Hello All,
This topic deals with some basic and quick tips to choose your Digital Camera. I am very much aware that there are millions of guides in the Internet but the below guide is a result of my own searches / experiences in the Digital world..
Please Note : This Guide is focused on audiences who are new to the Digital Photography world.. I will be publishing a separate guide to buy Digital SLR for those who are interested in photography ..
Introduction:
Digital camera was a comfort those days but now it has become a necessity. A digital camera is not only essential to capture the moments of life but also helps you in recalling those old memories when you need them. It has become a important gadget today and part of your daily life.
Buying a Digital camera has always been a hectic exercise which each of us take. We get to know a lot from our friends and relatives. We see lot of ads and promotions about camera in Internet and also we have our own likings. All these points to-gather makes us confuse. As you all know the digital world has plenty of advantages one such thing is we can erase & re-write images any number of times so you have to choose the one which suits you the best.
Below are some important tips/point which you need to take into consideration before buying a digital camera ..
1) Purpose or What is your requirement:
This is one of the important points to be noted as what is the purpose/reason for you buying a digital camera. There can only three types of requirement/purpose (according to me)
a) You require / need this camera to be with you always to capture your moments in life and make it as your memories for future. Like Weddings, Outings, Tour etc..
b) You are interested in photography so more than capturing moments in life, you need to do something more like learning photography etc...
c) You have a serious interest in photography and want to pursue photography as your profession, if not now may be down the line in some years.
Please analyze and try to fit yourself in any of the above 3 points then read the below results.
If you feel that point (a) suits you more, then you should definitely go for an normal P&S camera. [P&S = Point & Shoot]
If you feel that point (b) suits you more, then you should go in search of an entry level DSLR to suit your need & interest.
If you feel that point (c) suits you more, then you can either buy a entry level DSLR or a semi - professional DSLR..
2) What is your Budget:
A very important point to consider is your budget, how much you can or you are ready to afford to buy a digital camera because even if you have interest in photography your budget plays a important role. DSLR cameras will leave a big mark in your pocket and i advise/request everyone not to go for DSLRs until you have a concrete interest/passion in photography.
If you want to go for a P&S price ranges will start from very low 5,000 (INR) or you can buy a decent P&S camera for somewhere around 8 to 10k INR. If you want to go for a DSLR minimum you have to shell out somewhere around 30k. Please note this price approximate, you may even get less than this price also there are plenty of options in black market to get those cameras without warranty. it is a bit risky though.
3) Mega-pixels are just for attraction:
Please don't go for cameras which has more megapixels like 12mp, 13mp or 15mp etc.. These are just to attract buyers. Actually what megapixel does or how it is useful can be described in simple as image size. The more and more pixels you have the more and more bigger & clearer your image will be when you do a digital print out. Big digital banner printings are done for commercial purpose like advertisements, promotions etc..We don't need that kind of MPs as we don't want to do commercial photography..
Frankly speaking a camera with 8 to 10MP can do wonders in digital world so don't fall into the traps for the marketing strategies set by camera manufacturers..
4) Zoom - Optical or Digital zoom:
Again this comes to an important part when you need to decide optical zoom or digital zoom because now-a-days we get these attractive ads which make us fool. Before we take a decision on this we need to know the difference between optical and digital zoom.
An optical zoom say 8x, 9x, 10x means, you can go that much closer to your subject rather than do a post processing of magnifying your subject and then use software to crop the image. In optical zoom your lens moves closer to magnify the subject so even if you stand far from the subject your lens takes you close to the subject.
On the other hand digital zoom means, you capture fewer pixels and magnifies those into big ones so ultimately you will get lots of dots as you zoom more in digital..
If you ask me to vote between optical / digital zoom, i recommend optical zoom should be your deciding factor..
5) An Overview of Technical Specs:
Rather than going by what is stated in bold or stylish letters in the ads, i recommend to read the technical specs yourself and try to analyze them with the help of Internet, friends etc.. Below is some of the important features about them..
a) Sharpness/quality of Image: Normally image quality or sharpness depends up on how good/big the image sensor is in your camera. Of-course you can choose your image sensor but i recommend you to read the specs of your camera choices and find out which one is big/good image sensor.
b) Memory/Storing : Analyze the memory type which you want to choose for your camera. Most commonly Digital camera's these days use SD (secure digital) or SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity). SDHC offers high storage capacities but storage alone is not important thing in Cameras. You should also consider about other important thing that is read/write access. This simply means how much time your camera takes to read an image or write an image.
Most recently we have MicroSD or MicroSDHC cards which are very smaller in size then the earlier ones.. Normally i see in the professional camera world people use Sandisk. They provide good storage size and read/write speed..
c) Batteries / Power : Cameras normally use AA batteries. Most of them use 2 or 4. Obviously we have all of them are rechargeable. Recently even P&S cameras come with Li-ion batteries (Lithium- ion). These batteries give more life and more shots.. As everyone knows that Digi cams today should not only support Flash but also should provide power to high quality LCD screen which we use so choose the one which gives you better power support.
d) Avoiding Shake - IS: IS is Image Stabilization. This actually means that when you take pictures by holding your camera in Hand many times you will essentially end up in shaking the camera, ultimately this gives a blurred picture. Imagine there is important moment in life when you make the click and the picture is very blurred, very odd right so to avoid this we have a technology named IS so please make sure your camera posses this.. On the other hand in professional photography using a DSLR, everyone will use tripod there is no need of IS feature. [A tripod is more like a stand with three legs to hold your camera and avoid shake]
e) Menus & controls: Go through and explore the menus and controls which you have in any camera you want to buy so that you can understand what it really offers. Does it have different shooting modes like Portraits, landscapes, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait etc.. Does it gives option to take different shots in different lighting.
f) Handling Videos: Today's digital cameras will surely have this video recording capacity. When you need more videos to be taken consider some points like zoom, autofocus & storage etc because all these features will affect video recording capabilities of your camera. The more preference your camera gives for these features the more quality will be your video recording.
6) Quick look on accessories:
Make sure you check what you get with camera. I mean all the accessories which comes inbuilt with the camera kit. This is important because you don't want to end up spending money for buying these accessories after spending an huge amount for buying your camera. Some of the common accessories which comes with digital cameras are camera pouch/bag, rechargable batteries, battery charger, USB connectivity cables, Software CDs etc..
7) Which brand to choose:
Ultimately this is a million dollar question in everyone's mind "Which brand should i choose". There are plenty of brands available in the market some of the best brands are Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Fujiflim, Olympus, Kodak, HP, Sanyo, Toshiba etc.. Try to analyze with the above given factors from some popular brands like Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus, Kodak etc. Figure out some four or five models which have some good features and which satisfies your budget then choose the one which is best for you..
8) Conclusion:
Please make sure you read/check some reviews about the few cameras models which you like and choose the best one of them. At the end of the day after reading this and browsing on Internet you should be able to select the best digital camera which suits you after all this is just buying what you like and definitely not rocket science..
If you have any doubts/questions, please leave a comment on this post or email me
nathan.kv.2010@gmail.com. I will try to give the best answers..
Thanks for reading this post, hope this helps you all. Until my next post Happy Blogging
