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How to Evaluate a Digital Camera Online Before Buying |
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Written by OpenDP
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Monday, 16 October 2006 |
 The popularity of internet creates a habit to buy the essentials through online shops. Similar to the purchasing of traditional camera, digital camera needs some basic considerations. Whether you are a professional or ad hoc photographer, you must know about the features or functions of a digital camera. It becomes more important while you are buying a digital camera on internet as there is no one to guide you personally. The buyer should be aware of his purposes and needs.
To start with, the sensor resolution or picture quality of your digital camera is one of the major consideration factors. It is important because the pixel count of the digital camera influences the quality of the images. The higher the pixels the more the price of the camera will become. In case larger print size is required, you’ll need higher mega pixels. Being an entry level photographer you can select from point and shoot compact digital cameras with fewer Mega pixels, ideally close to 5 Mega pixels. Such camera is very easy to handle and capture high quality images simultaneously.
Images taken with such a quality will be good enough for prints up to A4 paper size and also great for web usage. If you are not on a budget and want to step into professional photography, then you’d better go for a SLR-like or a DSLR camera with higher resolution, lets say 7 mega pixels and above. The LCD screen and manual shooting mode will enable you to work with your creativity. The optical zoom can add more spice to the fascination of your digital photography. I have to add that manual control over exposure settings such as ISO setting, Shutter speed and aperture value is something that most cameras offer even compact point and shoot digital cameras. Some point and shoot compact digital cameras look to be a life time camera for family and event photography. Canon’s Powershot series, Nikon’s Coolpix series and Sony’s Cybershot series are beyond top choices.
The considerations of buying a digital camera do not end over here. Nowadays digital cameras are coming with different technical features. A post processing & photo manager application comes with digital cameras and such applications make the buying consideration more complicated. By using the software, you can access the images directly to you computer and adjust or edit them as per your requirements. Below are some important issues to remember before buying a digital camera online.
The Resolution of the Camera - As discussed above, pixel count resembles the quality of the images. The resolution of the camera varies with the number of pixels. Sometimes print size is a major consideration in purchasing a digital camera online for photographers. The camera with higher resolution retains maximum amount of data and provides larger print size of image with complete details of the subject. What happens with camera with lesser Mega pixel is that once you enlarge any image you’ll happen to lose most of the image detail. Therefore every buyer must decide the purpose of photography at the very beginning stage of purchasing online while he is still playing with an idea to have a digital camera. See what amuses you more than anything else in digital photography and what print size you are seeking?
5 Mega pixel cameras will provide you with print size up to A4 and 8 Mega pixels will provide up to A3 print size. Smaller than 5 MP is a good choice for web images and computer albums and higher than 8 will be ideal for posters and such art works.
The Memory Card- unlike traditional camera the digital camera comes with memory card that stores all of the images. There are different types of memory cards with variety of technical features and advantages. All of them have distinct storage capacity. The most common memory card is Compact Flash, Secure Digital and xD picture card. But some of the cameras are compatible with one particular memory card. The Compact Flash memory or CF card is cheaper than the Secure Digital memory or SD card. Since most of the cameras come with limited storage capacity, you better to be equipped with a memory card for excessive shootings and consider the extra fee related to providing extra storage.
The Battery Of A Digital Camera- The quality of the battery of a digital camera is very important. Digital camera consumes battery very quickly. The NiMH battery is considered to be an inexpensive option and you can work with it even in extreme weather condition. If you are in the outdoor shootings make sure you bring a spare battery with you and consider that cost for the camera of your choice.
Zoom Creates The Closer Look Of The Image- The basic function of the zoom is to bring the images closer to you. You can access the object even from the long distant with every tiny detail. Any modern digital camera comes with optical and digital zoom. The optical zoom is superior to digital zoom as it provides more control over the photography. Optical zoom enlarges the images of your subject before it reaches the image sensor. Thus it ensures the real zooming of a distant object. Digital zoom, on the other side, works like an artificial zoom and it magnifies the pixels of the image only. Digital zooming can be performed even after the images are taken.
You might have noticed some body only camera in the advertisement of different companies. This is actually a DSLR camera which enables you to take the shots at a faster speed. The body only camera does not come with lens and you need to purchase that separately. It also gives you an option to change the lens. Changing lens provides an opportunity to capture the images with different lenses.
The image stabilizer option of the camera lens is an essential consideration that must be taken care of. Slight movements of the camera can make your images blur. A minor investment in a tripod can compensate such unpleasant images. This is not so important issue while you are shooting in proper lighting condition. But you might be astonished with the quality of the images when you are equipped with a tripod particularly during low-light shooting. Please keep in mind that IS comes with lens not camera but it comes on the whole kit in compact digital cameras like canon S2 digital camera. Having IS can save you the cost of buying a tripod or monopod if you are a day shooter.
Make your Budget- Budget is always an important consideration for purchasing a digital camera. It is a wise decision not to spend too much money on a digital camera if you are a first time user. You can select the one that costs less and fits your budget with proper features and functions of your choice. Once you master of all the controls, go for an update.
For example in case you want to start with a DSLR camera and you want to do bird photography, instead of buying an EOS 5D you can start with EOS 350D or EOS 20D. then after mastering the options you can manage an upgrade. Keep in mind that lenses are the eyes of your camera and they provide half of the quality of your images if not more so save some money for good lenses.
There are many advertisements of different digital camera manufacturers on the websites. Also some reviews can’t be trusted. Sometimes they offer you a package deal as well. It may sound nice to some of the buyers as the whole deal allows some savings when it comes to money and time. Before accepting such offer you must be aware of possibilities of being cheated. You always stand a risk as far as money, time and quality of the product are concerned. So, you better be perfectly informed about such offers. Read our online digital camera purchasing guide to make sure you do everything that is required before attempting to buy your digital camera of choice online.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 29 October 2006 )
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Digital Camera Guide 
