The Digitally Clear Picture About Choosing a Digital CameraJan 07 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Find a Digital Camera that suits your needs. Stay away from household pets.
You think you are ready to take the step - no, leap- from your old scratched up, clunky 35mm camera that discolors every 1 in 5 pictures when you get them developed, to a nice new killer Digital Camera? Yea, you knew it was time to replace that 35mm 3 years ago at Christmas when you developed the film and you realized that the flash never did work at all. It might have had something to do with the doggy-tooth marks all over the flash and the camera that your dog Spot decorated it with pre-holiday. See Spot stuffed at Larry's Taxidermy. This is when you first considered going digital. From Zero to One. Because, after all this IS the digital age. But the problem is, you don't know that much about digital cameras. Not only that, but your computer skills are pretty poor too. Your kid, who is a computer "genius" ,(just like the other 10 million kids who know more than their parents), is extremely unhappy with you ever since you brought home some Salted Canine Jerky (Yea, that wasn't too smooth). Not to worry though, your Pseudo-Friends here at Epinions will bail you out of your Puppy-Troubles. At least, in the digital sense. Firstly, you need to know what you want to do with a digital camera. Sure taking pictures is easy! But what if you want to print them in your own home? Or what if you want to take it on vacation with you? What then, huh? Well, consider this: When considering what you want for a digital camera the following features and specifications must be prioritized to best suit your needs. 1) Picture Quality. This is determined by the number of Megapixel's and by the quality of the lens. Most consumer-orientated cameras are between 1 and 5 megapixels. They're recommended uses are as follows: 1 Megapixel - Internet Photos, Computer Backgrounds 2 Megapixel - 4x6" pictures and 5x7" pictures (These are Standard Photo Sizes) 3 Megapixel - Decent Quality 8x10" pictures 4,5 Megapixel - Photo-Quality 8x10" and Larger Pictures Now, not only does the megapixel affect picture quality, but so does the lens. Since every picture you take has to come through the lens, a camera's picture can only be as good as the quality of lens attached. Take a look at Kodak 3000 series cameras. Cheap, but with high megapixel. Where they cut corners is in the size/quality of lens. It's plastic. Even if you got a 3 megapixel Kodak 3900, an Olympus D510 (2 Megapixel with glass lens) will yield a better picture on a 5x7". I know you want the clearest pictures of that new Stuffed "Trophy Dog" to show to your buddies at the bar. Glass Lens recommended. 2) Zooming Capabilities: It is quite simple choice, but if you want that close-up of the innards of Spot from the Taxidermist's then it is necessary to be able to stand outside smelling distance, and "zoom in" on your subject. In this case, a gold and black spotted Chihuahua named "Spot". Most digital cameras include a 3x optical and 6x digital zoom. The most important of these two is most definitely the optical zoom. The camera will use lenses to bend the light to make the picture bigger, which is natural and preserves the quality of the image being taken. A digital zoom however, uses computer enhancement to zoom in on the existing image. Kind of like when you downloaded that porn last week and after opening the image in Photoshop, used the zoom tool to make the crotch of the subject bigger until it filled your computer screen. (And lost all legibility) 3) Ease of Use If you want a Digital Camera that even you and your neanderthal brother can figure out how to use then you better make sure that the number of buttons on the camera are equal to or less than your I.Q. SONYs tend to be the most complicated to operate but also offer the most extra features (like Black & White shot & Negative Art), but Kodak and HP cameras are so simplistic that a drunken quasimodo could use them. Some other, but not so important things to be considered: 1) Media Type (SmartMedia, Compactflash, Memory Stick etc.) 2) MPEG Movie Mode or no? (Used for short audio/video clips) 3) Battery Usage/type (Most now use AA type, but rechargeable NIMH and Lithium Ion type batteries are recommended.) Lastly, I recommend that you shop your local chain retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City for your digital camera. Not only will they have the most competitive prices but they usually have package deals to give you free paper, or money off when you purchase a photo printer with your camera. That way you can print those disturbing pictures of an embalmed Spot to show all the guys in the Trucker's Lounge at work. Go Mullet Heads! My Digital Camera "Pics" 1 Megapixel Class: Sony DSCP30 2 Megapixel Class: Olympus Brio D510 3 Megapixel Class: Cannon Powershot-S30 4 Megapixel Class: Olympus C4040ZOOM 5 Megapixel Class: Sony F707V w/ Carl Zeiss Lens Qualifying Your Needs In order to figure out some the the specifications your camera is going to need. Answer the following questions. 1) How big of a picture do I want to print?* Don't buy a 5 megapixel camera if you will never print 8x10" pictures. 2) How far away from my subjects will I be shooting?* This will help determine how big of a zoom you will want. 3) How many pictures will I take before downloading? If it is more than a hundred you might consider Mini-CDs as your media type because it is extremely economical and each holds more than a hundred photos - plus it plugs into your regular CD-ROM drive. 4) Is all Canine Jerky as bad as what I just got? Stay away from me, you sicko. Your kids deserve better. Stay away from my rabbit too; I saw Fatal Attraction! *Always over-estimate what you will actually need. You will never complain about having too high quality of pictures or being able to zoom too far in!(Unless you are looking at the Cerebellum of a Canine.)  |
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