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How to Pick the Picture Perfect Digital Camera
Whether you're planning a big event you want to remember or simply want to catch a moment, one gift that everyone appreciates is a quality camera to capture their memories. But what type and brand are you interested in? A Digital SLR (dSLR)? Shall it be a Sony Digital Camera? Or maybe a Canon Digital Camera? Nikon, Fuji, Panasonic, compact, ultra compact, mega-zoom, the choices are near endless.
Six Things to Consider Before Purchasing Your New Digital Camera
Let's see if we can make some sense of all this and make shopping for your new digital camera just a bit easier. Whenever I'm asked for recommendations for a new digital camera (or any item for that matter), the ancient adage "Know Thyself" immediately comes to mind.
When it comes to digital cameras ask yourself these six core questions:
1. How serious a photographer are you or do you aspire to be?
2. How much money do you want to spend?
3. How often will you use your camera?
4. Is video important?
5. How old is the budding photographer?
6. Do you have any special requirements?
Before we look at each of these questions let's get a couple of issues out of the way.
Megapixels:
The world seems to have gone megapixel mad. This morning I was looking at a popularly priced Point & Shoot Digital Camera offering 12.1 MP. Whatever number of megapixels you buy today, know that they will be eclipsed in a matter of months. Trust me, my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3, featuring 7.2 MP was cutting edge just 12 months ago. Take comfort in the fact that anything 6 MP and above will produce outstanding quality for the overwhelming majority of us.Zoom:
When we discuss zoom, we're referring to the optical zoom, or that zoom created by the optics of the camera. Digital zoom, while sometimes helpful is simply the camera being instructed to crop a central portion of the picture. When employed, it immediately begins to degrade the captured image. Today even entry level digital cameras offer at least 3X Optical Zoom.So let's proceed. Back to the six key questions:
1. How serious a photographer are you or do you aspire to be?
The most serious amongst us will probably gravitate toward Digital SLRs. These are the big (in relative terms) cameras that allow you to view and compose the picture by viewing it through the lens. The photographer can operate the camera in fully automatic mode, program mode, or in completely manual mode for maximum creative control. Just a couple of years ago a dSLR would cost upwards of $1,000 or more. Today, there is a significant number of cameras in this category at sub $1,000 prices offered by Canon, Nikon and Sony among others.
Below the dSLR category we come to the Point & Shoot Category which can be further refined into Compact, Ultra-compact, mega-zoom sub-categories. We'll touch on them all.
2. How much money do you want to spend?
Notice I didn't ask what you could afford. That's a similar yet different question. Don't be afraid to go low here if you just want to test the waters of this whole digital thing. While just a few years ago, I found myself spending close to $1,000 for my first dSLR-like digital camera, today you can actually buy a similarly tricked out digital camera, from a well-known manufacturer (Kodak, Fuji, Olympus) for as little as $150.00.
3. How often will you use your camera?
4. Is video important?
Virtually all Compact and Ultra-Compact Digital Cameras are capable of taking high quality video (at least 640 x 480) at 30 fps. But some, such as the new Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ5, are capable of producing HD Video.
