe sunset
Loch Ewe sunset
So here it is - we are approaching our first anniversary of life without Velvia.

I don't think we realised just how much we had to learn at the start of this year. Our first experiences with digital capture were so positive at the end of 2002, we rushed straight into the new technology without as much consideration as we might have. We thought that shooting would really be the same as before but without the little green boxes and the interminable wait for film processing.

However, we have stressed time and time again in our articles this year, just what a steep learning curve this is. So we thought that we would celebrate our forthcoming anniversary by sharing our top ten tips for anyone considering the switch to digital or struggling up the same dSLR learning curve.

1. Buying - think very carefully about what you really want from the camera and how long you intend to keep it. Our Fuji S2 Pro was launched 18 months ago and is now a veteran. The latest Canon's are half the price and even the S2 is now £600 cheaper than when we jumped. Over the next year the price will certainly halve again! Does this really matter? Not for us, because the S2 meets our long term needs. The quality is better than 35mm Velvia and the cameras have recouped that initial outlay many times over.

2. Chimp the screen. The instant feedback of reviewing pictures on the LCD screen is one of the major pro's of digital capture. Quite simply, it just makes for better pictures both on a creative and technical level.

3. Carry spare batteries. Preferably several set's. The heavy power consumption and the total reliance of dSLR's on battery power make's this vital. Batteries always seem to fail at the exact moment you are about to capture your latest masterpiece. If you are on a long trip, take the battery charger and if you are on a long trip without mains power, it's back to film!

4. Don't burn out the image highlights. This is really easy to do with digital capture and very hard to recover later. Check the histogram after shooting if you have any doubts.

5. Shoot RAW. All dSLR's allow you to shoot in RAW mode rather than JPEG or TIFF. You then need to convert the RAW files to TIFF on the PC later. It's a must if you want the best quality. Not only does it avoid compression losses, it gives a small degree of exposure control after you have taken the picture. It also means all those colour, contrast, white balance and sharpness settings on the camera are redundant - tweek them in software later.

6. Use 16 bit mode in Photoshop. You really need to be a bit of an anorak for this one. When Neale tried to explain it to some friends, they fell asleep! If you haven't already lost the will to live, then using 16 bit just means that you will get better tone gradation in your pictures. It seemed to be a waste of time to use this mode with scanned film because the subtlety was hidden by the grain structure but it's easy to spot with very large S2 Pro pictures.

7. Avoid dirt on the image sensor. This is a real pain as it's almost inevitable that the sensor will get dirty when you change lenses. Spotting the images later is very slow. Just try to be as careful as you can. We have successfully used Sensor Swabs to remove stubborn dust spots, but if you do damage the sensor when you do this, it's on your own head (or more likely credit card).

8. Remember the new rules on minimum shutter speed and depth of field. Because most dSLR's use APS sized sensors you must multiply the depth of field by 1.5 and the minimum shutter speed becomes 1/(focal length x 1.5). Sorry, we're in anorak mode again.

9. Careful with that delete button. Sometimes the best images come from grab shots. With digital its tempting to delete a frame because it doesn't look promising but we've found it's often worth reviewing it on the PC later - it might be the competition winner you were looking for!

10. Forget all the tips above. Photography is about the image, however you create it. Don't get tangled up in digital vs film debates and spend your life worrying about following "the rules". Use whatever works for you end enjoy taking the pictures

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