Digital Camera

Digital cameras are getting smaller and smaller every year. People seem to have a fascination for very compact gadgets. Remember how bulky mobile phones used to be? I remember lugging around a bag phone the size of a woman’s purse and much heavier.

Now they have models that are as small as a chapstick.

Since digital cameras are one of the most popular portable devices on the market, a lot of people are looking for the smallest digital camera they can find. If you find yourself scouring the internet and your local electronics stores with that goal, just keep in mind that one way to reduce the size of a digital camera is to include fewer features. Don’t sacrifice important features just for a smaller size.

After all, what good is a small digital camera if it only has enough memory to store a few shots, or if it is a low-resolution camera that produces grainy photos?

You need to find the right balance. Find the right trade-off between small size and the important features. Let’s compare some of the smallest models to illustrate what I mean.

- The Blink by StyleCam is, technically speaking, the smallest digital camera available today, but it only has a resolution of 0.3 megapixel. It’s not built for serious photography. It also doesn’t have any zoom function to speak of, but at a price of less than $40, it could be considered a good value digital camera.

- Sony’s CyberShot DSC-U20 can also compete for the title of the smallest digital camera, but it’s loaded with features to boot! It comes with a 2.0 megapixel resolution and expandable memory storage using Sony’s memory stick technology.

- Casio’s Exilim EX-M2 is probably the best investment when it comes to compact digital cameras. It also comes with a 2.0 megapixel resolution, but it can also play mp3 files and record voice conversations. The only thing going against the Casio Exilim EX-M2 is a price tag of almost $400.

Just because we’re looking at the smallest digital cameras doesn’t mean that they will also be the cheapest models. It can be expensive to shrink the best features into a tinier package. It also doesn’t mean that we should settle for fewer features. Our investment can go a long, long way as long as we exercise a little caution and do a fair amount of research before making our choice of digital camera.

About The Author
Brandon Layne is a “serious amateur”, using both digital and film cameras primarily for action shots and outdoor photography. He offers current digital photography news and digital camera reviews on his web site at http://digitalfotoinfo.com.

Although Digital Cameras entered the picture quite a number of years ago and have subsequently all but eliminated film cameras, some consumers are just now making the switch. The reason for this is clear as the quality of a 35mm shot is outstanding and quite simply, we understood them. However, digital cameras offer advantages as well, such as the ability to edit photographs and to delete unacceptable images prior to printing or “developing”: a tremendous cost savings that allows photographers to experiment worry-free. When a stalwart film camera fan decides to take the leap some basic questions about how digital cameras function can arise.

Two common questions for digital camera novices are regarding how pictures are stored and then subsequently transferred for printing or sharing over the internet. The quick and dirty answer is that pictures taken with a digital camera are stored on digital memory cards: Smart Media cards, MultiMedia cards, Compact Flash cards etc. Images are stored on the cards and then loaded to a computer. Once on the computer, the images on the cards are generally deleted and the card is re-used so that a huge library of memory cards does not have to be maintained.

Images are usually compressed to fit on the cards. Greater compression allows more images to be stored on a given card helping to eliminate the need to download images to a computer after every few shots. However, it’s important to realize that the more the images are compressed, the more the quality of the image is sacrificed.

When purchasing a card for a digital camera, users can roughly estimate that with a typical 8 megapixel camera, the card will hold at least one quarter as many images as the card has megabytes, which is indicated on the front of the card. Both the amount of compression and the resolution of the images greatly affect the storage capacity of the card. Another option of course is to purchase multiple cards.

Many individuals who travel with their digital camera get a portable hard disk which allows them to download their images onto it, delete images from their card, and continue using the card without having to worry about downloading to their computer when they are away from home.

Once an image is stored on a digital camera, there are several ways of getting images from it to a computer. Individuals purchasing their first digital camera will need to determine how their new camera will connect to their computer to assure they have any necessary equipment/cables to complete the transfer. Common connections include:

Card readers

A Docking station to connect the digital camera to the computer via either a USB or FireWire connection. (USB 2.0 allows much faster downloading that USB 1.1)

PCMCIA adapters. These exist on most laptop computers. The memory cards fit directly into the slot and can be loaded from there.

Once connected to the computer, the software included with the digital camera is simply launched and transfer is completed with the click of a button. Even for those new to digital cameras, the ability to store and download images to their computer should be a very simple process that will be easy to master.

Christine Peppler share information on home entertainment and home electronics products, inluding digital cameras on her website at http://www.homemedias.info.

Until recently, were you to ask someone if they knew how to operate a digital camera, they would react as though you had grown another head. A digital camera? Whoever heard of such a thing. Now, in less than 5 years, they’re the only kind of camera to buy. With digital photography there’s no need for endless rolls of film. You just focus, click, and presto, a digital image. Don’t like the picture you just took? That’s no problem, either. You can simply delete the image.

Now, with all this available technology, why should we ever worry about pictures again? Well, the plain truth of the matter is this, if you don’t have a computer, it’s still expensive and quite time consuming to download your pictures at the local Wal-mart (or Wal-greens), instruct the computer there to copy the pictures to a disk, and then pay for the actual printing. See, it’s at this point that most consumers realize it’s just downright easier to buy an old fashioned, film loaded, camera.

Let’s assume, however, that you do have a computer, and you do want to purchase a digital camera. What kind of camera do you need? Where do you begin to check out your options and see how they relate to your needs? Well, the first part of the process would be to visit an electronics store in your area. The stores that specialize in electronics will generally have a sales person on hand that can explain all the available features of a digital camera and help you decide what you need and what you can live without.

One of the big questions concerns the “megapixel” feature of the camera. The larger the megapixel number, the better the quality of the picture. You see, megapixel determines how the camera reads color combinations in order to produce the best photo possible. Now this might be a matter of great concern if you are a professional photographer, but to the everyday consumer, three or four mega pixel strength is all you need.

Next you’ll want to examine what types of subjects you will photograph and under what kind of conditions. Do you need a camera that makes pictures of moving objects? Are you making your pictures at night, or during daylight hours? Up close and personal, or over on the next block? All of these questions are valid and will affect the quality of the picture you get if not correctly addressed.

There is one final option that you might want to check: some of the digital cameras also do video. The cameras tape the audio and video of the moment as well, or better, than some of your larger video cameras, just not as expensively.

Last but not least, you need to understand your storage options, and determine how much storage space you need. Going to the family reunion, room for maybe 10 pictures will be enough; But now the class reunion, well you’re going to need room for at least 500 photos. Alright, that brings this topic to a close and moves us on to the subject of “memory stix”.

Frederic Madore is the founder of the Digital Camera Information website. Get the best information about Digital Cameras and Digital Camera prices.