Digital Camera Buyer's Basics
What is a "digital camera"?
A digital camera is a camera that uses a memory card to record the pictures instead of film. It's still a camera. A digital camera takes pictures - both still and moving pictures. It's a camera that takes beautiful pictures if you do everything right.
How do I decide whether I need to buy a new digital camera?
It's time to buy a new digital camera when the camera you have either doesn't work or doesn't meet your needs anymore. What do I mean by 'doesn't work'? With digital cameras today, sometimes you turn them on and they just don't work anymore. It's just done, and it's time to buy a new one. Some people fall in the water, some fall while skiing, and it's time for a new digital camera. If you're not happy with your picture quality, the camera's too slow, it doesn't do what you want to do, maybe your needs have changed. Maybe you started out to buy a camera to take a picture of the kids when they're little, and now they're playing soccer, baseball and volleyball. It's probably time for a new camera, because the camera you own won't do those things. Sometimes you need a new digital camera when the technology changes. Most people are looking for more megapixels, even if they don't need it. You know when you're ready for a new digital camera: if the camera you have doesn't meet your needs. If you want to make big prints, of course you need more megapixels. If you want to go farther out, you need a bigger zoom. You want to shoot more action, you need a faster camera, not a slower one. Those are the things in technology that we need, not just technology for technology's sake. I'm a camera store guy. I love it when guys come in to buy a new digital camera. I also believe in treating my customers right, and not selling you a new camera just because I have a new one to sell.
What key features should I look for in a digital camera?
When a customer comes to me looking for a camera, the first questions I ask them are: "What do you want the camera to do for you?" And my job is to match the camera for you. Now, you can go on the internet, you can read magazines until your head explodes, but you're still not going to get the right answer for you. So, what do you really want to look for? You want to look for enough megapixels to give you enough picture quality, enough size in pictures so you can make the enlargements that you want. You want a lens of good enough quality to give you the clarity, the color, the brightness, and the brilliance that you want. You want enough zoom to get you as close as you want. Maybe you want a camera that's really super small so it can go in your pocket. Maybe you want a camera with interchangeable lenses--an SLR type camera, a Single Lens Reflex--so you can have all the f-stop and shutter speed control that you want. That's why you need to find a partner when buying your camera.
