How To Buy A Digital Camera
Are you buying your first digital camera? Well, you must be confused by the bewildering range of models out there. How do you know which model will suit your needs? To make things worse, digital cameras do not come cheap. Choosing a bad camera will easily cost you a few hundred dollars.
In fact, buying a digital camera need not be a difficult task. I'll highlight the key considerations you need to think through before making that purchase decision. Always, always remember to consider these factors when buying a digital camera:
Battery Life
Number of Megapixels
Zoom Lens
Exposure Control
User Controls
Battery Life
This has got to be one of the most overlooked features in digital cameras. I know many people who go for the latest and greatest digital cameras which are short in the battery life department. If you want to take good photos, your camera needs to powered for extended periods of time. I've found that cost and battery life don't go together - many cheap cameras have good battery life, while some high-end models drain your battery really fast. Make sure you choose a camera that has good battery life.
Number of Megapixels
The megapixel rating of a digital camera determines how much fine detail you can capture in your shots. Typically, the number of megapixels can range around from 2 megapixels to 8 megapixels. How do you decide how many megapixels you need? As a rule of thumb, if you're only interested in taking small snapshots to send via email or for posting on the Web, you won't need more than 2-megapixels. If you want large print outs of your gorgeous photographs, then you'll probably want to get 5-megapixel cameras and above.
Zoom Lens
You'll definitely want a camera with decent optical zoom. Now the keyword here is optical zoom (as opposed to digital zoom). Optical zoom physically moves the camera lenses to zoom in on a subject. Digital zoom, however, digitally averages and magnifies the image within the camera's microchip - resulting in poor picture quality. Many manufacturers' advertisements talk about digital zoom instead of optical zoom - so do be careful when choosing. I'd recommend getting at least 3x optical zoom in any camera you buy.
Exposure Control
The ability to control exposure settings such as shutter speed and lens opening is critical to professional photographers. Cheaper digital cameras only allow you to shoot photos in automatic mode - just press the shutter release and voila, your picture is taken. More advanced users prefer to tweak the shutter speed and aperture to capture fast moving objects or blur the image background. Choose a camera with good exposure control if you foresee yourself taking on photography as a serious hobby.
User Controls
If you are getting a point-and-shoot camera, make sure you find one that's easy to use. User controls to set resolution, macro mode, flash and exposure should be within easy reach. Of course, if you're a serious photography buff who wants to take the time to tweak all sorts of manual settings, then this many not be so critical. I prefer to try out the camera first in the store - play with the controls and get comfortable with them. Only then will you know whether it's comfortable enough for you.
Conclusion
Well, I do hope this article has helped you understand what factors to consider when buying a digital camera. A general piece of advice I can give is - if you're a total newbie, don't go for the latest digital SLR. It may be tempting to get that Nikon D70 right from the start, but I'd reckon its much better to start off with a cheaper camera first. Learn, experiment and build up your digital photography skills. Once you're more skilled, then proceed to upgrade to a better camera. Good luck and happy shopping!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
What Is The Best Digital Camera For Me?
What Is The Best Digital Camera For Me?
There is so much to consider when looking for the best digital camera to suit your needs. It is important to decide what features matter the most to you. The main factors, apart from cost, in assessing which is the best digital camera for you are as follows:
• Size and weight
• Resolution
• Level of Control
• Options and features
The size and weight of the best digital camera for one person varies greatly to that of another. If you want a camera that is lightweight and will slip into a pocket or purse then a ultra-lightweight cameras will probably be the best digital camera for your needs. These are often the least complex of the digital cameras as they offer point and shoot simplicity and are the best digital camera for beginners. At the other end of the size and weight scale comes a bulky 1? pound SLR camera for the ‘serious’ photographer who wants the best digital camera with all of the accessories to take the perfect shot.
The resolution you need can narrow down which is the best digital camera for your requirements. The resolution affects the detail of an image for printing quality and the higher the resolution the greater the detail. The best digital camera for printing standard size pictures has a lower resolution than if you want to create oversize prints.
The best digital camera for being able to edit and manipulate your images is one with a resolution of 5 or 6 mega pixels so that you can crop the images with photo editing software and still print them out full size.
The amount of control that you have available will also be an issue in finding the best digital camera. Some people think that the best digital camera is one they can use in an automatic mode and let the camera do the work. Others choose the best digital camera that allows them more input in the creative process by manually adjusting the focus, speed, aperture and other settings. A simple point and shoot camera is the best digital camera for people not wanting to make any setting changes but the range of manual controls available on other cameras varies with make and model. The latter will require more research to find the best digital camera to meet your requirements.
The next part in deciding which is the best digital camera to buy is to assess what, if any, additional features you would like. Here are some suggestions:
• Audio annotation to add commentary to your images.
• Burst shooting which allows you to take multiple pictures in rapid succession for fast moving action shots.
• Macro photo capability that focuses on extreme close-up detail for images of flowers, insects, etc.
• Movie mode with audio to take short videos.
• Panoramic stitching function, often included in a camera's software package, which joins individual images into a multi-photo panoramic picture.
• Weatherproof casing
The most important aspect in choosing the best digital camera for you is ensuring that you are comfortable using it and have some fun taking pictures.
There is so much to consider when looking for the best digital camera to suit your needs. It is important to decide what features matter the most to you. The main factors, apart from cost, in assessing which is the best digital camera for you are as follows:
• Size and weight
• Resolution
• Level of Control
• Options and features
The size and weight of the best digital camera for one person varies greatly to that of another. If you want a camera that is lightweight and will slip into a pocket or purse then a ultra-lightweight cameras will probably be the best digital camera for your needs. These are often the least complex of the digital cameras as they offer point and shoot simplicity and are the best digital camera for beginners. At the other end of the size and weight scale comes a bulky 1? pound SLR camera for the ‘serious’ photographer who wants the best digital camera with all of the accessories to take the perfect shot.
The resolution you need can narrow down which is the best digital camera for your requirements. The resolution affects the detail of an image for printing quality and the higher the resolution the greater the detail. The best digital camera for printing standard size pictures has a lower resolution than if you want to create oversize prints.
The best digital camera for being able to edit and manipulate your images is one with a resolution of 5 or 6 mega pixels so that you can crop the images with photo editing software and still print them out full size.
The amount of control that you have available will also be an issue in finding the best digital camera. Some people think that the best digital camera is one they can use in an automatic mode and let the camera do the work. Others choose the best digital camera that allows them more input in the creative process by manually adjusting the focus, speed, aperture and other settings. A simple point and shoot camera is the best digital camera for people not wanting to make any setting changes but the range of manual controls available on other cameras varies with make and model. The latter will require more research to find the best digital camera to meet your requirements.
The next part in deciding which is the best digital camera to buy is to assess what, if any, additional features you would like. Here are some suggestions:
• Audio annotation to add commentary to your images.
• Burst shooting which allows you to take multiple pictures in rapid succession for fast moving action shots.
• Macro photo capability that focuses on extreme close-up detail for images of flowers, insects, etc.
• Movie mode with audio to take short videos.
• Panoramic stitching function, often included in a camera's software package, which joins individual images into a multi-photo panoramic picture.
• Weatherproof casing
The most important aspect in choosing the best digital camera for you is ensuring that you are comfortable using it and have some fun taking pictures.
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