What makes a good digital camera?

Question

What makes a good digital camera? What about pixels and stuff? I have no idea.

Answer 1

It actually boils down to three things: sensor size, number of mega pixels and the quality of your lens. David Pogue sums it up nicely in an article "The Truth About Digital Cameras". Search for it on Google.

Basically, for a compact camera, you want to stick between 5-8 mega-pixels. For most people this will be plenty. There really aren't huge differences between manufactures. Some features which may be helpful include Image Stabilization, where the camera counters your motion when taking the shot.

Personally, I like Canon cameras, and I think the PowerShot SD800 IS is a great pick - 7MP, has IS and has received good reviews. dpreview.com is a great site for reading reviews and looking at pictures taken with reviewed cameras.

At the end of the day, all of today's cameras from reputable camera houses will be great. Happy snapping!

Answer 2

All of these suggestions are great - but one other thing you should probably know about is the difference between optical and digital zoom.

Optical is the one you want to pay attention to. This is how closely you can zoom in to your subject using only the lens itself. Digital zoom is manipulating the image within the camera digitally. You can do the same thing yourself when you bring the picture into your PC.

Most people with any knowledge of this will tell you NOT to use the digital zoom, as it will simply degrade the quality of the picture you get. If you want to manipulate it, wait until you bring it into the PC. Therefore, the number you want to pay attention to is the number in front of the OPTICAL zoom.

Again, what everyone else has said about pixels, etc. is obviously very important also - just wanted to clarify what has become one of the questions I'm frequently asked by my friends and coworkers buying digital cameras.

Good luck!!!

Answer 3

The quality of the image is measured in mega pixels, the higher the better. The average amount for todays digital cameras is around 5-6 i have a 6 mega pixel olympus and its great. So when your looking for a camera look for the amount of mega pixels it has, anything around 5-7 is great.

Answer 4

The points you want to start with are batteries (stick with AA or AAA, since you can always buy replacements at pretty much any store when yours die unexpectedly), flash cards (SD is the most popular, CompactFlash has the most capacity, and those are the two that'll be easiest to find a card-reader for, but I'd suggest aiming for SD and get SD Plus cards), image stabilization (Panasonic has the best right now, and they included it in even their basic models, but you'll want _something_ if you're shooting it as a hand-held because digital is much less forgiving than film), megapixels (shoot for 6), optical zoom (shoot for at least 6 and ignore digital zoom), and the size/resolution of the LCD screen (larger is better, but make sure it's not really grainy or you'll regret buying it).

Other things for a basic user might want to watch for are tripod mounts, AC hookups, low-light functionality (mine uses IR for autofocus, which is leaps and bounds ahead of my previous camera), and the ability to adjust for a wide range of lighting situations (sunshine, cloudy, incandescent, flourescent, halogen, etc.).

Answer 5

The highest Megapixels you can afford. Also, look for a long optical zoom range, image stabilization, long battery life.