By: Rudi Xeno
With fall here and the Holiday Season fast upon us it's hard to imagine that digital cameras are not high up on the gift list. With the blaze of fall colors now appearing and anticipating Thanksgiving family gatherings and holiday snowfall many of us are anxious to buy a camera for ourselves or a gift. But what type and brand are you interested in? A Digital SLR (dSLR) digital camera? Shall it be a Sony Digital Camera? Or maybe a Canon Digital Camera? Nikon, Fuji, Panasonic, compact, ultra compact, mega-zoom... the choices are near endless.
Six Things to Consider Before Purchasing Your New Digital Camera
Let's see if we can make some sense of all this and make shopping for your new digital camera just a bit easier. Whenever I'm asked for recommendations for a new digital camera (or any item for that matter), the ancient adage "Know Thyself" immediately comes to mind.
When it comes to digital cameras ask yourself these six core questions:
- How serious a photographer are you or do you aspire to be?
- How much money do you want to spend?
- How often will you use your camera?
- Is video important?
- How old is the budding photographer?
- Do you have any special requirements?
Before we look at each of these questions let's get a couple of issues out of the way.
Megapixels: The world seems to have gone megapixel mad. This morning I was looking at a popularly priced Point & Shoot Digital Camera offering 12.1 MP. Whatever number of megapixels you buy today, know that they will be eclipsed in a matter of months. Trust me, my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Digital Camera, featuring 7.2MP was lost its cutting edge status within 12 months. Take comfort in the fact that anything 6MP and above will produce outstanding quality for the overwhelming majority of us.
Zoom: When we discuss camera zoom, we're referring to the optical zoom. Digital zoom, while sometimes helpful is simply the camera being instructed to crop a central portion of the picture. When employed, it immediately begins to degrade the captured image. Today even entry level digital cameras offer at least 3X Optical Zoom.
So let's proceed. Back to the six key questions:
1) How serious a photographer are you or do you aspire to be?
The most serious amongst us will probably gravitate toward Digital SLRs. These are the big (in relative terms) cameras that allow you to view and compose the picture by viewing it through the lens. The photographer can operate the camera in fully automatic mode, program mode, or in completely manual mode for maximum creative control. Just a couple of years ago a dSLR digital camera would cost upwards of $1,000 or more. Today, there is a significant number of cameras in this category at sub $1,000 prices like: Canon digital cameras, Nikon digital cameras and Sony cameras among others.
The Nikon 10.2 Megapixel 18-55mm Zoom Digital SLR Camera at $549.99 is a particularly attractive buy and is highly regarded. Similarly, the highly rated Canon 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera, EOS Rebel XS, has been a professional and consumer favorite at $599. And Sony with its introduction of the Sony Alpha 10.2 Megapixel 18-55mm Zoom Lens Digital SLR Camera brings a massive number of megapixels to the party for just $499.99. But if you insist on breaking the bank or having the latest and greatest know that Nikon has just introduced the Nikon 12.3 Megapixel Digital SLR Camera Body at a whopping $1799.99. Interestingly, TV and HD Video have long been key selling points of less expensive Point & Shoot Digital Cameras. Go figure!
Below the dSLR camera category we come to the Point & Shoot digital camera Category which can be further refined into Compact, Ultra-compact, mega-zoom sub-categories. We'll touch on them all.
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