No this is not just another post telling you to either buy a SLR or extolling you buy X over Y.If you're already out there to but a camera , you've probably already discovered that the showroom has a seemingly endless array of options out there. Even if you narrow your choices to models from vendors that you've heard of, you'll still have scores of options to choose from.
One reason there are so many digital cameras is that digital photography is a huge market, and there are a lot of companies that want to cash in on it. But there's also a practical reason for vendors to release so many different cameras: By segmenting the market into thin little slices, they can produce cameras tailored to a very specific set of needs. While this might force you to look at more camera candidates, it means you can probably find a model that's just right for you. And if you define your needs early on, you can immediately weed out a bunch of irrelevant models.
We begin a detailed discussion of all of the issues and considerations you need to make when hunting for a digital camera. With just a little diligence, you should have no trouble finding a camera that yields very good images, delivers the features you want, and is reasonably affordable.
Not Your Cousins Musuem Trip: There's only one critical difference between a digital camera and a film camera: A digital camera has a silicon image sensor sitting on its focal plane instead of a piece of film.
Sure, digital cameras can be weird shapes, and they have LCD screens, and so on and so forth, but it's that image sensor that makes digital a dramatically different technology than analog photography. Because the physics of light stay the same whether you're shooting digital or film, the science of digital photography is largely identical to the science of analog photography.
When you buy a film camera, you don't have to worry about the quality of the images it will produce because you select your imaging technology later, when you choose a film. So when you buy a film camera, you look for features, feel, and lens availability, and only later consider the imaging properties of a particular film. With digital, you've got to consider all of these at the same time.
With that said, it's also important to know that you shouldn't go overboard when assessing image quality. These days, most cameras from reputable vendors produce very good images. The technology in mid-range cameras has trickled down from high-quality, high-end cameras, and it's difficult to buy an outright bad camera from an established camera maker.
Before you begin shopping, there's one important fact you simply must accept: The camera you buy will be replaced by an "improved" version within a year. This is true with most things digital, and it can make people feel they should wait because something better is going to come along.
Years ago, when the next generation meant a step up from 1 megapixel to 2 megapixels, next-generation envy was a reasonable concern. Nowadays, the next generation won't necessarily be a dramatic improvement. New models change feature sets and body designs, but only occasionally improve image quality. Sometimes new models are inferior to their predecessors!
Because of the generally high quality of the current technology, you can hedge your bets against obsolescence by picking a camera with features designed for the type of shooting you do and the output you require.
The Best In My Budget ? ?: Choosing a camera is a process of winnowing down the available models until you arrive at a -- hopefully -- obvious conclusion.
Whether you're looking for a cheapo point-and-shoot or a pro-level single-lens reflex (SLR), the first step to take is to decide what you're willing to pay. Then your goal is to find the best camera in your price range.
"Best" should be defined by the particular needs of the type of shooting you do. If you want to output large, high-resolution prints, you need a high-resolution camera. If you want maximum image quality and flexibility, go for a digital SLR. If maximum portability is the most important concern, a small point-and-shoot is going to be best.
Taking this first step of not only narrows the camera field, it also shields you from sleepless nights wondering whether the camera you've bought is the right one. Once you realize that "best" is not an absolute term, you'll be less troubled when a new camera comes out with a feature that, while spiffy, doesn't relate to your type of shooting.
Point-And-Shoot or SLR? :
You can divide digital cameras into many different categories: high-end/low-end, big/small, expensive/cheap, and so on. For the serious shooter, the most important distinction is point-and-shoot versus SLR.
Point-and-Shoot Cameras :While "point-and-shoot" used to imply low quality, don't be prejudiced against this type of camera. Point-and-shoot digital cameras can have pro-quality lenses and yield excellent images.
Point-and-shoot cameras follow roughly the same design as their point-and-shoot counterparts: somewhat boxy shape with an extending zoom lens. All digital point-and-shoots include LCD screens, and on some cameras, the LCD screen is the only viewfinder. (We plan to explain about viewfinders later in this blog.)
When it comes to other features, though, point-and-shoots range from simple no-frills cameras to advanced models that pack extensive advanced controls and options.
Point-and-shoot cameras can also be very quiet, which is handy when shooting in locations where a loud shutter clack is not appropriate.
Many point-and-shoots have unusual designs, such as viewfinders you can rotate independently of the lens. For shooting waist-level shots, or any situation where your subject is hard to frame, you may appreciate the flexibility of a point-and-shoot.
Point-and-shoots often have excellent macro capabilities. Thanks to their small lenses, it's easy for vendors to build in macro facilities that would require an expensive, separate lens on an SLR camera.
SLR Cameras : An SLR differs from a point-and-shoot camera in several important ways. The viewfinder on an SLR looks through the same lens that the camera uses to expose the image sensor. This means that your viewfinder shows you a much more accurate representation of the final image, including the effects of any filters you might have placed on your lens.
Most SLRs also use interchangeable lenses. That lets you attach the lens that's exactly right for your shooting needs and upgrade lenses to improve image quality.
Because of their larger size, most digital SLRs are equipped with image sensors that are much larger than those in point-and-shoot cameras. A larger image sensor usually produces better image quality than a smaller sensor because the individual pixels on the sensor can be larger. Larger pixels produce images with less noise, so SLRs tend to yield better results than point-and-shoots when working in low-light.
SLRs also tend to have higher-end features, such as more rugged bodies, faster burst rates, higher ISO settings, and in some situations, better image quality.
Creatively, the main difference between the two types is that it's possible to shoot shallower depth of field with an SLR.
What Resolution Do You Need?
After deciding on a price range and camera type, you've probably eliminated a good number of candidates. The next big cut comes when you make a resolution choice.
Digital camera vendors try to sell you on a very simple resolution guideline: More is better. This isn't always true.
More pixels means more resolution, which should mean more detail, which should yield a better picture. However, the quality of the pixels can be as important as the number of pixels. A high-resolution camera with a lousy lens produces a bunch of really bad pixels. That's why it's important not to get caught up in the resolution wars
Paying for pixels you don't need is a waste of money. Instead of buying the most pixels you can afford, consider how you might be outputting your images and select a resolution that supports that type of output. To create 13-x-19-inch prints, you'll want a high-resolution camera -- at least 5 megapixels. But if the bulk of your work is smaller prints, or Web output, you probably don't need to pay for extra pixels. You can do a lot with just 3 or 4 megapixels.
Because larger prints are viewed from greater distances, resolution requirements (measured in pixels per inch) go down as you increase print size. For example, you can easily get away with 200 pixels per inch for a 13-x-19-inch print because people generally view it from farther away than they do a 5-x-7-inch print, which needs around 300 pixels per inch.
Higher resolutions buy you more than just larger prints, of course. With more pixels at your disposal, you can enlarge parts of your image and crop to create a full-size print of a smaller portion of your image.
Be aware also that a difference of a single megapixel does not necessarily translate into much greater area. A 50-percent increase in the number of pixels in a camera adds only 22.5 percent more print area. That's the difference between an 8-x-10-inch print and a 10-x-12-inch print -- not a tremendous increase in size. Of course, the higher resolution camera might give you better detail at the same size than the lower-resolution camera.
We suggest that you figure out what print size you'll output most often, then go up one resolution class. This will give you good results at your most-used print size with an option to print a little larger, and extra pixels for times when you want to crop and re-size.
What's Next?Making price and resolution decisions will do more to narrow the field of possible candidates than any other choice you'll make. Now you're ready to start looking at particular cameras and comparing their features and abilities.
