Understand important digital camera features before you purchase your next camera.features
Whether you want a $300 point-and-shoot compact or a high-end $2,000 dSLR digital camera, there are a few things you should know before you make your purchase. Most digital cameras have similar features. Three important factors to consider when buying a digital camera are megapixels, zoom capability and automatic control.
Megapixels
A pixel is a dot of information, and a megapixel (MP) is one million pixels. The megapixel designation is the number of individual image pixels that the largest-size image will contain. For example, 6-MP cameras will produce images that consist of six million pixels. The average consumer usually thinks that the more megapixels a camera has, the better the picture quality. This is not exactly true, but megapixels are important. They are important in print quality, especially if you want to crop a digital photograph. Cropping a photograph removes hundreds of thousands of pixels from the original image. Cropping also rearranges the megapixels and spreads them out over the original size of the photo, which reduces the image quality. For most consumers who will print photos up to 8x10 inches, a camera with 5 or 6 megapixels will be sufficient. If you will be printing images larger than 8x10 inches, then you will want to buy a camera that has 8 to 10 megapixels.
Zoom Capability
Optical zoom magnification is achieved by a physical orientation of the camera lens. Optical zoom does not diminish the quality of the photograph, because the full capacity of the sensor is used. Digital zoom is magnification of the center of the image, but it does not increase the detail of the photograph. As you zoom in closer using the digital zoom, an increasingly small portion of the image sensor is used to record the image. This means that using digital zoom on a 3-MP camera focuses on the center of the image and will magnify only those pixels. The greater the digital zoom factor, the lower the quality because fewer pixels are used create the photograph.
Most compact cameras have an optical zoom factor of 3X, and some of the more expensive models have an optical zoom up to 7X. The difference between the two zoom factors is that a 7X zoom provides a much closer and more detailed photograph of an object than a 3X zoom does. In contrast to compact cameras with a fixed lens that cannot be changed, a digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera is completely dependent on the lens that is mounted on the camera body. dSLR cameras can be expensive, with many consumer models starting at around $400. If you plan to do a lot of close-up shots, then select a camera with a higher optical zoom or a dSLR. You also might want to consider using a macro photography lens kit for the best possible photographs.
Full and Automatic Control
Most consumers want a camera that is easy to use. The camera industry responded by creating what is known as the "point-and-shoot" compact camera. Most point-and-shoot cameras are inexpensive compared to dSLR cameras and are loaded with numerous automatic functions. The better point-and-shoot models provide "scene" modes that are camera presets for a particular type of photography. Preset modes are fully automatic so that the user only needs to point the camera and press the shutter. Standard preset modes are landscape, portrait, sports, close-up, sunset and night landscape.
The dSLR camera offers more flexibility, because the photographer can change lenses depending on the kind of photograph that she is shooting. Manual features allow the photographer to determine the exposure time, aperture (to refine images), a range of ISO settings to accommodate low to bright light and other settings. Manual cameras are more appropriate for the experienced amateur or the professional photographer. Most digital SLR cameras also provide automatic settings like the smaller compact cameras do.
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