What Digital Camera Should I Buy?

Thomas K. Hedge D.D.S., F.A.C.E.
LVI Dental Visions
March 2002

If you will be taking cosmetic dentistry photos, you need to consider what the best camera to use will be. It is no longer a question of “Should I buy a digital camera?”, but which one should I buy. This is the number one question I am asked. The answer changes to a certain extent every month.

Is there still a use for 35 mm cameras? The answer is – It depends. Are you trying to get AACD accreditation? If so, you have no choice. Do you want the best quality image projected to a large group? A slide image with a slide projector is still the best option. Short of these two reasons, there is no reason not to go digital.

Digital images are instant. You can view your image on the LCD screen on the back of the camera instantly. This allows you to insure you captured the image you want on the spot. There are no disappointments after you get the film back when the opportunity is gone forever.

There is no film or developing costs, allowing you the opportunity to take more images than you might otherwise take.

Output options are extensive allowing for viewing on a monitor, printing the image, burning the image on a CD, placing the image in a Power Point presentation, and placing the image on your web site.

So, back to the question of what camera to buy. I think that the gold standard of digital images is a great quadrant image. This is an image that captures the distal of the canine to the distal of the second molar. This is shot in a mirror with retraction.

Any camera that will not capture this shot has been eliminated from consideration. I have three recommended cameras at three different price points. Remember that you get what you pay for. Factors considered are ease of use and image quality. A Dodge Neon and a Porsche 911 Turbo will both get you to your destination.

Let’s start with the Olympus D40. This is a very small, pocket sized camera that has some very powerful features. It captures a 4 Megapixel image – the largest of the three cameras. It is around $700. It has a manual mode allowing you to shoot at an f stop of 11, which gives a fairly large depth of field. The flash has an adjustable output, which allows you to shoot at f 11 and control the light on the subject. It has a 7x zoom that accommodates shooting images at a good distance from the teeth that allows the flash to diffuse so the image is not washed out. There are a number of settings that must be customized to get great dental shots. On most cameras in this price range, you must set each of these settings every time you boot up the camera. The D40 has a neat feature that allows these custom settings to be saved in a “My mode”. This makes it point and shoot. The big disadvantage to this camera is the fact that you must frame your image in the LCD screen on the back of the camera. The digital zoom must be employed to get tight shots, which diminishes the resolution of the 4 Megapixel image.

The Olympus 2500 has been the workhorse of dental digital photography since late 1999. It has through the lens viewing and a ring flash, as do most 35 mm cameras. It is easy to use and requires only a few settings to be made after boot up. The ring flash captures texture on anterior teeth as a point flash cannot do and evenly illuminates the entire image. This camera package costs around $1500. The resolution is 2.5 Megapixels, which is sufficient for dental photography.

What about the Porshe 911 Turbo? It is the Canon D30. The package is $4200. Is it worth it? It is the camera I use every day. It requires no changes in settings. You turn it on and shoot. The images are awesome. The camera is used for dental shots in Manual mode at f22. This gives us a very broad depth of field and practically eliminates out of focus shots. The Canon MRX 14 ring flash is completely adjustable in light output and allows for fine tuning of the image lighting. The images are 3.11 Megapixels which is pefect for dental images. When saved as a JPEG file they are just under Megabyte each. This camera is a winner, but comes with a hefty price tag.

You will not be disappointed with any of these cameras. Remember it is not a question of if you will buy a digital camera, but when.