Digital Cameras?

Question

What should I be most concerned with when buying a digital camera? For instance, what is the difference between optical zoom and digital zoom? Which should I be most concerned with. Is 6.0 MP good. I should mention that I am not a photography, nor rich, so do not expect the best. But I do want a good quality camera, and not just waste my money. Any advice would be great.

Answer 1

The 6MP (6 million pixels), is very good, near photographic quality.

Optical zoom is much better than digital zoom. It is ok that your camera has digital zoom, but be sure it has a decent optical zoom as well, as this produces a better image.
It will cost more though, and at 6MP, even if you only have digital zoom, I think you will not be too disapointed. Try to avoid using too much digital zoom. Get closer if you can, you will get better photos.

F number, Light gathering:
The size of the opening behind the lens limits the amount of light than can enter and be focused onto the sensor. Different quality lens are better or worse at limiting distortion. A larger opening ( more light gathering) is better. Higher quality lens cost more, and probably have semi conductive coatings to reduce various types of optical distortion.
F numbers, are usually represented as F/2.0 where the 2.0 is an example number you are interested in. Sometimes listed as 1:2.0
Larger openings mean smaller F numbers ( sort of confusing).
So if you see
1:4.2 or F/4.2
1:3.0 or F/3.0
1:2.0 or F/2.0

The lower number F/2.0 1:2.0 is the better lens for gathering light. It will be able to take the photograph much faster than the F/4.2 lens. This means less blurring of photographs, if you move while the photo is captured.

Batteries: Lithium rechargeable batteries are the best.
They are expensive though...
Don’t get a cheap camera with disposable batteries, or disposable lithium.

Memory: The camera will come with a small memory module, the first thing you will need to do, is buy one with more storage.
Shop around, memory is cheap. You should get at least 1GB flash, but larger are available.

The camera will connect to a computer to transfer files, so be sure your PC can connect to the camera, either USB2.0 or Firewire. You can also get a flash reader for your PC.

The camera has a bunch of settings, if you have not had a digital before, you really need to study the manual.
Some useful settings you need to find.
Close up mode, this allows the camera to focus on close up objects, usually as close as 2 inches. This lets you take photos of insects, super close-ups of very small things. Get to know how to enter and return from this mode.
Lighting: There are different types of lighting, such as sun light, indoor fluorescent, and regular filament incandescent bulb lighting.
Because each type of light has a different range of colors, the camera will not produce photos of the objects as you see them.
Depending on the camera, it might assume you are in sunlight unless you set it to indoor fluorescent mode for example.
Be sure you know how to set this type of lighting condition, or everything will be dingy yellow.

Flash: You might not always want a flash, especially of you are taking a close up, it just produces a white out from the glare.
Be sure you know how to turn the flash on an off. If the flash is enabled, it drains power from your battery at a faster rate.

Power: The digital electronics draw quite a bit of power from the batteries if the camera is on. Only turn it on when you are planning a shot, to save battery life.
Transferring photos from the camera to the PC, depending on the camera, may require the camera to be on. Some can transfer power through the USB cable with the camera off, drawing power from the computer supply.

Here is more discussion about digital vs. optical zoom.

The lens focuses the image on to a Silicon chip, with 6 million CMOS transistor sensors. Near photographic quality.

Optical zoom, is the best, where the optics provide the magnification by moving the lens to refocus the magnified image onto the sensor. This type of lens has a variable focal length.
This allows the sensor to use all of its 6 million bits to store the image. And the optics do the magnification.

Digital zoom is where the lens is simple and has a fixed focal length ( "prime lens").
The lens cant change focal length, so it cant change magnification.
Digital zoom is performed by only using the inner part of the digital sensor, and discarding the rest. The small part of the sensor that is used, is scaled up to a full size photograph.
This technique only uses part of the resolution of the photo sensor, and therefore produces a photo of less quality. If you zoom in too far, you might actually be able to see the individual photo sensors. But with 6MP, even 20x zoom will probably look acceptable.

Digital zoom produces a lower resolution image. To explain it in another way, take a close look at your computer screen. If you get really close, you can see the individual color blocks which make up the screen image. The computer screen is probably 1280x1024 pixels. ( about 1MP compared to your camera 6MP) Each one represents the a memory bit in your video card, and can be seen on your computer screen as very small blocks.
If you stand 6 feet away, a photograph on the screen looks pretty good. But if you try to zoom in, by getting closer to the image, you can see the individual blocks.
The digital zoom feature, just discards the outer part of the screen and expands the part in the center, which may reveal the small blocks, if zoomed in too far.
On the other hand, optical zoom uses the lens to focus the magnified image on the entire sensor, so no information is lost.
This produces the best photograph.

BTW: ( It is actually made of red, green and blue blocks, the white area of the screen is actually red+green+blue. You can easily prove it by sneezing onto the screen, spit or place a drop of water on it, the inherent magnification of the water droplet, will allow you to see the individual red, green and blue blocks. )

Austin Semiconductor

Answer 2

Look for the Mega Pixels and Optical Zoom... don't worry about Digital Zoom , the exact difference between Optical Zoom and Digital Zoom is Optical zoom uses the optics (lens) of the camera to bring the subject closer and Digital Zoom is not really zoom , What digital zoom does is enlarge the image which you can do it on your computer. Go for any 5.0 MP Point and Shoot Digital Camera and i personally recommend Sony or Nikon cameras.

Answer 3

The only zoom you need to think about...is Optical Zoom(3x, 4x, 6x or more). Don't waste your time thinking about digital zoom. It's not important (and produces less than perfect images). Most people would never ever use it.
6-8MP would be the minimum I would recommend, and is right for most people.
If you want a good quality camera with a very good name, then I would suggest Canon (they are the top seller).
But I would not recommend their most budget models.
If you want a camera that's very easy to use and also very compact, then I would suggest either the...
SD600 (Ixus 60) 6MP, 3x optical
SD630 (Ixus65) 6MP, 3x optical
SD700 IS (Ixus800 IS) 6MP, 4x optical
They are mostly made of metal and feel very solidly built, and are supplied with a rechargeable Lithium battery and charger.
Or for something a little larger in size, another quality camera (with great manual controls if you want them), is the Canon Powershot A630, which has 8MP and 4x optical zoom. It uses AA size batteries, so you need to buy a charger and rechargeables (NiMH at approx. 2500mAh)

Answer 4

6. MP is great for a hobby photographer.
My daughter is studying to be a professional photographer. She did purchase a kodak 8 but after a couple day's returned it as the pictures no matter what setting she used came out with a yellow cast.
She now has a canon something with 8MPs and loves it.
Optical Zoom is by sight Digital from what I understand is more precise.
Personally I own an HP It takes okay pics but the whites depending on the light take on a blue cast.
Hope this helps

Answer 5

A digital zoom is in the camera's program while the optical zoom is the place where u put your eyes close to, to see the surroundings..

Answer 6

Anything above 5mp is a good pic. If you plan on making 8X10 pics you would want 8mp and up for best result but 6mp is still pretty clear. 8mp and up is pro. As far as zoom I prefer the optical zoom that lets you zoom in and out a digital zoom just zooms to a pre determined enhancement. just look for one that fits your needs, size, memory, cost. Nikon and Cannon are always a safe bet for quality but hp if fair for the cost. Good luck

Answer 7

Digital Camera........

Answer 8

Before u buy one you should check this site http://tech.yahoo.com/rc/digital-cameras/103;_ylt=Av2SkKHhLyQ.vQ8KzQdhl2QFLZA5