Digital Camera

When you’re first starting out taking digital photographs - choosing the right camera can be difficult. These days there are literally thousands of cameras available - in a variety of shapes and sizes and with an increasingly wide range of features. With all the technical information to wade through it’s easy to get lost - there’s all sorts of jargon associated with camera’s from exposure to aperture but when starting out you need to keep things simple and know the basics of what you should be looking for.

When starting out - simplicity is the key - most users want to be able to simply point and shoot - then transfer the finished results to their computer or printer. Most local printing stores accept digital cameras or media cards - many even have self serve booths or machines so getting quality prints from your camera shouldn’t be too daunting.

So what should you look for when starting out - to help we have put together 5 key things you should look for when choosing an entry level digital camera.

1. Megapixels

This is the key feature and determines the quality of your photographs - Megapixels refers to the resolution capability of your camera - simply put the higher the megapixel the better your results. These days, camera’s range from 2 or less to 10 Megapixel SLR cameras. The more megapixels the higher the quality but also the higher cost of the camera so it will be a trade off - aim for a minimum of 3 Megapixels for reasonable 4 X 6 or 8 X 10 family photographs.

2. Storage

Many camera’s come with onboard storage - a memory card expansion slot - or both - Storage is important because that’s where your photo’s will be placed before you transfer them to your computer or print them off - if your camera has an expansion slot and can take memory cards, ensure that these cards are easily available (e.g. SD cards) and ensure you have a way of transferring the contents of your memory card to your PC either by a card reader or a dedicated slot in your PC.

3. Ease of Transferring Pictures

Check out how you will transfer pictures to your PC or printer - many Digital camera’s these days will “dock” with compatible printers - or you may be able to connect to your PC via USB - also check if the camera comes with any software to help.

4. Features

Camera’s these days have a wide variety of features - some of which may be useful to you for example

Does the camera come with a zoom function (is this optical or digital - optical will produce better results)

Can the Camera take Movies?

Can you manually adjust settings such as exposure

Before you buy your camera think about how you will use it and determine which features you’ll need.

5. Power/Battery Life

Finally the camera will no doubt be powered by batteries - check out how many - what type and the battery life you can expect from a fully charged set - can this be conserved by turning of the LCD screen or other features - many entry level cameras eat batteries for breakfast!! - make sure you aim for a long battery life and keep a stock of spares.

The author runs the blog Camera-zone Blog which offers reviews and information for those starting out with digital camera’s and digital photography.

Do you enjoy taking lots of pictures? Taking photos is probably the single most effective way to document our lives and special occasions. In fact, you can never have too many pictures. Your photo albums are probably the most valuable possession you had.

Memories are the only things that cannot be replaced. Make sense to you? If you have been taking a lot of photos with your family, it is fun to glance back on them and see how your child was like as a newborn and when they first went to school in their cute clothes. How about how your spouse look like while courting? How those retro clothes look so funny now?

These are priceless moments. The great thing about these special times is that they can now be captured in a whole new way. I am referring to a digital camera. Now with technological advances, we can have affordable digital cameras. The sizes are getting more compact too.

A digital camera is one of those necessities in life. It’s an electronic wonder that none of us should be without. I can still remember the days before I had a digital camera. Yikes, I’m glad those are a part of the past. Film was always such a hassle. First you have to head out to the local food or drug store, buy the film and put it in the camera. Then you can take around 32 pictures, hoping that they all came out right, and then proceed back to the drugstore in order to have them developed.

This is a pain and a burden to say the least. Once you’ve been exposed to a digital camera, you’ll never want to go back to the old-school ways. Oh, and we shouldn’t forget all the money we save by not having to purchase film. This is a major bonus.

You want to know why digital cameras are so popular nowadays. I will tell you why, plain and simple. Folks love the convenience a digital camera provides. You can take as many photos as you want, whenever you want. Simply erase the ones you don’t like immediately. It’s that easy. Then you can download all of your pictures to your personal computer. I love being able to print out my own from home. It saves a lot of time, effort and cash. There’s no reason to rely on anyone.

If you want to, you can simply download the photos into a storage media and you can bring it to a local photo shop for development. If you have internet access, you could even upload your photos to an online photo development service provider. You can have the photos delivered right to your door step.

If you are in search of a digital camera, simply hop on the web for a vast selection to pick from. Just remember to get a decent sized memory card of at least 512MB if you like to click a lot.

To find out more information on What to look for in a
digital camera and buying guide, visit The
Digital Camera Explained.