Don’t Let The Digital Camera Companies Trick You!

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Most people when buying a digital camera really don’t know what to look out for. Let’s face it, most of us are not particularly tech savvy, so we have to rely upon what other supposedly tech savvy people advise us on. It really is essential that you know what you’re buying when it comes to buying a digital camera, so in this article we will discuss the most important factors to lookout for and what to avoid.

A digital camera’s megapixels

Generally speaking, the more megapixels a digital camera has the better quality photos it will be able to produce. It is true that with the higher end cameras or 8 to 12 megapixels, the quality of the digital cameras lenses will also play an important role, but for digital cameras of 6 and below megapixels, the number of megapixels is generally the most important factor in the quality of the digital pictures it produces.

When comparing digital cameras by the number of megapixels they are capable of, you will need to look closely at the small print on the digital camera or in the digital cameras manual. You may find that the camera is in reality capable of less megapixels then it leads you to believe.

Here’s what I mean, it is normal for digital cameras to have the number of megapixels they are capable of printed on them in big print, however quite often you will also find printed in relatively small print underneath the big print something like, five megapixels software enhanced to six megapixels. This will never be the same as a true six megapixel camera and will not be capable of the same quality as a true six megapixel camera would.

2. Zoom:

You’re going to have to decide just how much zoom your camera will need, for this think about the type of photography you want to take with the camera, if a lot of long-distance photos are going to be taken, obviously more zoom will be very useful.

Now there is another important thing to understand here, digital cameras come with two kinds of zoom: optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical zoom makes use of lenses within the camera to zoom in on objects. Digital zoom simply digitally makes the image bigger and in the process will lose you a considerable amount of quality.

Again just like with the megapixels of a digital camera, the manufacturers often try to mislead you by using big wording stating how much digital zoom the digital camera has but only mention that the zoom is in fact digital in small print.

In my opinion digital zoom is about as useful as mud, I’d much rather not use digital zoom and instead digitally enlarged the picture at home on my PC. This way I would be able to see exactly how much picture quality I would be losing and I would still have the original picture at full quality.

A digital camera’s powersupply

Many people don’t stop to think about the powersupply of the digital camera they are thinking about buying, but I’m sure you can agree that the last thing you want to happen while you’re out and about taking your pictures is that you suddenly ran out of power and can no longer take any more.

AA and AAA batteries are the most common method used to power the lower end digital cameras. In many ways having this kind can be a good thing in that these batteries are cheap and easily replaceable at anytime.

Some lower end and most of the higher end digital cameras will only accept their own powersupply specifically made for that camera. These powersupplys are normally Lithium batteries and can be quite expensive.

These batteries normally last longer than normal batteries, but you will still want to have at least one spare battery Pack. Because of the price of these batteries you will need to take them into account when you’re purchasing your digital camera.

Some digital cameras can take both normal batteries and their own specific battery pack. This could, as I’m sure you can imagine, be a pretty cool feature since it will give you full control.

If you take into account everything mentioned above when you compare digital cameras, you should have no problem in choosing a good camera for your usage. Also remember to check out on-line reviews as they will help you compare each camera.

Checking out on-line reviews can become even more important when you’re looking to buy professional digital cameras, since lenses and other specifications for the cameras can make a lot of difference at this level.