Important Considerations
Aug 21 '01
The Bottom Line You should know your own requirements before shopping for a digicam as the choices available are really mind boggling.
It's amazing how digital cameras have developed in the past 6 years. When I got my first digital camera, it was a 180,000 pixel gigantic Chinon. There was no LCD to preview the photos and although it had slots for flash memory cards, such cards were unavailable. Till today, I still do not know what type of flash memory card it used. It had about 2MB in-built memory. It had very few buttons. It took "point & shoot" to a whole new level!
Back in those days, it was easy to buy a digital camera because you basically had not much choice. Now the choices are mind boggling.
Before you set out to look for a digicam, ask yourself how you would use the camera. Is it for the occasional holiday shots? Is it for some multimedia or website projects? Do you intend to print the photos mostly or are you happy with viewing them on the computer most of the time? Would you need large prints?
Resolution
In choosing a 35mm camera, you only need to concern yourself with functions and budget. With the digicam, in addition to those considerations, you'd also need to consider the resolution of the image capturing device.
Of course if price is no object, the higher the pixel count the better. If price if no object, I would be using a 6 Megapixel pro camera now! Experts have concluded that to get the equivalent resolution of 35mm film, you'll need at least a 6MP image.
However, unfortunately in the real world, price is an important consideration for most people. Because of that, you should only get a digicam with pixel count which is sufficient for your needs.
If you intend mostly to take pictures for emailing to friends/ relatives or for putting into your website, even a 1.3MP camera is more than sufficient. I have printed out very nice 1.3MP pictures at 3R size.
On the other hand, if you intend to blow up your pictures or if you intend to use the pictures in print most of the time, you should consider getting at least a 2MP digicam. Personally I have had very sharp and detailed prints of 8" X 10" from a 2.1 MP digicam.
Functions
Next, consider whether you need a zoom lens, external flash hotshoe, MPEG recording, manual control over focusing etc. Fujifilm has even come up with digicams with MP3 players builtin, if that's important to you.
As a rule of thumb, the more functions you need on a digicam, the more you should expect to pay. I personally find that the ability to take an external flash easily, like having a hotshoe is very important because invariably, none of the built-in flashes give satisfactory results.
Storage Media
Unfortunately the manufacturers are not in agreement as to which recording media to use. Basically, you have 3 media to choose from: Compact Flash, Smart Media and Sony's Memory Stick. Of course there are also the Multi Media Card, adopted by Kyocera and CDR by Sony, but these are in the minority. I don't think any one media is better than the other. The choice should be made based on $/MB ratio.
Of all the above, I find CF cards still provide the best $/MB ratio and flexibility. I'd go for a digicam that can take IBM's microdrive as that would certainly reduce the $/MB ratio further.
Overall Picture Quality
At the end of the day, the most important thing is the picture quality. This is influenced to a large extent by the quality of the lens used in the digicam. Unfortunately, it is not easy for a layman to look at a digicam and assess the quality of the lens. It can only be done by scrutinising the pictures taken & perhaps comparing the pictures taken with different cameras.
For this, you should read users' opinions, see sample photos and read professional reviews. I find the following sites especially useful:-
dpreview.com & steves-digicam.com
They have detailed reviews on loads of digicams.
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Epinions.com ID:
rogerngaw
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Location: Singapore
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
I'm a guitarist with a keen interest in all things digital.
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