Digital cameras are no longer a luxury
these days, with high resolution mega
pixels and sophisticated features coming
within a very appealing price range. And
thanks to many comprehensive digital camera
reviews, it's easy to pick the most sought
after features and qualities and still
stay within a budget.
Most people turn to digital photography
because they like the ease of printing
and sharing the photos on the web. Business
owners choose the digital quality for
their product catalogues or brochures,
students employ digital cameras for their
projects and with digital cameras in most
recent cell phones, even a child can take
a snap and publish it instantly on the
web. And thanks to the newest lens and
zooming qualities, you don't have to be
a seasoned pro to shoot close-to-professional
images with modern digital cameras.
You can hardly find a digital camera
today with resolution lower than 2 megapixels
- two million color dots per picture.
This is a decent quality for most uses,
including printing the photos for the
home or school use. The higher the megapixel
rate, the bigger photos you can print
without sacrificing the quality. However,
if you are not a professional photographer
or a graphic professional who deals with
upscale images all the time, you don't
really need a digital camera that produces
more than 8-megapixel camera - and these
rarely become available for less than
$1000. Plus, if you seek to print large
detailed photos, make sure you have a
high-quality printer that can reproduces
all the tiny details that make a difference.
When you pick a digital camera, you should
also pay attention to the zoom number.
Digital cameras have two different kinds
of zoom. Digital zoom enlarges all pixels
digitally, while optical zoom enlarges
the image with the lens magnification.
Since you can always enlarge the image
later, on the computer using the Photoshop
or other image manipulation program, you
would be better to concentrate on higher
optical zoom rate. The average optical
zoom for midlevel digital cameras is 2
to 4x.
There are a few other options to consider:
whether a digital camera uses a rechargeable
batteries (zoom and LCD screen consume
a lot of energy); whether the digital
camera has a standard flash memory (you
may need to buy a few more flash memory
cards in future), and if the menus are
easy to understand. If you travel a lot,
you may want a digital camera that is
lightweight and compact.
Even if you decide to pick the least
expensive digital camera to serve your
basic photography needs, you will still
enjoy all the benefits of digital photography:
no film rolls to buy, no wasted photos
to dispose of and best of all, no waiting
time to get them printed. New models of
digital cameras are constantly launched,
and the older ones are becoming less expensive
day by day. Know your priorities, check
the most recent digital camera reviews,
and there should be a digital camera to
perfectly suit your needs.
This article was posted on November
08, 2005
