So it’s a digital photography course and you need a camera!
The OU’s advice, as given on the T189 course details page, is as follows:
“A camera that will enable you to manipulate and share your images as digital files. Obviously a digital camera is designed to do this – your digital camera should be 2 mega-pixels or more. It would also be acceptable to submit digitised versions of images captured using a film camera. Whatever camera you use, it is preferable if it has some controls or settings (e.g. shutter speed, aperture or automatic settings such as ‘sport’, ‘landscape’ or ‘portrait’), as the course will teach you about the full range of controls and settings that a photographer uses. However it will also be possible to complete the course using a basic camera with little or no control over its settings”
To date, a staggering 58% of students on T189 are using sophisticated DSLR cameras in the £300 upwards price range which amazed me. Mine is a compact midrange Fuji Finepix camera (now under the archived cameras list …) which cost me about £120 having been reconditioned by Fuji. (However, as the ever-wise moderators pointed out, it’s the eye, skill and observation of the photographer that creates the image – not the cost of the camera being used!)
Steve’s Digicams – Fuji Finepix F700 Review
There are also fairly specific computer and internet requirements for the course (Elements will only run on Win XP or Vista) and broadband, although not strictly speaking necessary, is definitely a boon when it comes to viewing a lot of images online! Make sure you check out the ‘You Will Need’ section on the T189 course details page
Unfortunately the Open University does not support Apple Mac which caused rather an outcry from devoted Mac users who had signed up for the course – after all, Macs are widely used in the creative, graphics and publishing worlds. But most seemed to find a way around the lack of support … although not without some grumbling …
I am not a Mac user, I have been using PCs since about 3 months after the IBM PC was announced, but not supporting the Mac in a photography course is short-sighted beyond belief. As far as the camera goes, your moderators show good judgement. You can make good images with a plastic point and shoot film camera or with a cell phone camera. You can also make bad images with a Hasselblad. Your eye and sense of composition is most important. In today’s world, you can also take and ordinary image and turn it into a gem in Photshop or similar. Good luck with your course and thanks for adding me to your blog roll (A Pic Now and Then).
R.
Comment by Jersey Guy — May 6, 2007 @ 9:51 am |