With Christmas and new years approaching and everyone getting spoilt for choices, buying that perfect digital camera can be quite difficult. So before rushing into things and going nuts after you see a 14 mega pixel cam and buying it and having any regrets later on, find out exactly how you should buy a camera and what all features you will be needing from it. Here are some of the features that will help you decide on how to decide on a camera that suits your needs. For most people the bottom line would be money; setting the price limit that you would spend and then go from there. This is probably a huge mistake unless you want to change the camera again within a year. If not decide on something that will last and when comparing, look at the differences in the features and how much more price are they asking for it and it that is worth it. That's a better way to shop, but moving on, here are things you should be perfect in before going in for a camera.
The Mega-pixel-Everyone's favorite: Mega-pixel is not the only deciding factor! Get that in your head now. The only thing it’s good for is for showing off to other people. In fact with most cameras above 6MP it shouldn't even be considered as an important buying factor. Mega-pixel helps determine how large prints would be possible without distorting the image. A 3 megapixel shot is sufficient for a regular 4’* 6’ size printing and a 5 MP for printing an image of entire A4 page size, so I really don't see the point in cameras boasting 12 MP+ unless it is used by professionals who need to print out banners and advertisements. The mega pixel also has no deciding factor on the quality of the picture unless stretched wider than the original resolution. The quality of the picture is decided by the rest of the camera features which include exposure settings, in built features, etc. So anything above 6MP camera should be sufficient for most people.
Exposure settings: Most cameras come with in-built exposure settings to save you from the hassle of getting the right settings. But for serious photographers this is a key and shouldn’t be left out. Some models offer aperture and shutter priority modes, as well as full manual control. Aperture settings let you control how much the lens should be open allowing the user to control the width of the lens opening. The shutter control is also important as it lets you decide how much time the frame should be exposed to the light; manually letting you control the brightness of the shot. This is useful in cameras that don't provide a high iso sensitivity in which shutter control is needed to get the proper lighting. Iso sensitivity is explained below. Either way, to summarize.. High iso -> forget manual settings, no iso -> better have manual settings.
Focal Range: Cameras with greater focal range can get more into a shot or zoom in to fill the frame with same subject. You seen those ads where everyone is backing up to get everyone into the shot, while the happy guy with his high focal range is up front smiling, well that's what they were advertising there.
Zoom: Most cameras come with a standard 3X optical zoom while some might offer 10X zoom which are usually categorized into super-zoom categories but these sometimes lack in other basic features other than zoom. One thing to keep in mind is don't pay attention to the combined zoom which is the optical zoom * digital zoom. Example: If there are two cameras: one with 4X optical and 3X digital and one with 3X optical and 4X digital… which one do you choose? They both have 12X combined zoom but 4X optical would be a smarter choice. Digital zoom should be avoided unless absolutely necessary as they provide inferior pictures than those of optical zoom. The pictures tend to be blurred and low on contrast.
Manual Focus: Focusing a camera yourself can be more accurate than automatic ones is some situations. They can provide much better effects too if supposing some areas are wanted blurred and some focused. But a lot of point-n-shoot cameras usually don’t provide manual focus, and if they do, they have focus for predetermined distances which can still cause pictures to blur. If going for point and shoot camera and not something like SLR than an auto focus should be fine.
Low-light focusing aid: A lot of cameras also provide dim light, reddish tints usually, to help the camera focus in dim settings. This feature is important for low lighting conditions and most cameras should provide it.
ISO sensitivity: This is the technology of today's camera's and all the companies are racing ahead to perfect it and reach higher levels. The main lacking in digital cameras were their ability to take decent lighting pictures at night without using a strong flash that ended up making the picture look horrific. Hence the ISO: Higher the number; the less the light is needed to make an exposure. This is the perfect solution for taking pictures at night or café’s or restaurants. Most cameras have been integrating manual ISO sensitivity already and it should be a must for any buyer. Consider ones that give 3200 even though 1600 is probably enough for most low lighting conditions. 6400 ISO are also out now if you are hungry for some ultra low lighting pictures.
Some other Important Features:
Face Recognition: Most Point and shoot cameras come with this now and have the ability to detect up to 9 faces in the screen to adjust the contract and lighting appropriately.
Anti-Shake: Another common feature and the name pretty much says it all. No real method to compare which is better and each of the companies have their own anti-shake brand name. Don’t make any assumptions from that though.
Others: There are a lot more features which differ from camera to camera, red-eye reduction, internal picture editing, etc. One of the things to check out for when you're looking around is what pre-mode picture settings they provide you with. So far I believe that Casio point-and-shoot provides the most; with 41 preset modes to choose from. Things like sepia, black n white, beach, nightlife.. are common modes.. some cameras give 6 while some like Casio give 40+. It's up to you to decide how good these settings are and if that's going to be the basis on what you're buying the camera on.
The Mega-pixel-Everyone's favorite: Mega-pixel is not the only deciding factor! Get that in your head now. The only thing it’s good for is for showing off to other people. In fact with most cameras above 6MP it shouldn't even be considered as an important buying factor. Mega-pixel helps determine how large prints would be possible without distorting the image. A 3 megapixel shot is sufficient for a regular 4’* 6’ size printing and a 5 MP for printing an image of entire A4 page size, so I really don't see the point in cameras boasting 12 MP+ unless it is used by professionals who need to print out banners and advertisements. The mega pixel also has no deciding factor on the quality of the picture unless stretched wider than the original resolution. The quality of the picture is decided by the rest of the camera features which include exposure settings, in built features, etc. So anything above 6MP camera should be sufficient for most people.
Exposure settings: Most cameras come with in-built exposure settings to save you from the hassle of getting the right settings. But for serious photographers this is a key and shouldn’t be left out. Some models offer aperture and shutter priority modes, as well as full manual control. Aperture settings let you control how much the lens should be open allowing the user to control the width of the lens opening. The shutter control is also important as it lets you decide how much time the frame should be exposed to the light; manually letting you control the brightness of the shot. This is useful in cameras that don't provide a high iso sensitivity in which shutter control is needed to get the proper lighting. Iso sensitivity is explained below. Either way, to summarize.. High iso -> forget manual settings, no iso -> better have manual settings.
Focal Range: Cameras with greater focal range can get more into a shot or zoom in to fill the frame with same subject. You seen those ads where everyone is backing up to get everyone into the shot, while the happy guy with his high focal range is up front smiling, well that's what they were advertising there.Zoom: Most cameras come with a standard 3X optical zoom while some might offer 10X zoom which are usually categorized into super-zoom categories but these sometimes lack in other basic features other than zoom. One thing to keep in mind is don't pay attention to the combined zoom which is the optical zoom * digital zoom. Example: If there are two cameras: one with 4X optical and 3X digital and one with 3X optical and 4X digital… which one do you choose? They both have 12X combined zoom but 4X optical would be a smarter choice. Digital zoom should be avoided unless absolutely necessary as they provide inferior pictures than those of optical zoom. The pictures tend to be blurred and low on contrast.
Manual Focus: Focusing a camera yourself can be more accurate than automatic ones is some situations. They can provide much better effects too if supposing some areas are wanted blurred and some focused. But a lot of point-n-shoot cameras usually don’t provide manual focus, and if they do, they have focus for predetermined distances which can still cause pictures to blur. If going for point and shoot camera and not something like SLR than an auto focus should be fine.
Low-light focusing aid: A lot of cameras also provide dim light, reddish tints usually, to help the camera focus in dim settings. This feature is important for low lighting conditions and most cameras should provide it.
ISO sensitivity: This is the technology of today's camera's and all the companies are racing ahead to perfect it and reach higher levels. The main lacking in digital cameras were their ability to take decent lighting pictures at night without using a strong flash that ended up making the picture look horrific. Hence the ISO: Higher the number; the less the light is needed to make an exposure. This is the perfect solution for taking pictures at night or café’s or restaurants. Most cameras have been integrating manual ISO sensitivity already and it should be a must for any buyer. Consider ones that give 3200 even though 1600 is probably enough for most low lighting conditions. 6400 ISO are also out now if you are hungry for some ultra low lighting pictures.
Some other Important Features:
Face Recognition: Most Point and shoot cameras come with this now and have the ability to detect up to 9 faces in the screen to adjust the contract and lighting appropriately.
Anti-Shake: Another common feature and the name pretty much says it all. No real method to compare which is better and each of the companies have their own anti-shake brand name. Don’t make any assumptions from that though.
Others: There are a lot more features which differ from camera to camera, red-eye reduction, internal picture editing, etc. One of the things to check out for when you're looking around is what pre-mode picture settings they provide you with. So far I believe that Casio point-and-shoot provides the most; with 41 preset modes to choose from. Things like sepia, black n white, beach, nightlife.. are common modes.. some cameras give 6 while some like Casio give 40+. It's up to you to decide how good these settings are and if that's going to be the basis on what you're buying the camera on.
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