Digital Camera?
I’m planning on doing some heavy traveling. Of course I’d like to capture it all in photographs. However, I don’t know much about Digital Cameras-what should I look for in a Digital Camera?
This may sound obvious, but you should look for price, quality and function. Are you looking for a small compact camera, or is a larger, bulkier DSLR for you? Is a 3x zoom good enough for you, or do you need to the ability to change lenses?
In terms of quality, most camera manufacturers will advertise the number of pixels (megapixels) for a particular camera. This number gives the number of pixels (“dots” making up an images) of an image captured by the camera at its highest resolution. Of course, the higher the number, the better, especially if you are going to crop or create large prints of the image. However, this number does not tell the whole story, as the quality of the image is ultimately determined by the quality of the optics and the sensor itself. Focus, color, etc. all play a roll in picture quality. Because of this, I would tend to lean towards a known brand (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji, Sony, etc.) Note that the more pixels an image has, the more memory it will require to store that image. More on this below.
Function is the other factor. Is video capture important to you? Many compact point and shoot cameras have this feature. Note that, though this feature is convienent, I have found that the quality of the video pales compared to a dedicated camcorder. Need the ability to swap lenses? Then I would consider a DSLR. Though bulkier (and more expensive) than point and shoots, the quality of the images taken by DSLRs tend to be better.
If you are coming from the film world, you should be aware that digital cameras are notorious for relatively long lag times. Lag time is the time between the time you press the shutter release button to the time the photo is actually taken. This is due to technical reasons. Look for cameras with the smallest lag time. DSLRs tend to have very small lag time compared to point and shoots, though advances have been made in this area. Also, check for the cameras start-up time; the time it takes for the camera to get ready for the first shot when first turned on.
Since you will be travelling, I would get a decent sized memory card. Whatever camera you get would probably not be packaged with a card of sufficient size. I would recommend at least 1GB. All cameras take memory of a particular format (SD, Compact Flash, xD, Smart Media). The maximum memory available may be limited by the format of the memory. For example, the largest capacity for SD cards I’ve seen to date is 4GB, while Compact Flash may go up to 8GB and beyond. Though its been a while since I’ve seen one, I would avoid cameras using Smart Media, as the maximum memory limit is inherent in the camera.
The number of photos you can take with a card is determined by
the size of your memory card and the size of each image stored by the camera. Most cameras will give you a choice of storing images in raw, uncomressed format, or in compressed jpeg. Unless you are a professional photographer, you are probably going to use your camera in jpeg mode. On top of this, many cameras will allow you to control the compression/quality level. Of course, the higher the compression factor, the lower the quality of the image. For reference, on my Nikon D50 DSLR, a 6.1 megapixel image in normal quality takes up 1.5Mb, while an image on my 2.3 megapixel Fuji takes up .5Mb.
Battery life is important. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to find out the number of shots a camera can take on a single charge, though you may find ancedotal reports on certain models. Again, DSLRs tend to have longer battery life, as you don’t use the LCD display to frame your picture. For reference, I can usually take about 50 shots on my point and shoot, vs. 500 shots on my DSLR, both with significant flash use. You may consider getting a spare battery.
To summarize my advice:
+ Right price range…
+ Point and Shoot or DSLR?
+ Stick to brand names in the industry (unless you had phenomenal experience with an unknown brand…)
+ High megapixels (and good optics) = higher resolution photos, but eats more memory
+Short lag time and startup time.
+Avoid cameras taking SmartMedia.
Good luck, and happy travelling!
Fuji Guys – FinePix REAL 3D W3 Part 2 – First Look
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