Digital Cameras

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Wize Buying Guide for Digital Cameras

One thing you can expect from the digital camera market is change. From automatic face detection to image stabilization, new features are being added to digital cameras all the time.
 
Whether it’s a point-and-shoot or dSLR camera, there are certain things that you should look for to optimize your photographing experience. The first thing you should figure out is how you’re planning to use your camera. Other things you should look when shopping for cameras are image resolutions, shutter lag times, manual modes and storage capacities. Lenses are important to, they are covered in our lenses section.

Image Resolution

Sure, everyone wants to have more megapixels (MP) in their camera than the next guy, but do the number of megapixels effect a picture that much?

If your pictures aren’t going any further than the Internet, 5MP will do, but if you’re planning to make your own prints or get them made, you’re better off with 7MP. Any camera with greater than 7MP should do the trick for crisp, clear standard-size prints, but if you plan on blowing up your images, say, larger than 8X10, go for as many megapixels that you can afford. Also, when you get to large-size prints, you’re better off shooting with a dSLR, or digital single lens reflex camera. Those are the kind of cameras that permit you to change lenses. The reason they take better pictures is simple. They have bigger sensors. 

Shutter Lag Times

You’ll want your camera to be fast—that is start up quickly from the time you turn it on to the time it takes a picture. You can easily try this out in a store, and if you find it takes too long, move onto another model. If you’re shopping online, usually the number of seconds it takes the camera to start up is published in the reviews. It shouldn’t take any more than a fraction of a second for your camera to take a picture. When trying out a camera,  you can press the shutter release to take a picture, then say the number 1001 slowly and if there’s no picture there after you say it, don’t buy the camera.

Manual Modes

All dSLR cameras have manual modes (modes to control shutter speed and aperture) and some point-and-shoots do too. If you like to have control over your camera and are considering, even remotely, taking up photography as a career or hobby, you want to look for a camera that has manual option controls. The point-and-shoot models that do not have these controls leave you at the mercy of the camera to decide aperture and shutter speed for you.

What advantages are there if you can control the shutter speed and/or aperture? Well, if you want to take cool night shots by controlling the amount of time the shutter stays open and/or make fuzzy backgrounds around a clear subject by opening the aperture wide, then you want to be able to control the shutter and aperture.

Storage Capacity

If you’re set on getting a dSLR, buying storage capacity is a no-brainer. Most use CompactFlash, which can store an ample amount of photos for an outing. Other cameras have options that vary from Hitachi Microdrive to Secure Digital High Capacity(SDHC), the former seems to be on its way out and the later is very much in the picture, being used in all types of devices.

Digital cameras these days do much more than take pictures. They can capture video clips, shoot in special scene modes for portraits and landscapes, sun and shade and sunrise and sunset

After you’ve considered all your options, then your ready to find years of pleasure with your new digital camera.