Picking the Right Digital Camera
Aug 01 '01
The Bottom Line Research and know exactly what you're buying. Knowing the following terms below will help you pick the right digital camera the first time.
There are dozens of popular digital cameras on the market today, each with different attributes and qualifications. If you don't know exactly what you want, it can be very easy to get lost in the sea of digital cameras. This guide will tell you what the different attributes of a camera mean, and what you need. With this knowledge, it will be up to you, the consumer, to find your perfect digital camera.
NOTE: When shopping for a camera online, cameras usually have specification lists that list most or all of the items below. When shopping at a store, it is harder, but you can usually find the information you need on the back of the product box.
Price: $20-50 will buy you are very low quality kid's toy camera. $100-300 cameras are usually mediocre but offer enough features for an aspiring digital photographer. $300-600 price range is where most of the very popular cameras fall in (like the Canon Powershot S100 "digital elph") Buy in this price range for a very competent camera with tons of features. $600+ are the ultra expensive and ultra sophisticated cameras. Usually it is one or two major features that put a camera in this price range, such as size of camera, # of megapixels, resolution, etc. Only buy in this price range if you are very serious about digital photography.
Maximum image resolution: If you know about computer resolutions, then this should be easy to understand. Something like "1600 X 1200" means when you take a picture, the digital camera captures 1600 pixels in a horizontal direction, and 1200 pixels in a vertical direction. Basically, you can multiply the two, get roughly 1.9 million pixels. When you take a picture at that resolution, the camera captures 1.9 million pixels of information. You'll probably never think of it this way though. Just get accustomed to what different values mean. "640 x 480" means a small picture, "1024 x 768" is a medium sized picture, and "1600 x 1200" is a big picture. Depending on how big you want your pictures to come out, choose a Maximum image resolution accordingly.
Maximum CCD Resolution: Get to know this term as the megapixel resolution. To get this value companies just multiply the two numbers of the maximum image resolution, like I did above. It just simplifies things for the consumer. A megapixel resolution of 1 megapixel will produce fairly small images. 2 megapixels produces average size pictures for today's cameras, and 3 megapixels produces very large and finely detailed pictures (but cameras with 3+ megapixels cost significantly more).
Optical Viewfinder: Always get a digital camera with an optical viewfinder (or a digital one??). As you probably know, the viewfinder lets you see what the image will look like before you take the picture. A camera that doesn't offer a viewfinder might rely on other techniques, such as showing you what the picture will look like in real time through the LCD panel. This is a good option, too.
LCD Screen Size: Tells you the diagonal length of the LCD screen. This is usually between 1.1"-1.9". 1.9" is a fairly large LCD screen, probably used in larger cameras. The very tiny cameras will probably have 1.1" or 1.2".
Optical Zoom: This is the zoom you need to care about, not the digital one. This tells you how much larger an image will appear after the largest zoom possible is used to take a picture. Very common values are 2X and 3X. Even very expensive cameras usually only have 2X or 3X. If you can get a camera with a higher optical zoom, it has a significant advantage over other cameras.
Digital Zoom: Using software inside the camera, the camera can take a picture and then blow it up, or "zoom". This is a very bad alternative to optical zooming because image quality can be hurt severely.
Compatible Memory Types: This tells you what kind of memory you can buy and upgrade into your camera. Most cameras use CompactFlash Discs, or MD/SSD cards. You should, if possible, buy a camera that uses MD/SSD cards, because they are much cheaper than CompactFlash Discs and newer versions of the card with allow you to store up to 4 GB of pictures on your camera!!
Max Photos @... : This will tell you how many photos you can take at various levels of detail. For example, a camera might let you take 7 at super fine detail, 20 at fine detail, and 46 at normal detail. Obviously, the more pictures allowed, the better. Keep in mind this is the max number for the memory that comes with the camera. If you buy more memory for it, the amount of pictures you can take will also go up.
Manual Focus: This tells you if you can switch between auto and manual modes. In auto mode, your camera will take a picture with what it thinks are the best settings. In manual mode, you set shudder speed and aperture length by yourself.
Focus Range: This tells you how close up or far away a camera can focus (or make a picture clear and not fuzzy). The far away number is always infinity, and the close up number usually is 2-5 feet.
Computer Compatible: This will tell you if the camera is compatible with either Macs or PCs. Depending on what computer you use, choose accordingly.
Self Timer: This simply tells you if the camera has a timer that counts down before taking a picture. This is useful to get yourself in the picture, of course. Most cameras do have this.
Battery Type: Tells you what kind of battery the camera functions on. This can be Lithium-Ion batteries, NimH, NiCad, Alkaline, etc. I'm not going into detail about how the different batteries are different, but if you don't know the difference you can easily research the different types on the Internet.
Height/Width/Depth: This of course tells you the dimensions of the digital camera, usually in inches. If you don't have an actual size picture of the camera (or don't know how big it will be), you can take these measurements and draw a sketch of it using a ruler. This information is handy if you are trying to buy a really small digital camera, for example.
There are other attributes of a camera, but they are either so obscure you don't have to know about them, or so common that all digital cameras have them (such as built-in flash). I hope this helps you in determining what kinds of cameras there are out there, and what kind is best for you.
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