Choosing a brand new digital camera can be a daunting process. With literally hundreds of different models on the market, how can you be sure which is the best one for you? There are so many features and specifications available that each individual camera is truly unique, so what do you look for.
First of all, the main thing that you need to define is a budget. If you’re not looking to spend over ?100, your options are clearly going to be more limited than someone who has ?400 to play with. That said, even low cost cameras are coming on leaps and bounds. With technology moving forward at a great pace, new innovations are constantly overtaking the old ones, thus helping drive down the cost.
With a budget in mind, you then need to work out the specification of the camera. Do you need the very best quality images, or are you more interested in a more user-friendly ‘snap and click’ variety? Top end digital cameras tend to have optimised features all over them, with everything working together to produce the very best quality images and processing. Lower down the monetary scale, you may find that cameras excel in some areas, whilst perhaps omitting other features to save on cost and size.
Defining what is important to you is clearly a very important step to make early on. To help make this easier, we have provided the following list:
- Size ? Cameras are all shapes and sizes, bigger doesn?t always necessarily mean better so always check zoom and other features too.
- Face Recognition ? Automatically tracks and focuses on people?s faces in photos
- Manual Focus ? Takes time, but can provide clearer results than autofocus
- Shutter Speed ? A variable shutter speed will allow you to use a camera in all light conditions
- LCD Screen ? Most will have them, although some are clearer than others ? 1.6? is about average.
- Optical Zoom ? Higher optical zoom is better than higher digital zoom, but will cost more too
Finally, what is it that you’re going to be using it for? If you’re planning on taking it to places where it may get damaged – travelling, concerts, sports events etc – you may want to look for a compact camera that doesn’t cost the earth. If, however, you are looking to do some serious photography in pursuit of a hobby or vocation, then you’ll need a digital camera that has a specification to match – possibly without caring so much about cost or sizing so much either.
In terms of selecting a brand for your digital camera, that is also largely down to your personal preference. Canon are widely regards as one of the most foremost names in camera manufacturing, so often they make a particularly good choice. As great innovators, they tend to be the first introducing top quality features to their models too. Within their current range you’ll find the small Canon Ixus cameras which offers fantastic picture quality for a camera of its size. At the other end of the spectrum there’s the Canon EOS 500D which is one of the newest digital SLR Cameras on the market.
Whilst Canon may lead the way, there are a number of other manufactures who offer very good alternatives; these include Fujifilm, Olympus, Samsung and Sony. So be sure to shop around when choosing your digital camera and get one that works for you.