Pacific Northwest Images

Buying a digital camera can be a daunting task. What brand? What kind? How many pixels? What accessories? And on and on and on… I’ll try to break down the options and what to look for when deciding on a new digital camera to purchase.

First, you need to have a good idea of why you are purchasing a camera and how you plan on using it. For example, do you plan on using a zoom lens, shoot in low light, keep it in “auto” mode, how big do you think you’ll want to make prints, will you be shooting a lot of close ups (macro), sports, etc.

Once you have these questions answered, you can then start making informed decisions on the options that you need your camera to have.

Megapixels (or mine is bigger than yours!) This is the measurement most used by camera manufacturers to sell their gear. It is assumed that bigger is always better, right? In this case, that’s not always right. Although megapixels are important when it comes to how large you can print and still have a nice looking image, most cameras out now will print fine up to about 8×10. If you are sticking with 4×6 prints, you really won’t see any difference from a 5-megapixel camera compared to a 12-megapixel camera.

Point and Shoot or DSLR A Digital Single Lens Reflex camera is a camera that has interchangeable lenses and has a “through the lens view finder”. Here are some advantages of a DSLR:

• Low shutter lag - Time between pressing the shutter button and when the camera actually takes the picture)
• Less depth of field – With the wider apertures that can be obtained by DSLRs, depth of field can be reduced.
• Faster picture sequences – DSLRs generally have the ability to take more frames per second. This is helpful for capturing action shots.
• Interchangeable lenses – High quality lenses targeted at specific purposes are available to users of DSLRs.
• Larger image sensors of a DSLR generally means higher picture quality.

Point and shoot cameras have advantages as well:

• Small size and light weight means you can carry them around much easier. This means that you may have the camera with you and capture more images than you would if you had to pack a DSLR with you.
• No moving mirror means fewer moving parts and less vibration.
• The sealed construction of a point and shoot means less of a chance of dust contacting the image sensor.
• The small aperture results in a very wide depth of field.

Extras More than likely you will need to buy extras to go along with your camera to make it more useful. Here are some items to consider:

• Memory – The bigger the better! (If the camera comes with one, it will be too small)
• Camera Case
• Tripod
• Rechargeable Batteries & Charger
• External Flash
• Lenses (if DSLR)

Read Reviews One of the best websites for reading camera reviews is Digital Photo Review. Visit that site and read reviews on the latest cameras to help you decide.

Final Thoughts Try to find a camera that uses industry standard and widely available memory cards. Get at least a 1 gig card but more if you plan on taking the camera with you on a vacation and can’t download the images to a computer.

Let me know your thoughts and if you have any other tips.