Your New Digital Camera

Andrea writes: “I want to know about digital cameras. Which brand works the best? What are some specs that I should consider when picking out a new digital camera? Help me please.”

We are not going to leave you hanging Andrea. Okay maybe we are.

Picking out a digital camera sticky. Before you start, ask yourself this one simple question – What are you going to use the camera for? – Taking pictures! That’s what you are gonna use it for. Of course you’re going to take photos with it but what kind. Sports photography? Family portraits? Travel pictures with lots of landscapes? What ever you end up taking pictures of there are different cameras and features that’ll help you out. “Cause those pictures of lions at the zoo wont be that great without a zoom. Or unless you climb into the cage with them. Which would make for a more exciting photo shoot. And a more exciting biography of you after you are dead. Anyway here are some of the more important things to look for and avoid.

The well-known names like canon, nikon, kodak, and olympus are all good brands. But they make multiple camera types and models. And there can be as much or more variation in features, design and overall quality between models as there is between brands. So the best we can say is pick brand you know and trust or that has a really good warranty!

Digital pictures are made up of little squares called pixels. One megapixel is about one million pixels. The more you have the bigger picture you can print. 2MP will print out a nice 4×6, whereas 10MP will give you a 13×19. So if you never plan on printing any pictures bigger than 8×10 something in the 4-5 megapixel range will be just fine.

The LCD or liquid crystal display on the back of the camera should be big enough so you can get a clear image of the picture you just took. If it’s not big enough, you may want to re-think and get a different camera. After all, one of the main advantages of digital photography being able to check the image right then and there. I think it is.

Digital zooms are worthless. If you use ‘em the image quality just gets worse and worse the more you zoom in. And the same effect can be achieved later by just cropping you digital picture. Optical zoom, that’s what you want. It actually refocuses the lens to bring the image in closer and more is always better. Sa a x5 is better than a x3 which is definitely better than x1. And I don’t think it goes lower than that.

Some higher end cameras are SLR – single lens reflex. That basically means that what you see through the view finder is what will be in the picture. Most less expensive cameras still have a view finder, but its not always lined up well, because it doesn’t look through the lens of the camera. That’s why most people use the LCD instead.

Now there ‘s a ton of other stuff to consider. Aperture, shutter speed, flash, iso, white balancing, file formats… But we’re going to go back to our original question. What are you taking pictures of? Is something that requires special settings like sports photography or night shots. If so, you are going to need a camera with a lot of manual controls. If it’s a simple point and click at christmas you want, well you can get away from all that. On the site below we have a link to a website that helps you decide what features you do and don’t need and will then helps you find the camera thats right for you.

Before you say “I Do” to you next digital camera, just remember you can’t blame us if it all ends in… digital divorce. I don’t know what to say.

That is my evil laugh.

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