Digital Camera?

Question

I'm planning on doing some heavy traveling. Of course I'd like to capture it all in photographs. However, I don't know much about Digital Cameras-what should I look for in a Digital Camera?

Answer 1

This may sound obvious, but you should look for price, quality and function. Are you looking for a small compact camera, or is a larger, bulkier DSLR for you? Is a 3x zoom good enough for you, or do you need to the ability to change lenses?

In terms of quality, most camera manufacturers will advertise the number of pixels (megapixels) for a particular camera. This number gives the number of pixels ("dots" making up an images) of an image captured by the camera at its highest resolution. Of course, the higher the number, the better, especially if you are going to crop or create large prints of the image. However, this number does not tell the whole story, as the quality of the image is ultimately determined by the quality of the optics and the sensor itself. Focus, color, etc. all play a roll in picture quality. Because of this, I would tend to lean towards a known brand (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji, Sony, etc.) Note that the more pixels an image has, the more memory it will require to store that image. More on this below.

Function is the other factor. Is video capture important to you? Many compact point and shoot cameras have this feature. Note that, though this feature is convienent, I have found that the quality of the video pales compared to a dedicated camcorder. Need the ability to swap lenses? Then I would consider a DSLR. Though bulkier (and more expensive) than point and shoots, the quality of the images taken by DSLRs tend to be better.

If you are coming from the film world, you should be aware that digital cameras are notorious for relatively long lag times. Lag time is the time between the time you press the shutter release button to the time the photo is actually taken. This is due to technical reasons. Look for cameras with the smallest lag time. DSLRs tend to have very small lag time compared to point and shoots, though advances have been made in this area. Also, check for the cameras start-up time; the time it takes for the camera to get ready for the first shot when first turned on.

Since you will be travelling, I would get a decent sized memory card. Whatever camera you get would probably not be packaged with a card of sufficient size. I would recommend at least 1GB. All cameras take memory of a particular format (SD, Compact Flash, xD, Smart Media). The maximum memory available may be limited by the format of the memory. For example, the largest capacity for SD cards I've seen to date is 4GB, while Compact Flash may go up to 8GB and beyond. Though its been a while since I've seen one, I would avoid cameras using Smart Media, as the maximum memory limit is inherent in the camera.

The number of photos you can take with a card is determined by
the size of your memory card and the size of each image stored by the camera. Most cameras will give you a choice of storing images in raw, uncomressed format, or in compressed jpeg. Unless you are a professional photographer, you are probably going to use your camera in jpeg mode. On top of this, many cameras will allow you to control the compression/quality level. Of course, the higher the compression factor, the lower the quality of the image. For reference, on my Nikon D50 DSLR, a 6.1 megapixel image in normal quality takes up 1.5Mb, while an image on my 2.3 megapixel Fuji takes up .5Mb.

Battery life is important. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to find out the number of shots a camera can take on a single charge, though you may find ancedotal reports on certain models. Again, DSLRs tend to have longer battery life, as you don't use the LCD display to frame your picture. For reference, I can usually take about 50 shots on my point and shoot, vs. 500 shots on my DSLR, both with significant flash use. You may consider getting a spare battery.

To summarize my advice:
+ Right price range...
+ Point and Shoot or DSLR?
+ Stick to brand names in the industry (unless you had phenomenal experience with an unknown brand...)
+ High megapixels (and good optics) = higher resolution photos, but eats more memory
+Short lag time and startup time.
+Avoid cameras taking SmartMedia.

Good luck, and happy travelling!

Answer 2

Try to get at least 5 megapixels, and get one that has some good optical zoom capability. 4x is pretty good, but you can get them that go up to 10-12x. Digital zoom is worthless. In fact, I turn it off on my camera, because the pictures are so crappy. I have a Kodak Z730. I like it a lot. The only thing I don't like about it is that it takes a kind of expensive special battery that has to be recharged in its own charger. Some digital cameras take AA batteries, which you can get anywhere for cheap. That's something to consider if you're going to be away from the charger for a long time. You can always carry spare batteries or buy them. Also, make sure you know how many picures you can take before you run out of memory. Some cameras have a built-in internal memory, but you can put in a memory card to give you a lot more capacity. A memory card is like "film" for your digital camera. My Kodak has enough internal memory for about 15-20 pictures, but I got another memory card and it holds 70-80 pictures. You can get even more pictures on cards with more storage space. You can even carry extra cards. These days you can get a lot of camera for like 200 bucks. That's how much I paid for mine back in January. Get yourself a photography magazine that rates different cameras. Consumer Reports also rates them.

Answer 3

Yes, I too have looked at the digital cameras. I purchased one, found the quality not that great, and I still had to get the photos off the camera to continue taking photos. I understand that carrying around the old films is a pain, but I usually date the actual film or canister so I now what is on this, and it obviously does not hurt the film you could also consider posting these back home for development at a later date. With the digital cameras, if you lose the disc or cable, you will need to replace this, happened to me, don't stock the parts any more, and I had to go and replace the camera, photos on it were unfortunately gone forever. Hope this helps and enjoy your holiday. Wendy

Answer 4

Let me make this really simple. You want uncomplicated, ez to use, good quality camera? Read this:

Rule 1: Don't get all knotted over megapixels. Higher the number better are your enlarged pictures. Ask: Will you be doing such a thing? If no, then stick with approx. 5 or 6 Mpix cameras.

Rule 2: Get Nikon D50 or Nikon D70s. It will cost you approx. $1000. It is the BEST camera for taking some very nice pics. So the rule is to get two SD memory cards of 512 Kb each. It will give you approx. 500 pics each. This is plenty until you read rule 3.

Rule 3: Put the pics in a CD as you go. When your memory card shows approx. 300 pics are already taken, transfer them to your CD. Many camera shops have this facility and they will do it for you for a nominal fee.

That's it. No fuss, no mess. Just close your eyes and buy Nikon. You just can't go wrong.

I went to Australia/Nz for 3 months and took approx. 3000 pics. with my Nikon. Pictures were so brilliant. Extremely satisfied.

Answer 5

-Megapixels: each pixel is a small box of color ... and the amount of them means better or worse definition.
-Optical zoom (dont go by digital zoom because thats somewhat deceiving and when used it sometimes makes the pix blury)
-if ur traveling, u may want to find a camera with panorama capabilities so u can take 2 or more pix and stitch them together (altho there are softwares that help u with that on PCs)
-ability to capture video and audio could b important
- if ur not too much into manual controls, then u could by-pass a whole range of cameras and get the basic user-friendly ones with preset scene modes (some cameras, such as the Casio EX-Z1000 has 37 preset scene modes ... which is a whooooooooooooooooooole lot)
-if u r into potentially learning about and using manual modes, the manual controls to look for are: focus, white balance override, ISO, shutter speed, etc.
- do ur research and dont let sales people sucker u into buying expensive cameras
check these sites out for AWESOME reviews:
www.dpreview.com (actually has tutorials and definitions of terminology)
www.steves-digicams.com
http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/

Answer 6

You should get at least a 4-6mp camera.
Optical zoom (4X-6X minimum) and lens quality are the most important. I recommend CANON
If travelling, buy several memory cards...at least 1GB each (Sandisk Ultra II), so you are not relying on just one card. Backup to portable hard drive or burn onto CD (all photoshops around the world do it)
Delete any rubbish shots for extra space.
When I travel, I carry a small portable HD that i download my pics to every night, then re-use the cards.

Don't forget to give youself plenty of time to learn how to use the camera before you travel.
Good luck and have fun!

Answer 7

Digital Camera........

Answer 8

Look for things stating the quality of the pictures.
You may want a 1mb card. I have an Olympus Sp-310. I really like it. You can edit and enchance photos. Its got different settings and you can record videos, without sound though. you might want to take a look at it yourself. I'd say take a look at Olypmus cameras. =]

Answer 9

you will need to looki for optical zoom.you should probably get three optical zoom at the least. you should get 3 or more megapixals. the megapixels are for the quality of the picture. a memory stick that will hold enough pictures. you may also want to get a small camera so its easy to carry around but its your choice.

Answer 10

Optical Zoom, definately.