What to look for in a digital camera

[Kathy Simon]

I've had an old Pentax film camera bumping around in my back seat for many years, and I'm ready to go digital. What should I look for in a camera under $400? Do I need a certain number of megapixels to get good pictures? Should I get a camera with a builti-in movie mode? Thank you.

[jfrancho]

I have a 5MP Canon Powershot S500. It has very limited manual control, but takes a great picture nonetheless. I've used the movie mode maybe five times in the time I've owned it. In a compact camera, I'm looking for an exposure compensation mode, onboard flash, with the ability to manually control whether the flash fires, decent zoom, and fast startup/recycle times with minimal shutter lag.

[Max@Home]

Hi Kathy Simon,

First: a Welcome Aboard the Camel!

Your question:

If you are ready to go digital, under $400 buys you a nice 'compact camera' or Point-and-Shoot' camera: basically a small camera with a fixed zoom lens.

The number of pixels it has determines how large you can print your images without loss of quality, basically a 4 MP camera is excellent at A4, and good at A3 size, a 5/6 MP camera is excellent at A3 size, and good at A2 size, etc... the more pixels, the larger you can print.

For everyday use a 5/6/7 MP camera will be plenty, the more the merrier, because then you can crop off a part of the image (that you don't like in hindsight) and still have enough pixels 'left' to get a decent print.

In a camera under $400 *I* should look for best image-quality, but this is very personal: some want a specific formfactor (needs to fit a cigarette box to be able to take it everywhere), others want the best moviemode, and some might want the largest zoomreach available (goes from 'standard' 3x up to 12x).

And about 'moviemode': all the compacts have it, some better, some worse

I hope this helps some, as because you ask such a 'broad' question, it is hard to give a more detailed, more specific reply.

But if you have further questions, please never hesitate to ask them!

...and as always, all the above is just *my* €0.02 worth of advise...

My kindest regards,

Max@Home

[Padre]

Kathy I would recommend your looking at http://www.steves-digicams.com/ He does a very good review and in the review pages you can often find the best prices. As stated above, in your price range you will more than likely be looking at something in the 4 - 7 megapixel range. Good hunting!

[JDArt]

In addition to what's been mentioned, check the camera for these attributes:

--- Fast shutter response

What good is an 8 megapixel digital camera if it requires you to wait three seconds in between pictures? That's exactly the situation that many new digital camera owners find themselves in.

Don't make the same mistake. When you're shopping for a digital camera, see if you can find the specification for how long a digital camera must wait before firing a second or third shot. Typically, the statistic is listed under "shutter lag."

Look for a shutter lag of less than a second. Think about it. Your subject will almost always smile just the right way after you snap a picture. You want to be ready to take the next picture almost immediately. And for capturing fast action, including children playing or dogs running, little or no shutter lag is paramount.

If you can't find the specification for shutter lag - manufacturers often conveniently leaves out this figure - try the camera out, specifically looking for this characteristic.

--- Fast startup

A close second behind shutter lag is how quickly your digital camera will start up. Keeping a camera on all the time will quickly run down its battery. That's why you want a camera that can go from off to on in less than two seconds.

Some very expensive, high-resolution digital cameras take as much as 5 to 10 seconds to start up. Pass those units by.

--- Manual controls

If you're new to digital photography or to photography in general, you won't be for long. All digital cameras have a completely automatic mode so that just about anyone can take a properly exposed photograph. What you want is a digital camera that offers manual control over aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance.

You may not know an aperture from an appendectomy right now. But you will some day. And your ability to control aperture and other manual controls will allow you to get creative with your photography - taking a portrait with the background nicely out of focus, for example, or stopping a fast action sports scene in its tracks.

--- Fast autofocus

Your digital camera's autofocus should never leave you tapping your foot in anticipation. Yet many high-megapixel digital cameras on the market today take too long to snap into focus.

Almost every camera on the market will take longer to lock focus when light levels are low. But in good light, your digital camera should focus almost instantaneously. Anything less, and you'll miss lots of good photographs - and cause plenty of human subjects to lose their patience waiting for you to take their picture.

--- Megapixels that matter

The more megapixels your camera has, generally the larger your prints can be. But even three megapixel cameras are capable of supporting prints larger than a full-sized page, bigger than most people ever print.

But there's more to megapixels than how many your camera supports. It's not just the number of megapixels, but the quality of megapixels that matters. Some of the interchangeable lens digital cameras on the market may not sport as many megapixels as other models, but they can potentially take better pictures, because the quality of the megapixels on their digital sensors is higher.

When you focus on the features that matter in a digital camera, you'll end up with a better unit, one that will satisfy you as you learn and develop your skills. Look for the traits outlined here, and you're well on your way to finding a model that's good for now and the future.