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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Choosing the right digital camera October 09, 2001 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/coolgear/cameras/soa/Choosing-the-right-digital-camera/0,139023377,120261015,00.htm
Just as computers are more complex than typewriters, getting a digital camera is a little more complicated than buying a film camera. Before you make your trip down to your local electronics or camera retail store, there are a few things you should probably consider about first. 1. Digital or film?
2. Matters of money
3. Frills or key features?
4. Special functions
Choosing the right digital camera
1. Digital or film? Pixels or prints? Do you really need to go digital at all? We list out the factors you have to think about before you go film-free. Instant edits Basically, the main advantage of a digital camera is that it allows you to review a picture on the LCD screen after the shot has been taken. Right on the spot, you can choose to keep the picture, delete it and take another, or even try a different camera setting for better effects. You can also record short movie clips using a digital camera, something a film camera cannot do. Never buy film again In addition, since the flash memory used to store pictures for digital cameras can be re-used more than once, this is often seen as a more cost-effective option than buying films. And of course, with the images being captured digitally, it is really easy to transfer them to a PC and touched up before sending it for printing (at selected photo outlets or your own photo printer) and distribution. The downside of digital However, while digital cameras may be considered as a more attractive option, film cameras have its own merits too. For one, traditional 35mm cameras are generally more affordable than digital cameras. They are also easier to handle and the batteries last much longer than their digital counterparts. Most important though, it is relatively cheaper and more convenient to convert film images into prints than digital images. Choosing the right digital camera
2. Matters of money Once you have decided on getting a digital camera, the next thing to consider is your purpose for buying the digital camera. Are you getting the camera for taking vacation pictures? Or is it going to be used for your school or business projects? For instance, if it is meant for taking pictures while you are on holiday, you might want to consider a digital camera that is more compact and uses commercially available batteries. A bigger flash memory card should be purchased too if you intend to take a lot of pictures or go for a long trip. As for school purposes, entry-level cameras with an affordable price tag and reasonable capture resolution should be ideal. Thus, knowing the purpose for buying the camera is very important, and it will really help you find the most suitable one for your needs. What do you want to spend on? As with all other purchases, you have to decide on how much you are willing to spend on the new digital camera. Most entry-level cameras range from about AU$400 to au$800 while mid-range ones start at au$1,000 to a little over AU$2,000. Anything above AU$2,500 is considered high-end. Digital SLR cameras for professional photographers can go as high as AU$6,000 and above. With a budget set, you can then decide on whether to spend more for a camera that has higher resolution or one that has more manual controls. Generally, the more compact the camera, the more expensive it is. The ones with higher capture resolutions or more powerful optical zooms also cost more. Hidden costs We'd advise you to factor in the cost of additional higher-capacity flash memory cards because most cameras come with a pathetic in 8MB or 16MB storage that keeps only a handful of images at the highest resolution. 64MB memory cards can cost anywhere from AU$100 to AU$250, depending on type and brand. Buying used If you are on a really tight budget, you may also want to consider getting a used or second-hand digital camera. (See Buying a used digital camera) Choosing the right digital camera
3. Frills or key features? With so many choices available in the market, it is essential to understand some of the features of a digital camera in order to find one that suits your needs. a) Sensor resolution At the heart of every digital camera is a sensor, the electronic chip that takes incoming light and converts it to a digital file. Most digital cameras use a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor, while low-cost "entry-level" cameras (including Webcams) use a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. CMOS chips are easier and cheaper to make, but they often do not match the picture quality of a CCD. Resolution refers to the number of pixels in a picture, that is the small dots that make up an image. The more pixels there are in a picture, the higher the resolution, therefore the sharper the image. You can calculate the resolution of an image by multiplying the number of pixels on the length and width. For example, a 2,048 x 1,536 image is 3.14-megapixels (2,048 x 1,536 = 3,145,728 pixels or 3.14 megapixels). However, it is important to note that a 3.34-megapixel camera does not mean that the highest resolution image that can be captured is 3.34-megapixels. The actual resolution -- (also known as the effective pixels) -- is in fact lower, at only 3.14 megapixels (keeping to the 4:3 aspect ratio). Most entry-level digital cameras come with a 1.3-megapixel (1,280 x 960) CCD sensor. These are good for taking pictures for Web publication and reasonably large enough for 5 by 7-inch prints. For 8 by 10-inch prints, a two-megapixel (1,600 x 1,200) camera is recommended, while three-megapixel (2,048 x 1,536) ones are capable of decent prints of up to 11 by 14 inches. In the past few months, four- and five-megapixel cameras have begun appearing in the market, bringing down the prices of the three- and two-megapixel models. We'd advise you to get a camera with a minimum of two megapixels, as the higher resolution allows for cropping, while still maintaining a high quality image. b) Optical and digital zoom Cameras have either optical zoom and digital zoom. In optical zoom mode, the camera moves the lenses back and forth to enlarge or reduce the size of the subject, while digital zoom merely involves taking part of the picture that the lens has captured, digitally enlarging it, and throwing away the rest. The end result is that the picture captured using digital zoom is actually of lower quality, since it is based on a blown-up fragment of the image. In other words, digital zoom is simply another form of cropping, and we don't advise you to use it or buy a camera that only has digital zoom. A 2x or 3x optical zoom would be ideal for most purposes. c) Storage CompactFlash (CF) Type I and II, SmartMedia (SM), MultiMediaCards (MMC), Secure Digital (SD) cards and MemorySticks. These are the most popular flash memory cards that are used in most digital cameras today. Basically, they all serve the same purpose, which is to store the captured digital images. The only difference between them is their size and price. The two older formats, the CF and SM, are cheaper and larger-sized than the others. One piece of 64MB CF costs about US$40, but a similar capacity MemoryStick easily costs twice as much. Since most cameras come with only a 8MB or 16MB, the type of flash memory used would be an important consideration. You would probably need an extra memory card and an expensive format may blow your budget. (A 16MB card holds roughly 32 pictures at 1600x1200 resolution using normal JPEG compression.) Right now, only CF (Type I and II) cards are available in capacities higher than 256MB, although the other formats are expected to release larger capacity memory cards later this year. It should also be noted that CF is available in two formats. Type I cards refer to the standard CF cards while Type II cards are actually small hard drives (e.g. IBM's MicroDrive) that can store as much as 2GB of images. There are also other storage media such as CDR/RWs and floppy disks that are being used in digital cameras. However, these cameras tend to be generally bigger in size (due to the media) and are not as common. Their main advantage is their cheap, re-usable media and convenient transfer of images to the PC. d) Batteries Most digital cameras use either two or four AA-size batteries, though there are others that are powered by a lithium CR-V3 battery or proprietary rechargeables. Some use all three types. Due to their high power consumption, it's advisable to get cameras that use disposable batteries which can be bought anywhere. This way, there are no worries when the battery runs out of juice. You may also want to consider investing in a set of rechargeable Metal Nickel Metal-Hydride (Ni-MH) AA-size batteries instead of throwaway alkaline ones. On the other hand, if the camera uses only proprietary battery packs, think about getting a backup pack, for use on longer trips. e) LCD The liquid crystal display (LCD) is probably the most looked-at -- and the most power-draining -- feature on the digital camera, either as a viewfinder or for playback and menu access. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the camera you buy has a sharp, bright and sufficiently large LCD screen. A screen of at least 1.8-inches diagonally is recommended. f) Viewfinder Besides the standard optical viewfinder found on most cameras, some of the higher-end models like the Minolta Dimage 7 come with electronic viewfinders. These are actually smaller LCDs that repeat the image found on the rear camera LCD, and are generally thought to be more accurate than an optical viewfinder. Choosing the right digital camera
3. Frills or key features? (cont'd) g) Focus Cameras with fixed focus means that there are no moving parts in the optical system. While this may be OK for normal shots and close-ups, it allows for less creative shots than those with adjustable focus. The focus of most cameras can be adjusted in two ways: Auto and manual. Cameras with auto focus make use of a motorized lens system to automatically adjust the lens for best shot. On the other hand, manual focus cameras lets you select from preset focus modes, or full manual control to adjust the lens. Beginners may want to consider an auto focus camera. But for more creative shots, a camera with manual focus may be a better choice. h) Exposure Exposure refers to the control of the amount of light entering the camera. With the right settings on the aperture and shutter, the camera can be made to take sharp fast-moving action, or even, well-lit night shots. Working in conjunction with the shutter and aperture is the camera's white balance. The white balance setting helps calibrate the overall color bias of your photos by telling the camera what pure white is supposed to look like in pictures. i) Optics The lens of a camera is like its eye. If you have a poor quality lens, you will find that no matter how many megapixels the camera has, the image will not turn out well. Digital camera these days are equipped with aspherical glass lenses. These non-circular lenses are known to produce better pictures than the plastic lenses used in entry-level cameras because of their higher optical transparency. j) Threads and adapters Higher-end cameras, mostly digital SLRs, come with a lens thread (like a screw). These allow the addition of filters and specialized lenses for improving the color and sharpness of an image. However, only professional photographers and hobbyists will use them. k) Compression The most universally accepted compression algorithm is Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG). The JPEG algorithm basically analyzes an image and throws out data that it thinks is not essential. This way, it can reduce the size of the image file by as much as 16 times. If you need higher quality pictures, there are some cameras that save images in TIFF format. Images stored in this format generally require more storage because it is compressed to only one-third its original size. l) Ergonomics When we talk about the ergonomics of a camera, we are referring to a camera's size, weight, design, placement of buttons and how it generally feels in your hand. A digital camera can have the best picture quality in the world, but if it isn't a pleasure to hold and use, you'll never take any shots with it. m) Size and weight Most digital cameras are small enough to fit in a purse, and many can fit in a pocket. None of them are so light that you'll forget you're carrying one, but only a few are so heavy as to cause muscle strain. Generally, there are trade-offs between size and weight. Larger, weightier cameras tend to have more features such as a built-in hot shoe (see the flash section), audio/video recording capabilities, a larger LCD, and a larger lens. Smaller cameras usually need to sacrifice features in order to maintain their form factor. n) Connectivity USB is the fastest and easiest way to connect your camera to a computer and transfer images to its hard drive. Most digital cameras today are shipped with a USB port. Some of the older cameras may use a serial port instead, which is much slower. Other than the USB port, there is also the video out port that lets you view your pictures on a TV set and usually an AC power jack to help conserve a camera's battery life, by letting you plug the camera into a wall outlet. o) Flash Most digital cameras have a built-in flash with a range of about eight feet and various presets. If you want a flash with greater range or better controls, you need to add an external flash, or speedlight. This requires a hot shoe, a track on top of the camera, but not all cameras have this feature. Don't worry about it too much; if you've never used one with your film camera, you're unlikely to need one on a digital model. p) Power-up time Some digital cameras take really long to start up. You can wait anywhere from 10 to 15 seconds before you can shot your first shot. While this may not seem like a long time, if when you want to get that important, spontaneous shot, the moment could be over by the time the camera is ready to capture the picture. q) Time between snaps One of the ways to distinguish a better camera from the rest of the pack is to look at how fast it can take continuous shots. Some cameras take as long as ten seconds before the next picture can be taken whereas the better ones can sometimes take multiple snapshots per second. In general, a good camera can take pictures as fast as you can press the shutter button. Choosing the right digital camera
4. Special functions Some digital cameras do more than just taking pictures. Here are some of the more interesting features we're seeing in cameras today: Video recording Some cameras have a video recording mode that lets you record short video clips. These movie clips are not very fluid, as the cameras capture only about 15 frames per second, whereas normal video captures and plays back 30 fps. They also take up an enormous amount of storage space. It may be an interesting gimmick, but video capability should not be a reason for choosing one camera over another. Audio recording Many cameras let you record a few seconds of audio to accompany each photo. It's also good for picking up ambient sounds. Say, for example, you took a picture of a loved one at the beach. The sound of crashing waves on the shore can add depth to an otherwise stagnant picture. MP3 audio playback Recently, more manufacturers are beginning to produce cameras that can play MP3s uploaded from the PC. This may be popular with teenagers, but we don't see it having widespread appeal since the devices tend to cost more, and the camera performance can be compromised.
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