the essential facts to help you with your buying
decision
Thanks to digital cameras, everybody can now produce some decent pictures easily and
instantly. The advantages are obvious: no film is required and no
developing, the pictures you have taken can be viewed and assessed
immediately on the
inbuilt LCD monitor and you can
take and delete a large number of pictures until you are happy with the
result (or your memory card is full).
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favourite cameras selection
for top
rated digital cameras
What digital
cameras are
available
In the
lower price range you have the basic 'point-and-shoot'
cameras that let
you take decent pictures, e.g. for the family album. These cameras adjust all
settings automatically, you just press the button. Super slim
designs are available that fit
into any small pocket.
If you want to be more creative and in control, you can look for compact
and the smaller
ultra compact cameras
that may allow you to choose between program automatic exposure (program AE),
Shutter-priority, aperture-priority and manual mode
(PASM)
and may have
preset program modes for different conditions (night, sport, landscape,
etc.). These cameras allow you to produce high quality pictures with your
individual settings and you can still use
them as point-and-shoot in automatic mode if you feel like it.
The
compact digital SLR-type cameras
can combine all these features
plus many advanced
features
and give you a vast choice of functions and control for
pictures of the highest quality at a reasonable price. They often have electronic
viewfinders (EVF)
that let you see the picture projected through the lens
onto the sensor as an LCD image, giving a similar appearance as in SLR cameras.
Apart from auto-focus they may also offer manual focus, which can be an
advantage in certain conditions.
For wildlife and sports photography you may want
them as
super-zoom cameras
with powerful optical zoom lenses (12x, 15x,..)
that let you zoom in close on the action. These cameras should
ideally include some form of
optical image stabilisation
as it is very difficult to take a shake-free picture at high zoom settings
otherwise (unless you carry a tripod). A top range
SLR-type
camera with
super zoom lens can provide you with many features of an true SLR camera in
a more compact form and without the need to carry extra lenses.
At the top of the range are the
digital SLR cameras (DSLR),
which are packed with advanced features that allow total control for the
serious photographer (amateur and professional).
Their optical viewfinder through the front lens let you see exactly the
image that you are going to take. One of their main advantages is that their front lenses can be exchanged to suit
different conditions (zoom, wide angle) and quality demands (you may have to carry a fair amount of
equipment and spend serious money to use their full potential). They also
feature image sensors (CCD
or
CMOS) that are
physically larger and therefore produce generally pictures of superior
clarity with less noise interference. Some of the DSLR cameras are now not
much more expensive (especially on the Internet) than top end cameras with
fixed lenses.
See our
favourite cameras selection
for top
rated digital cameras
Important features of digital cameras to look for
Image sensor resolution:
the CCD, or Charge-Coupled Device image sensor converts the picture from the lens into digital information,
using tiny light-sensitive elements (also CMOS type sensors are used in some
cameras). The more of these elements or pixels,
the more picture detail (resolution) is available (provided the sensor is of
high quality). 2 million pixels (2
megapixels) is now seen
by many as a minimum requirement.
The largest possible print size for images depends on this resolution: 3 megapixles
let you print about 6.5x5 inch images maximum, 6 megapixels about 10x6.5
inch (most people will never print larger pictures). The quality of the
sensor is more important than just pixel count and it can be very difficult
to accommodate a large number of pixels on small sized sensors without
introducing noise.
Lenses and zoom:
the picture quality depends largely on the quality of the lens and the
sensor. Many better cameras come with zoom lenses to allow closing in on the
subject. Several
super-zoom cameras
(up to 10x or 12x zoom) have
image stabilizers
that reduce blurring from camera shake. Don't confuse digital zoom, with
optical zoom by the lens. Digital zoom is just blowing-up the
picture without adding detail and is pretty pointless. For SLR cameras you
can choose from many different types of lenses (up to the highest quality)
which you interchange easily.
PASM Modes and preset program modes:
cameras should at least come with
Program AE
mode (camera adjusts exposure automatically) and auto-focus. For more
creativity and control you may also want
Aperture-priority AE
(you determine aperture, camera sets the rest),
Shutter-priority AE
(you determine shutter-speed, camera sets the rest) and
Manual mode
(you have full control over the exposure settings).
Most cameras offer also
preset program modes
for optimum adjustments in different conditions (e.g. sport, scenery, night,
party, portrait, etc.).
Memory:
the memory card is where the pictures are stored. The larger the memory the
more pictures you can store before you have to delete. There is little
difference between prices for the different types of cards (prices have come
down considerably). Also check the write/read speed of the card as you may
require higher speeds for top-end cameras.
LCD monitor and Electronic Viewfinder (EVF):most cameras have
LCD
monitors to display the picture you are going to take and/or you have taken.
Their size is the diagonal measurement in inches (e.g. 1.5'', 1.8'',
2.2'',etc.). The quality of the displayed image depends also on their
resolution (e.g. 13000 pixels).
In addition, compact digital SLR-type cameras
have
electronic view finders
(EVF). You see the picture projected onto the sensor
electronically converted as LCD image through the viewfinder (resembling what you see
through a proper SLR). Their resolution in
pixels
is a measure for the
quality and detail of the picture seen through these viewfinders. Also a
fast refresh rate is desirable for a livelike appearance of this picture.
Digital cameras buying guide