Qualities of a Digital Camera?

Question

I am looking to buy a digital camera. I have never bought one and know little about them. I just want to be able to take good quality pictures of friends and what not.

What major things should I look for?

What is a good amount of megapixel for it to have?

How much memory should it have?

Anything else I should know?

Answer 1

Go to a store online and start looking at cameras. Start putting in a search. Put in your PRICE. Go from there. Read about the cameras and the comments.

Try Bestbuy or any electronics store that is near where you are. See site below and press the button, HELP ME CHOOSE. Good Luck.

Oh, goodness they have a sale...where's my visa.

Answer 2

I agree with the first answer.

Canon and Sony are good places to start. They are easiest  to use and fairly reliable.

Ok for the basics, you want something around 8 megapixels. This is the ideal amount. Some cameras offer more, but definitely ask an EXPERT opinion if you need to. Some newer models offer more than 10 megapixels which the sensor and processor on the camera cannot compensate for which in turn gives you grainy looking pictures. So 8 is good. 10 is the highest you should go but depends on the model.

Also get something with image stabilization. Different brands have different names for this. Sony calls it Steady Shot or Super Steady Shot (Super Steady Shot is better). Canon just calls it Image Stabilization (usually Optical). What this does is reduces the shake effect and prevents blur from a moving object.

As far as video capabilities, I personally think Sony has an edge (small ofcourse) on Canon because they have better sound, but it's not something drastic that you would notice.

Most cameras have a very small internal hard drive. Whatever camera you end up with, you'll need to save money for a memory card. Sonys tend to be more expensive, running about $24.99 for a 1 GB, where Canon's memory cards (called an SD card) run around $14.99 for a 1 GB. Definitley get a sales associate to help you with this as this can be a little confusing.

Also, batteries. I personally prefer lithium ion rechargeable batteries as opposed to AA's. Yeah if you lose them, they are more expensive to replace, but they last soo much longer! With AA's you'll get about 30 shots. With these lithium-ion's, you get like 300. If you decide AA's fits your lifestyle better, I recommend investing in rechargeable AA's or lithium disposable AA's just because  otherwise you'll be eating through batteries like crazy. Usually the AA cameras are a bit bigger since they have to have that battery grip.

Ok I think I covered the basics. Two models I like: Sony W150, and Canon SD1100. Those are two great cameras!

Less expensive models but just as great are the Sony W120 and the Canon SD750.

Answer 3

Sony and Canon cameras are good to try.

You can have a look at the camera reviews at cnet.com..

or go to pricegrabber to search for a nice deal for cameras.

http://dealstudio.pgpartner.com/search.p...

Answer 4

I would suggest buying a Kodak Easyshare Z712 IS. Kodak is the most user friendly of them all. This camera has a great zoom, it has 7.3 mp (good enough to enlarge to 16" x 20"), and has a fast shooting capability (lag time). Here are site for it - one for more of details and the other for a good price $150:

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.j...

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/produ...

For a better one a Panasonic Z50 is the one I would recommend, for about $468. Here's a site for it:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/produ...

One common problem of digital camera is accidental dropping or moisture. So use the strap all the time even if you are not using it, and prevent it from getting bumped - and avoid getting wet. Or you could buy an accidental insurance for it (separate from its warranty).

Answer 5

I am on my 5th digital camera.  They have come a long way, and I have taken thousands of pictures.  I assume you are in the $150 price range or so for a digital camera.  

Megapixels: Yes, Megapixels are important.  Anything past 7 Megapixels is a waste.  Your image will not benefit by more.

Viewing screen: This is a nice feature.  Most of the time I do not look through the viewing lense to take my picts.  I simply look at the viewing screen and snap my shot. The bigger, the better.

Battery: I have had cameras with rechargable batteries and ones that took AAs or even specific batteries.  In my experience, get a camera that might come with a rechargable, but can take AAs, or an EV-3 (a AA lookalike that has much more power).  There is nothing worse than being someplace and taking lots of picts and the battery dies.  Then you are stuck.  You can get AAs anywhere, and although it may work better with the rechargeable, you are not stuck with a camera that will not operate.

Lense:  Of the cameras I have bought, I like the ones with zoom lenses.  Not too much zoom.  Like 3x or so.  Just enough to get you closer.  Let's face it, you probably are trying to capture a football game from the bleachers.  For the price, get a nice lense that has zoom.  Stay away from "digital zoom"  it degrades your picture to zoom in.

Memory:  Very important.  few cameras come with memory.  Buy around 2GB of memory.  That will be around 1200 or more pictures.  Plenty for a night out, or a weekend trip.  Remember, you are going to copy them to a computer eventually and erase.

Brand:  Kodak has made some very nice cameras at a fair price.  But they usually try to make you buy a rechargeable battery.  Or they give you one that will die.  They need to sell more after all.  I personally like Sony with a Zeiss lense.   Stay away from HP.  Their picture quality stinks.

Options.  Past a zoom lense, megapixels and viewing screen, stop there.  Who cares about special shooting modes, etc.  99% of the time you set the camera to auto and shoot.  If you want a fancy camera to start your porfolio to be a professional, buy a Digital SLR camera.

Printing:  obviously you dont want all picts to be digital, you need to print them out.  I like Walmart the best.  I can email my pictures, and have them printed at any Walmart in the nation in an hour.  A great present for mom to pickup when she stops by Walmart to get groceries.  Every pharmacy has these too.  But Walmart's prints are cheap ($.19 each) and of a nice quality. Stay away from printing your own, unless necessary (Prints that Walmart will give you grief about).  The ink and paper are expensive.  Pay Walmart their money and be done.  

Software:  Every camera comes with some sort of editting software that says it is better than the rest.  Take your disk and put it in a drawer, the download Picassa from Google.  Great program. It allows you to upload picts to Walmart to print, or build a Google picture album.  Easy to do edits, trims and corrections.  And it's free.  If you want to put dad's head on a body builder's frame, then download GIMP.  Again, free and just as capable as photoshop.

Happy hunting.