If you've never been around digital cameras, they can be rather intimidating at first. Buzzwords like "mega pixels" and "optical zoom" help to build a language barrier between new users and the industry, and sometimes it's hard to understand what exactly you're buying. In order to help you better understand the best digital camera choice for you, here is a brief overview of the major elements of a digital camera.
SLR Vs. Point and Shoot
An SLR looks and operates exactly like a non-digital camera, except instead of exposing film it exposes a light-sensitive sensor. If you pick a digital SLR, you will be able to manually adjust settings like shutter speed, aperture, focus and ISO. And generally speaking, if you're looking for the highest quality images, then digital SLRS are the way to go.
Point and shoot cameras are the more popular and more commonly seen digitals with large LCD screens on the back that require only one button press. The images they take are lower in quality (though not by much) and provide far fewer customizable options, but they make up for these shortfalls by being very easy to use and ultra-portable. Additionally, if you're planning on emailing or uploading images and not printing them at large sizes, the quality difference is negligible.
Mega Pixel 101
One of the first things that the manufacturer will tout about its newest model of digital camera is the mega pixel value. So what really are mega pixels?
Mega pixels are how manufacturers measure the pixel count of an image created by a camera. A one mega pixel camera means that the camera will take pictures with 1 million pixels. You can think of them as an image's resolution.
So which mega pixel value is right for you? The answer depends on what you want to do with your photographs. For most users who primarily email images or post pictures online in smaller sizes, anything in the 2-7 mega pixel range will work just fine. If you ever want to print your picture in a larger size, you will need to shoot with a camera that has a high resolution like 10MP and above. The larger your image gets, the more noticeable the mega pixel value will become.
Digital and Optical Zoom
Often digital cameras offer users both optical and digital zoom function. Optical zoom is the distance the camera is capable of zooming using its lens, and the digital zoom is how far the camera can "fake" it from there. What an optical zoom does is magnify the subject like what a zoom lens would do, while a digital zoom simply takes a part of the image and blows it up. One good example of a digital zoom, is when you see on tv the video footage from a security camera that shows the pixilated and blurry face of a robber.
Digital zoom, for the most part, can be completely disregarded at the sales counter. Pictures taken with a digital zoom generally look bad so you're always better off getting closer to your subject instead of using the digital zoom.
Buying a new digital camera, doesn't have to be an intimidating experience if you know what you want. The best approach is to understand the camera features you really need and the price range you want to spend and choose from there. As long as you pick a camera that suits your needs, you will be happy with the results. If you're really uncertain, start with a low-priced basic camera, then move up - there's always room to upgrade later, should it turn out that your camera isn't delivering on what you really want.
Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames. Shop online and see our online selection of gold picture frames. See our selection of antique gold picture frames online or call us at 1-800-780-0699.
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