Buying your first digital camera
August 17th 2007 14:11
Buying a digital camera can be a frustrating and confusing time for first time buyers, what should I buy, what is a pixel SD card, and image compression all about?
So you need to do some research before venturing into the department store where you will get inundated with all sorts of sales jargon.
There are a few simple steps to make this a little easier.
• Buy the best camera you can afford, while you can buy a cheaper camera and save a few dollars in the long run you will be somewhat disappointed with the results.
• The low end is around 3 mega pixels this a typical resolution obtained in mobile phone and budget cameras you should avoid this type of camera if you require a quality image.
• Buy a camera with optical zoom not digital zoom an optical zoom camera gives better quality images.
• Buy a camera with around 7 to 10 mega pixels this will enable you to take images with greater resolution and be able to make a quality print from your printer or shop image outlet and it doesn’t need to be brand specific.
• Buy a camera that supports Australian warranty and voltages cameras purchased overseas may not be covered for warranty in Australia and will be expensive to get repaired.
Some terms you need to be familiar with.
pixel is a single point arranged in a grid to form an image the more pixels you have the better the image quality will be.
Mega Pixels Mega meaning millions of pixels often referred in cameras that have 10.mega-pixels or 3 Mega- pixels the more Mega pixels a camera has the better the quality image will be.
If you want to make digital prints at home using a home printer and good quality photo print paper a typical A4 size print will require a camera to have at least 7 Mega- Pixel rating anything under will result in the in a lower quality grainy image. If possible chose a camera that has a manual setting this will enable you make long exposures ideal for taking shots of the Moon or lightning.
Digital: Stores images as digital files on reusable memory cards or discs, both of which come in various capacities and can hold a variable number of frames per card.
Digital cameras store information on a card as files, there are basically 3 types of file storage refered to as JPG, RAW. and TIF file formats.
JPG uses image compression which makes the image size smaller so it can be sent by email or the internet but the compression used in making these files may introduce artifacts that degrade the image quality
RAW Smaller than TIFFs and more flexible for postcapture retouching. Not offered on all cameras, and special software is required to read them but the image quality is better
TIF: offers the highest image quality but produces Larger files that can slow down your shooting and fill up your media but have no compression artifacts.
Digital cameras gives you the option of downloading the image files to your computer for printing on your home printer, or, if you have a compatible printer, you can attach your camera directly to it. Another option is getting traditional prints from an online service or a local photofinisher who accepts digital.
So you need to do some research before venturing into the department store where you will get inundated with all sorts of sales jargon.
There are a few simple steps to make this a little easier.
• Buy the best camera you can afford, while you can buy a cheaper camera and save a few dollars in the long run you will be somewhat disappointed with the results.
• The low end is around 3 mega pixels this a typical resolution obtained in mobile phone and budget cameras you should avoid this type of camera if you require a quality image.
• Buy a camera with optical zoom not digital zoom an optical zoom camera gives better quality images.
• Buy a camera with around 7 to 10 mega pixels this will enable you to take images with greater resolution and be able to make a quality print from your printer or shop image outlet and it doesn’t need to be brand specific.
• Buy a camera that supports Australian warranty and voltages cameras purchased overseas may not be covered for warranty in Australia and will be expensive to get repaired.
Some terms you need to be familiar with.
pixel is a single point arranged in a grid to form an image the more pixels you have the better the image quality will be.
Mega Pixels Mega meaning millions of pixels often referred in cameras that have 10.mega-pixels or 3 Mega- pixels the more Mega pixels a camera has the better the quality image will be.
If you want to make digital prints at home using a home printer and good quality photo print paper a typical A4 size print will require a camera to have at least 7 Mega- Pixel rating anything under will result in the in a lower quality grainy image. If possible chose a camera that has a manual setting this will enable you make long exposures ideal for taking shots of the Moon or lightning.
Digital: Stores images as digital files on reusable memory cards or discs, both of which come in various capacities and can hold a variable number of frames per card.
Digital cameras store information on a card as files, there are basically 3 types of file storage refered to as JPG, RAW. and TIF file formats.
JPG uses image compression which makes the image size smaller so it can be sent by email or the internet but the compression used in making these files may introduce artifacts that degrade the image quality
RAW Smaller than TIFFs and more flexible for postcapture retouching. Not offered on all cameras, and special software is required to read them but the image quality is better
TIF: offers the highest image quality but produces Larger files that can slow down your shooting and fill up your media but have no compression artifacts.
Digital cameras gives you the option of downloading the image files to your computer for printing on your home printer, or, if you have a compatible printer, you can attach your camera directly to it. Another option is getting traditional prints from an online service or a local photofinisher who accepts digital.
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