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The holiday season brings upon us wish lists. Wish lists more and more have these dreaded words for the clueless shopper: digital camera. If you want to get from "where do I put the film" to "here's your 10D, L lens and BG E1" without the hassle of an electronics store salesperson with an answer for everything, then this is the place to begin.
To understand digitial cameras, we must first understand some of the terminology associated with each and every camera:
*Megapixel. Digital cameras are measured in terms of how many pixels (tiny squares) they record on their sensor. An average camera records 3 million of these pixels. This will give you a clear 8x10 when you print the image out. It will not give you a clear 16x20. 6 million pixels, called a 6 MP camera, will allow that 16x20 print out, but will not print a clear 20x30. And so on. The more MP a camera has, the larger print you can make.
**Digital zoom vs. Optical zoom. Many digital cameras have "digital zoom." This is junk. It means the camera zooms in on a piece of the image without recording any new data. Optical zoom is zoom that actually moves the lens closer to the image and records more data in a tinier portion of the image. Optical zoom is worth extra money. Digital zoom is not.
***Consumer vs. DSLR digital cameras. Consumer level cameras are those such as Canon's A60 that are aimed at the Walmart/Best Buy crowd. They do the job, print the 8x10s and move on with life. If you have someone who needs "a camera to do ebay" this is the type of camera you are in the market for. DSLRs are a more professional level camera, such as Canon's 10D. If you have someone who needs a 10D, you may want their help in choosing where and how to purchase it. They have more than "some idea" what they way. DSLRs use detachable lenses. Consumer cameras have one lens that is not removable.
****Memory. Digital cameras use memory cards to store images. These cards come in many formats such as Compact Flash (CF), Smartmedia (SM), x-D, mmc, and Secure Digital (SD). The only thing you need to know is to pick the right kind of memory after you have chosen a camera. For the most part, CF is the standard. Other types of memory are usually more expensive and more difficult to find in stores.
How can you make a choice? Let's compare some cameras.
1. Canon A75. $200. 3MP, 3x optical zoom, 1.8" LCD screen.
2. Fuji S602, $500. 6MP, 6x optical zoom, 1.8" LCD screen.
3. Nikon 5700, $600. 5MP, 8x optical zoom, 1.5" LCD screen.
4. Sony 828, $1000. 8MP, 7x optical zoom, 1.8" LCD screen.
The first obvious choice here is based on price. But assuming you want to get the best bang for the buck, how do you decide? The A75 has half or less the optical zoom of the others. The Nikon has a smaller screen. The Sony doesn't match the Nikon in zoom but is way more expensive...more dilemmas.
If you look at this list, you can see what keeps photographers up at night: the "dream" camera. For the consumer level, it would be what? 5 MP, 10x optical zoom, $500 or less, 1.8" LCD screen? Olympus has the C-750, which is exactly the camera described. So why didn't we list it above?
Well, the last and probably most important consideration is image sensor. Nobody expects you to know this when you go to BestBuy or CompUSA or Walmart, but sensors make or break a camera. The Olympus sensor is not as "clean" as the 4 listed above. The exact same image taken at the exact same zoom with the exact same settings looks nicer on the A75 than on the C750. Canon, Fuji, Nikon and Sony produce the best sensor as of this article. Kodak, Olympus, Minolta, and Pentax all produce sensors that are not on the same level. Concord and a few other manufacturers produce sensors that are fairly unusable. If you have to make a choice and everything else looks equal, look for one of those names. Brand recognition in this case will make your choice a wise one.
Here are a few recommendations as a final word:
Under $200 - Canon A75 - $179 at BestBuy.
$200-$399 - Fuji S5000 - $379 at Ritz Camera.
$400-$799 - Fuji 8800 - $791 at BuyDig.com.
$800+ - Sony 828 - $899 at TigerDirect.com.
Good luck!
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