The days of megapixel wars between camera manufacturers is over, now it is hard to find a camera with less than 10 megapixels. We find ourselves in a new digital camera war with manufacturers building cameras specialized for different types of photography and competing to see who can jam the most features into a camera. This might sound fun but that makes your options constantly growing, making it harder to choose the one that is right for you.
Take a deep breath and relax for this buying guide should eliminate some of the obstacles, making it easier for you to make a purchasing decision before spending your hard earned money.
First things first, what will you be doing with your camera?
Before we just jump into explanations, important specifications and the different digital cameras on the market, you first need to decide what you will be doing with your pictures and what type of pictures you want to take.
Are you looking to take snap shots to remember events, moments spent with friends?
Do you want a small compact pocket size camera?
Will you mainly use it outdoors where it can get wet and full of sand/dust?
Are you looking to take your photography hobby to the next level?
Do you want to play around with features and take creative shots?
Would you mainly use automatic settings?
Will you be taking photos in low light and bright light?
What is your budget?
Answered the questions above? Great, keep them in mind when you read further...It's all about the Megapixels right?
The megapixel rating of digital cameras is not as important as it was in the beginning of the digital camera era. What!?! You ask, well back in the day (not so long ago) the top of the range cameras were only 2 megapixels (mp) but now a days the entry level camera on the shelves is 7- 10mp which delivers beautiful and clear images and prints up to an A3. Something to keep in mind is the more megapixels your camera has the bigger the image size will be which means your memory card can hold fewer photos. For many people this can be a big problem. If you only intend to email photos, make prints on standard sizes, upload your photos on social networks then a camera with 5 megapixels will be more than fine. But if you are intending to print large photos, or use your images for magazines, catalogues then you will need to pay that extra bit and get yourself a camera with at least 10mp.
Let's Zoom in...
Most digital cameras have digital zoom and optical zoom but it is optical zoom that produces the best picture quality. Why optical zoom and not digital zoom? Well Digital zoom simply enlarges the pixels of the image which does make your subject look bigger but it makes the photo more pixelated making your photos look out of focus/fuzzy. Optical zoom allows you to view and photograph images without losing any pixels. You get 3x optical zoom and up, which basically means that it makes the image 3 times as big or 5 times as big and so on.
The View...
These days it is hard to find a Digital Camera without a LCD screen and with the LCD screens getting bigger in size the viewfinders are disappearing from more resent compact cameras. The LCD screen is great to have because you can easily view your photos and compose shots but (oh yes there is a but) LCD uses a lot of battery power so keep this in mind especially when looking at the battery power of the digital camera. LCD screens also get affected by the glare of the sun or at night when taking night time shots when it is hard to see what is on the screen. Viewfinders which are similar to film cameras don't make use of battery power and do not get affected by the glare of the sun or low light. So the best will be to get a camera that has both so that you can enjoy the best of both worlds so to speak.
Have not lost you yet? Great, well let's continue.Camera Memory
Majority of Digital Cameras come with the bare minimum of memory, either 16mb or 32mb for higher end cameras meaning you will only be able to take a few photos at your cameras highest resolution (good sales gimmick because you will need more memory). The memory card size you will need depends on your Digital Cameras megapixels and how many photos you would like to snap. The higher the megapixels the fewer photos will be able to fit on a specific memory card size.
There are 8 different types of memory cards ranging from compact flash, secure digital, memory sticks to xD cards, so carefully look at your cameras memory specifications for all these cards as different sizes and shapes and unfortunately not interchangeable. If you have memory cards from your previous digital camera make sure that it is compatible with your new purchase.
Camera's Battery.
We all know that Digital Cameras eat up battery life especially when you have a digital camera with a LCD screen and friends that wants to see each others photos at least 5 times. So take into consideration the type of battery the digital camera uses, AA batteries or a rechargeable battery. It would also be wise to invest in a Battery charger or a spare battery which you can keep charged and ready to use when you run out of battery life.
The main types of digital cameras
At a glance let me take you down the confusing slope of the many different types of Digital Cameras available.
Digital SLR (D-SLR) cameras.
Digital SLR cameras are your most expensive digital camera which gives top performance. It provides the best photo quality and imaging controls with a large sensor, interchangeable lenses, high ISO( the measurement of how sensitive a digital camera's sensor is to light) performance in low light and quick shutter response time. THE D-SLR is the best camera for photography enthusiasts and professionals. The only real negative of a D-SLR is that it is very pricy (especially when you buy extra lenses and other must have accessories) and its size which is bulky and not easy to take with you where ever you go. A good example of a top of the range D-SLR is the Nikon D5100.
Compact Interchangeable Lens.
These interchangeable lens cameras offer basically the same functionalities as D-SLR cameras without the viewfinder in a more compact body. It contains a large sensor, fast mechanical shutter, changeable lenses, manual controls and better photo quality than your average point and shoot. There are not so many lens options available as with a D-SLR. The Sony NEX3 is a good example of an interchangeable lens camera.
Advanced Digital Camera.
An Advanced Digital Camera is a good mix of a compact High Zoom camera and a D-SLR camera. It contains the features and good photo quality of a D-SLR but it has a fixed lens like the Compact High Zoom camera. It is more compact than a D-SLR but not as small as a Compact High Zoom camera.
(This all made sense in my head, so hope it made sense to you.)Compact High-Zoom Camera.
These cameras offer great portability and great optical zoom capabilities of up to 18x. They are more compact than a full size D-SLR or Advanced Digital Camera but some of them are not small enough to slip into a pocket. A good example is the Sony Cyber-Shot H70.
Advanced Point-and-Shoot Compact Camera.
An Advanced Point and Shoot Camera is not as advanced and complex as a D-SLR but some often get the nod of approval and gets used as a secondary and more portable camera from pro photographers. These cameras has manual controls so that you can set the ISO, shutter and lets you fine tune your shots more than what a basic point and shoot can. These cameras have a wider verity of features available which you would find in D-SLR camera. You can take macro images, take photos at faster shutter speeds and get good shots in low and high light all though you don't get the zoom range. The Canon S95 is a good example.
Durable Point-and-Shoot Camera.
These tough Digital Cameras are perfect for sporty, adventure seeking, mountain climbing enthusiasts. They are waterproof, shockproof, freeze proof and dustproof, so you can focus more on the adventure than the safety of your camera. You can take your camera everywhere with you but these are not always the first choice for many people due to their unique looks that makes them so durable. They are rugged and don't always have the best optics or great sensor. The Sony Syber-Shot TX10 is a really good example or a durable camera with great features as well.
Point-and-Shoot Camera.
The name says it all, an easy to use affordable camera that is great to have on hand. A basic point and shoot these days with the ever improving technology is not so basic anymore. But this means that the camera basically operates itself with great auto modes and selection modes that chooses the best in camera setting for your photo. One thing to look out for when buying a Point and Shoot is to get a camera with wide angle coverage which is great for group photos and arm's length self portrait shots. The Nikon S9100 is a good example.
One thing to keep in mind is that one Digital Compact Camera can be a combination of the different categories mentioned above for example it can be Durable and an advanced digital camera.
All the other fancy features...
Digital Cameras come jam packed with features these days such as motion detection, soft focus, smile detection, skin softening, blink proof, red eye fix, colour selection, movie recording and many more. But the two features that are worth mentioning as well, is the capability to take high quality photos in high and low light. After considering everything mentioned above you can compare cameras to see which got the extra features that you would like above. Now that is what I call smart shopping and a winning situation.