What do I really need to know if I'm buying a digital camera?

I would like to make some very mundane suggestions. My first digital camera was so complicated that I needed three programs to get my images from the camera to a cd so that I could print them out at a store. It was so expensive to print photos at home that I had to limit what I printed at home and have them printed elsewhere. The card that my camera used could not be read by the photo printing machines that are available at the stores I frequented and that created the need to put the photos on a cd for printing.

Now I have a wonderful 8.2 mega pixel camera and I can simply insert the card into my computer for viewing on a large screen and insert it into a viewer/printer at the store and print out my photos.

It's simple and far less expensive.

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"He who never made a mistake never made a discovery." Samuel Smiles

pixels, the highest is good.

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I am carrying my heart~I am carrying my rhythm~I am carrying my prayers~But you can't kill my spirit~It's soaring and strong (Paula Cole's Me Lyrics)***We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We ARE spirtual beings having a human experience.(T.deChardin)***There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. (Albert Einstein)

Image stabilizer really helps. Optical zoom is nice too.

Simplicity of use.
Try out the menu. Do you want point and shoot or are you familiar with f-stops and aperture v. shutter priority? You'll want a menu that puts the function you most use in convenient places, and if f-stop and the priorities are a foreign language, start with a high- or low-end point and shoot. They take excellent pictures, don't cost nearly what the SLRs and other high-end cameras do.

Consider size. Unless you have a quasi-professional use or need big prints, you can get excellent pictures from a pocket-sized point and shoot. And I guarantee you will use it more, because you'll have it with you.

Consider a view finder, which is getting increasingly difficult to find other than on SLRs and other high-end cameras. It drives me nuts to do without (I'm learning), but my child is far more comfortable using the screen.

Consider batteries, how expensive, how available, are they rechargeable. I am personally enamored of cameras that take AAs. I can use rechargeable batteries, but still pick up disposables if I cannot recharge.


Picture quality
Pixels count, but not as much as people think. 5 megapixels (maybe 3) and above are probably fine, unless you do large prints or posters.

Sensor size counts, the larger the better. Makes for sharper pictures and better low-light function.

Color rendering. There are differences in how cameras reproduce colors. If you already have a printer for your pictures or a processing service you use, try taking the same photo with different cameras and see which pictures are more to your liking.

Image stabilizer This is really great. It saves a lot of shots. Performance differs from camera to camera.

Thanks all. Actually, I'm not sure what I want to use it for. Vacations and family yes - but also some semi-professional to maybe complement my writing. Logic says to start with the basics and upgrade later. Your replies will help me choose a good basic camera and give me thoughts for a later upgrade.

I am being 100% serious when I say that having a higher zoom does not make the camera go faster.

As with any small electronic device, pay attention to:
- The interface (is it going to be a pain to use it because it takes too long/is too hard to learn?)
- Durability (does it break easily? Will it stand up to the conditions in which you intend to use it?)
- Compatibility (what do you want to connect it to? Make sure it works with those.)

These are generic, but hopefully helpful. I'm not too educated on cameras specifically, but I do love gadgets. Best of luck!

I used to be quite an avid amateur photographer in the pre-digital days, and was very disappointed with every one of the point and shoot digitals I've ever used. Recently however I received a DSLR the Nikon D3000 and am completely thrilled with it. I am learning all of it's intricacies now, at a leisurely pace, however it does have an excellent fully automatic mode, (point and shoot). The picture quality is fantastic, and I would definitely recommend this camera with no hesitation.

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You need to know very little. Just point and shoot. Mistakes no longer matter. The delete button works every time. I am on my third digital camera, a Fuji FinePix 12 Megapixel. I have wasted money on all kinds of books and magazines to try and become an expert. Believe me, trial and error works best.

Get a Cannon for the beggining. A DSLR camera. Like 500D EOS.

If you need to ask this question, I am assuming that you are perhaps a neophyte? User-friendliness, of course. Most digital cameras, from sophisticated DSLRs to the point&shoots, use memory cards. So that is a given. Zoom capability might be one consideration. Ease of handling, i.e., it should not be burdensome to tote around.

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/?tag=hdr;snav or, simply, Cnet.com is a great site for rankings, reviews, features, etc. It contains a plethora of info to help you decide on the best digital camera for you.

Tovarish,

I doubt they will stop making film within my lifetime, though certain kinds will drop (Kodachrome) and film will likely become a small-production specialty item (with price to match). I suspect film photography will become a hobby once more, similar to its beginnings.

If you have never tried digital photography, you should give it a whirl. Immediate feedback is fantastic, though I use cameras with big, replaceable cards and don't delete shots until I have them on a computer screen for a look. It is phenomenal to be able to bracket to your heart's content without having to worry about the time (or cost) of developing.

Try this link NYT: David Pogue, digital cameras under $300, 3 Feb 10. These are a couple of steps below a digital SLR, but some will give you f-stop control.

P.S. OM2N and a lot of Tri-X Pan; never professional.

Better late than never, but I, too, am an old photographer from the B&W days. I began in the 1960s with a 35mm SLR and a Yashicamat TLR. I still have those cameras.

In fact, I have over 300 film cameras dating back to 1875, including wood boxes to modern digital cameras in every format. 110,220, 620, 10mm, 35mm, 70mm, 3x5, 5x7, 8x10, etc.

If interested, I want to find a good home for them, at a reasonable price.

I have antique darkroom equipment, too. Enlargers, timers, print frames, easels, tanks, etc.

I could go on. My collection covers over a century of photography. I don't need it anymore.

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"Always wash your hands and say your prayers for germs and Jesus are everywhere." -Naomi Judd

While I am strictly an amateur photographer and have never had a dark room or lots of equipment, I, too, still prefer my film cameras. I have kept my two 35 mm cameras, and like Tovarish, I am also afraid that it won't be long before I cannot find film to use in them.

In the meantime, I have gotten a digital camera, but I'm still learning how to use it. Not exactly being a computer wiz, learning how to use any new gadget that requires interfacing with my computer tends to ramp up my anxiety level. Over the Christmas holidays, I decided to get serious about taking photographs with the digital camera, but I'm such a goofball with these things that I'd snapped about 50 "pictures" when I realized that only three of them "took" because apparently I did not hold the button down long enough. UGH! I went back and shot all of those same pictures over again! After all, it was my first white Christmas. I was also documenting the individual pieces of a ceramic Nativity Scene that my mother had made.

One day I will learn how to do all of this; at that point, I'll feel much more confident about it. Who knows? Once I get used to it, I may even prefer using my digital camera to one of my 35 mm's. Right now it's hard for me to imagine, though.

Last night I was watching a movie on DVD, and it was a biopic set in the late '60's. Love of photography (though the subject matter of the photos was not very noble) played a big role in this movie. Lots of Polaroids were taken before digital cameras offered immediate viewing without first going to a film processor. I never owned a Polaroid camera; did any of you? I did, however, have a little Kodak Instamatic like the one featured in one scene. The little flash "cube" on the top of it had me waxing nostalgic.

TL, your collection must be fantastic. Whether still functioning or simply being part of a tangible narrative of the history of photography, a collection of 300 cameras is huge. How have you managed to find space for them all of these years? Maybe they should go into a museum somewhere.

Tovarish, it sounds like you've had some incredible experiences as a photographer. And I'd also have thought "the dam bedamned" if it required going up in a small airplane with nothing more than a seat belt to keep me from falling out. Yikes!

This January it was even in the news - the whole Europe was short of film. People have found old cameras again.
I have two digital cameras but I still use my Canon AE-1. I like to compose the pic with camera, not with PC.
Not that I could call myself a photographer.

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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

What a wonderful experience you have had with service related photography.
I once spoke to a WW11 arial photographer, their equipment was really very primitive.
The Hasselblad is a terrific camera, very similar to the Mamiya, but neither that I have used had a motor drive.
Very manual with interchangeable backs, & a cock to shoot process. But lenses to die for.
Still back to this hanging out of planes, must be a man thing.

The first thing that you should set out for is to decide an approximate budget on how much would like to spend and then decide what features or at-least what purpose would you be using the camera for. If this has been done even Google could help you select a good one based on your requirements and then for a second opinion you could have some reviews about the camera that you are going to buy. This is what I followed and came across Cannon PowerShot SD960 IS. Though it is a slightly over my budget but as far as I know it is completely worth it. Though I haven't finalised it and still continuing my research for a better option.