Making Sense of Digital Cameras
From the Bear Den...
It used to be so easy. You walked into a store, selected a camera from three or four choices, and you're all systems go take your photos! Now you go into a store to purchase a camera and there is a HUGE selection, with all kinds of options you never had to deal with in the past! Here are some helpful tips to help understand this digital photography technology.
Digital and Optical Zoom: Ignore digital zoom, it is pretty much worthless. Optical zoom ranges are what you need to look for. (Editor's note: I think of digital zoom as "in camera cropping.")
Batteries: The advantage of AA batteries is that you can run into a store and purchase batteries when you are traveling. Recall that battery technology has come a long way in the past few years; they stay charged longer and cost less. For everything you wanted to know about batteries and more, see here.
Memory cards: The 2 big memory formats are Secure Digital (SD) and Compact Flash (CF), although there is no shortage of other less common formats. The purpose is the same- storage space for your photos. What other equipment do you own and what memory formats do they support? If you'll be taking a lot of burst shots, you will want the fastest memory you can get (Ultra IV), but such speed comes at a premium price.
Along with strides in technology, we have to deal with new terms, options, specifications and designs. It’s not as hard as you may think. However it can be a bit overwhelming and frustrating if it’s all new to you. Let’s break down digital cameras into actual applications people would intend to use them for...
Ultra-Compact Cameras are the smallest cameras and are also referred to as Pocket Cameras. These cameras are very handy due to their small size. You can carry them in a pocket or purse and they are always there when you need them. Of course that is the reason they make camera phones right? In the past few years megapixels have increased and you can now find these camera’s in the 6 to 8 MP range. The big drawback is the optics in the lens suffers due to the small size. These cameras are fine for face or group photos, but you will not get a very big zoom range and landscapes will suffer due to the small aperture of the lens. Your photos will not produce the vast depth of field you would see in a camera with a larger lens.
Compact cameras are larger than the Ultra-Compacts. While these cameras may still be small enough to fit into your pocket, they tend to weigh more. One of the reasons for the increased weight is due to a larger lens. You will also see an increase in optical zoom ability to 3X or even 5X and also have more manual controls available.
Super Zoom cameras are not as large as Digital SLR’s cameras, but they are large enough that they are going to need to be carried in a camera case. These cameras offer great optical zoom capabilities of 10X or 12X and have a large lens that with produces a good depth of field. They will offer the user much more control over the camera. Options such as image stabilization will be required with a super zoom camera. These cameras are best suited for the traveler when you will be taking various photo subjects from portraits to landscapes to nature and wild animals.
Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras have really come down in price over the past few years and offer the photographer the most control and capture the best quality of photos. When you look through the viewfinder of a DSLR you are looking through actual lens. This camera is for the person that is going out “to take photos” or doesn't mind carrying a large camera on a trip. While they are the largest and weigh the most, you gain the capability of additional lenses for different applications. They also cost the most, but wow you will capture some really fantastic images!
So you can see that different cameras are really meant for different occasions and applications. Because of this, many people own more than one camera.
In closing….
Look at the occasions when you will want to take photos and you will easily determine what type of camera you are really going to use most often. This will make your choices fewer and easier for sure!
-Bear
It used to be so easy. You walked into a store, selected a camera from three or four choices, and you're all systems go take your photos! Now you go into a store to purchase a camera and there is a HUGE selection, with all kinds of options you never had to deal with in the past! Here are some helpful tips to help understand this digital photography technology.Digital and Optical Zoom: Ignore digital zoom, it is pretty much worthless. Optical zoom ranges are what you need to look for. (Editor's note: I think of digital zoom as "in camera cropping.")
Batteries: The advantage of AA batteries is that you can run into a store and purchase batteries when you are traveling. Recall that battery technology has come a long way in the past few years; they stay charged longer and cost less. For everything you wanted to know about batteries and more, see here.
Memory cards: The 2 big memory formats are Secure Digital (SD) and Compact Flash (CF), although there is no shortage of other less common formats. The purpose is the same- storage space for your photos. What other equipment do you own and what memory formats do they support? If you'll be taking a lot of burst shots, you will want the fastest memory you can get (Ultra IV), but such speed comes at a premium price.
Along with strides in technology, we have to deal with new terms, options, specifications and designs. It’s not as hard as you may think. However it can be a bit overwhelming and frustrating if it’s all new to you. Let’s break down digital cameras into actual applications people would intend to use them for...
Ultra-Compact Cameras are the smallest cameras and are also referred to as Pocket Cameras. These cameras are very handy due to their small size. You can carry them in a pocket or purse and they are always there when you need them. Of course that is the reason they make camera phones right? In the past few years megapixels have increased and you can now find these camera’s in the 6 to 8 MP range. The big drawback is the optics in the lens suffers due to the small size. These cameras are fine for face or group photos, but you will not get a very big zoom range and landscapes will suffer due to the small aperture of the lens. Your photos will not produce the vast depth of field you would see in a camera with a larger lens.
Compact cameras are larger than the Ultra-Compacts. While these cameras may still be small enough to fit into your pocket, they tend to weigh more. One of the reasons for the increased weight is due to a larger lens. You will also see an increase in optical zoom ability to 3X or even 5X and also have more manual controls available.
Super Zoom cameras are not as large as Digital SLR’s cameras, but they are large enough that they are going to need to be carried in a camera case. These cameras offer great optical zoom capabilities of 10X or 12X and have a large lens that with produces a good depth of field. They will offer the user much more control over the camera. Options such as image stabilization will be required with a super zoom camera. These cameras are best suited for the traveler when you will be taking various photo subjects from portraits to landscapes to nature and wild animals.
Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras have really come down in price over the past few years and offer the photographer the most control and capture the best quality of photos. When you look through the viewfinder of a DSLR you are looking through actual lens. This camera is for the person that is going out “to take photos” or doesn't mind carrying a large camera on a trip. While they are the largest and weigh the most, you gain the capability of additional lenses for different applications. They also cost the most, but wow you will capture some really fantastic images!So you can see that different cameras are really meant for different occasions and applications. Because of this, many people own more than one camera.
In closing….
Look at the occasions when you will want to take photos and you will easily determine what type of camera you are really going to use most often. This will make your choices fewer and easier for sure!
-Bear
Labels: digital camera, imaging, product guide, shopping
posted by digitaldoc at 9:34 PM
3 Comments:
Super zoom is actually up to 18X now - Panasonic DMC-FZ18 ;) I have the 12X one from panasonic and LOVE it!
I wish you would have put a little explanation about megapixels in there. That is the number one thing i get asked about - what megapixel do I need.
bit of a reference here - http://www.pixagogo.com/tutorials/digitalphotography/Tutorials.aspx?p=MegaPixelsResolution
Mike
other than the above mentioned I like the guide!
It looks like the Bear is still in his den.
Thanks for the comment. I've seen that Panasonic model, and it looks seriously impressive.
The answer of megapixels is not so simple. My opinion is that for the majority of users, once you get above 6 megapixels, it probably doesn't matter unless you want to crop into the image.
Yea I recommend 6 if you ever want to do 8X10 prints. I know this panasonic I have did a 16X20 print that looked pretty darn good (Sam's Club printed it) for 6MP!
If they would focus more on the lens quality rather than the megapixel we could get some REAL nice cammeras across the board!
Mike
tons of people dont get the cropping thing - friends work at sams club photo and they are always saying how people dont understand cropping - maybe a good article on that would be helpful too ;)
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