Find the Best Digital Camera for Your Needs and Maximum Enjoyment

by: Dave Saunders

Digital Cameras have become a common site wherever you go. If you're getting ready to purchase your first digital camera, or maybe you're looking to replace one you already have, it is best to familiarize yourself with the knowledge of what makes one digital camera different from another and choose the one that is right for you. In this article we'll cover one of the most significant factors in picture quality. This is the “digital film.”

Just like with a film camera, the digital camera has a lens which brings light into focus on a bed of light sensitive material. In the digital camera, that light sensitive material is a circuit bed called a “CCD.” The CCD plays the same role as film in a film camera and the lens allows light to fall onto the CCD which is then converted into a digital image. The quality of the lens can make a significant difference in the clarity of that image. Very cheap digital cameras may even use a piece of plastic as the lens, which will usually have an uneven surface and light transmission. This will be noticeable in the picture but may not be an issue for a security camera or a web cam. Better quality digital cameras will have ground-glass lens and high-end digital cameras will even have interchangeable lenses as do high-end film cameras. The lens still plays the important role of bringing light clearly to the CCD surface for a distortion free picture.

A CCD also provides an interesting advantage to the digital camera. It is possible to automatically adjust light sensitivity to improve contrast, shoot in dim light, or even take black and white, sepia or infrared and ultraviolet light pictures with the touch of a button. Because any of these images are stored as the same data on the memory card, a digital camera can offer unsurpassed versatility without the need to change film types. Not all digital cameras have these features built in, but they are options you may see in some cameras. While the possibilities are cool, ask yourself if you that is a feature you need in a digital camera.

With digital cameras, CCD is a grid of light sensitive points which capture the image for conversion into a digital image. The number of points on the CCD is measured in terms of “mega pixels.” The mega pixel rating is a completely new bit of terminology and is unique to the digital camera. The mega pixel rating is a measure of the resolution of the camera, or its ability to store details of am image. For example, a digital camera with a maximum resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels (dots) comes out to a total of 983,040 pixels with which to describe the digital image. As each mega pixel represents one million pixels, we can see this isn't even one mega pixel. Some digital cameras have mega pixel ratings at 5.1 and even 7.1 mega pixels. What does this mean to you? The more pixels the more detail stored. If the image is going to be viewed on a screen or a TV, this isn't very meaningful because video displays have resolutions which are usually well below one mega pixel. However, when printing on a high quality photo printer, the difference between a 3 mega pixel digital camera and a 5 mega pixel digital camera can be very obvious.

Some people will try to evaluate a mega pixel rating by how large a print can be made from the digital camera's image. The truth is that any digital image can be printed to any size. The real issue is what it looks like. Most people print their film to 4x6 prints and many are now doing the same with their digital cameras. Ask to see printed samples of pictures which are like the type you would normally take and compare the same prints between different cameras. Many stores will try to dazzle you with colorful still life images of piles of multi-colored fruits and hot air balloons. Do you take pictures like that? Probably not, so perhaps they're not the best images to be scrutinizing. If you take pictures of friends standing around, use each camera to take pictures of people standing around. Then use a demonstration printer at the store to make prints and look at the results. Do you see little dots in the middle of solid colors? Does the image look like it was taken with a poor quality film camera? Don't seek out the digital camera that happens to take perfect pictures in a perfect setting, contrived by the marketing department of the digital camera's manufacturer. Look for the digital camera that takes pictures you like in the settings in which you most commonly find yourself.

Another issue to consider is that some digital cameras are designed for “point and click” use while other cameras are designed with lots of settings which must be manipulated for optimal results. In my personal experience, I have found that Kodak makes digital cameras which are ideally suited for simple “point and click” use and consistently take great looking pictures in a wide variety of settings. I have also personally found that digital cameras from Nikon work best when you set them to “manual” and do not rely on the automatic settings. This seems to be true of their film cameras as well. Does this make one digital camera better than another? Only if one fits your needs and skills, and the other does not.

There are many magazines available on digital cameras today. Most recognize these differences in digital camera quality, based on needs and intended use of the owner. Before buying your new digital camera, pick up a few of these magazines and familiarize yourself with the latest reviews. Remember that the pros and cons are still written “through the lens” of the reviewer. If you see a negative about a digital camera that you otherwise like, ask yourself if that negative is meaningful to your needs. Next ask yourself if that negative might be meaningful to your needs as you become more experienced. If the answer is yes, ask yourself if you would still be using that camera as a more experienced photographer in the future or would you perhaps sell it and buy an entirely new digital camera? It's unlikely that the digital camera you buy today is going to be the only one you'll ever have. Buy the digital camera that most reasonably meets your needs and how you normally plan to take pictures.

Memory cards and battery life are also consideration factors which will be covered in other articles. For now, I hope this information has taught you more about the workings of a digital camera and some of the factors to consider when choosing one. Take your time and learn a bit about digital cameras before your purchase. Sure, it's not like buying a car, but photography is a very personal experience and the right digital camera will truly make a difference in your enjoyment of capturing the moment with digital photography.

About The Author

Dave Saunders is a certified nutritional educator and lifelong technologist. He lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife, Irene and writes about his many passions. While pursuing his own enjoyments in broadly experiencing life, Dave enjoys creating interconnections through his writings and lectures to help others create context and see new discoveries and technologies in more a practical light. You can find other news and articles on digital cameras at www.aboutdigitalcameras.net

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Finding The Best Buy On A Digital Camera

by: Steve Gargin

The best buy digital camera is not necessarily the cheapest, but the one that has the best overall package for your needs. It is important to check on the various functions and accessories before you compare prices to ensure that you find the best buy digital camera. The main reason that people want to buy a digital camera is for convenience rather than using a traditional film camera and there are a lot of best buy digital camera deals available.

The first point is to find the best buy digital camera with the highest resolution you can afford which will normally be at least 2 to 3 megapixels (2 million to 3 million pixels). If you will only output pictures to a computer monitor (for viewing, Web page use or e-mail) then the best buy digital camera will be one with a 640-by 480 pixel resolution and it will provide very satisfactory results. There are very few genuine best buy digital camera packages with high-resolution and the specified resolution may only apply to software interpolation rather than the true optical resolution. To print photographs on a good (at least 720 dots per inch) color printer you will need to look for the best buy digital camera with a high resolution.

Many retailers advertise their best buy digital camera as one with a plastic lens. It is better to buy a digital camera with a 100% glass lens for the best pictures. You should also look for the best buy digital camera packages with the most RAM that you can afford. The more RAM the camera has means that it can store more pictures and does not require downloading or erasing them as often.

When you are evaluating the best buy digital camera offers you need to compare optical, as opposed to digital, zoom capabilities. This is one of the most frequently used features of most digital cameras and you need to be sure that you have the capability to take the type of close-up shots that you want to.

Another issue that needs to be considered is whether the best buy digital camera offer actually includes the accessories that you require. If you find that you are going to have to purchase additional cables and software to be able to connect your digital camera to your computer then it is not going to be the best buy digital camera that you thought it was.

Finally, ensure that you have accounted for any shipping costs before you make your final decision over which best buy digital camera you purchase. A lot of unscrupulous retailers will advertise a price for a best buy digital camera but then charge high shipping costs.

About The Author

Steve Gargin is the administrator of http://digital-camera-reviews.helper-guru.com/camera-digital-finepix-fuji-review/index.html which is a great website dedicated to giving free advice on Digital Cameras.

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Finding A Cheap Digital Camera

by: Steve Gargin

There are a number of great websites that are dedicated to helping you find a cheap digital camera. Some of these can help you save a lot of money on your camera purchases. A lot of these websites will take the effort out of finding a cheap digital camera as they search the Internet and physical stores for the best deals for you.

There are so many sales, bargains, coupons and deals available to enable you to get a truly cheap digital camera that it can seem impossible to choose between them so it is important to find a website that gives reviews on the products as well as the vendors themselves. A cheap digital camera may not be such a good deal if it turns out that the vendor has poor levels of customer service.

Obviously, a lot of the cheap digital camera deals are constantly changing and having the latest information can be the difference between getting the camera you want and having to pay more because the offer has ended. Many websites have a number of services to help get the information about current cheap digital camera offers to you as fast as possible. You can choose to have specific cheap digital camera deals sent to you via email, mobile phone or palm text message or RSS feed amongst others. These alerts can be customized so that you can choose to only receive cheap digital camera offers that relate a particular vendor, brand of camera or area if you want to. You can also set the parameters that you would class as being cheap digital camera prices because everyone has a different budget.

Many people underestimate the influence that coupons and rebates can have on their search for the best cheap digital camera deal. It is a good idea to take the time to check through those available as they can make a big difference. Again, check to make sure that these are not subject to an expiry date or you may miss out on cheap digital camera offers.

At the end of the day there is nothing better than finding other shoppers who have bought a particular cheap digital camera. They can give you truly unbiased views about the camera itself and the place where they purchased it. You may want to pay a few dollars more to get a relatively cheap digital camera from another supplier if they have a lot of bad reviews from customers.

About The Author

Steve Gargin is the administrator of http://digital-camera-reviews.helper-guru.com/camera-digital-finepix-fuji-review/index.html which is a great website dedicated to giving free advice on Digital Cameras.

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Digital Cameras: Do You Know Your Megapixels?

by: Frederic Madore

Until recently, were you to ask someone if they knew how to operate a digital camera, they would react as though you had grown another head. A digital camera? Whoever heard of such a thing. Now, in less than 5 years, they’re the only kind of camera to buy. With digital photography there’s no need for endless rolls of film. You just focus, click, and presto, a digital image. Don’t like the picture you just took? That’s no problem, either. You can simply delete the image.

Now, with all this available technology, why should we ever worry about pictures again? Well, the plain truth of the matter is this, if you don’t have a computer, it’s still expensive and quite time consuming to download your pictures at the local Wal-mart (or Wal-greens), instruct the computer there to copy the pictures to a disk, and then pay for the actual printing. See, it’s at this point that most consumers realize it’s just downright easier to buy an old fashioned, film loaded, camera.

Let’s assume, however, that you do have a computer, and you do want to purchase a digital camera. What kind of camera do you need? Where do you begin to check out your options and see how they relate to your needs? Well, the first part of the process would be to visit an electronics store in your area. The stores that specialize in electronics will generally have a sales person on hand that can explain all the available features of a digital camera and help you decide what you need and what you can live without.

One of the big questions concerns the “megapixel” feature of the camera. The larger the megapixel number, the better the quality of the picture. You see, megapixel determines how the camera reads color combinations in order to produce the best photo possible. Now this might be a matter of great concern if you are a professional photographer, but to the everyday consumer, three or four mega pixel strength is all you need.

Next you’ll want to examine what types of subjects you will photograph and under what kind of conditions. Do you need a camera that makes pictures of moving objects? Are you making your pictures at night, or during daylight hours? Up close and personal, or over on the next block? All of these questions are valid and will affect the quality of the picture you get if not correctly addressed.

There is one final option that you might want to check: some of the digital cameras also do video. The cameras tape the audio and video of the moment as well, or better, than some of your larger video cameras, just not as expensively.

Last but not least, you need to understand your storage options, and determine how much storage space you need. Going to the family reunion, room for maybe 10 pictures will be enough; But now the class reunion, well you’re going to need room for at least 500 photos. Alright, that brings this topic to a close and moves us on to the subject of “memory stix”…….

About The Author

Frederic Madore is the founder of the http://digital-camera-information.info website. Get the best information about Digital Cameras.

(c)Copywrith 2005

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