Find straightforward answers to many of the most frequently asked photography questions in our digital camera buying guide for 2010.
Picking out a new digital camera can be one of the most challenging tech purchases to make. Even experienced geeks can be caught off guard by the sheer number of cameras available, the variety of features, and the marketing-laced jargon uses to describe seemingly simple features.
With that in mind we’ve put together this simple guide as a starting point for green camera buyers. We’ve kept it brief to get you going on your search, but our ultimate digital camera shopping guide can help you nail down the specifics after getting a lay of the land.
DSLR or point-and-shoot?
Before taking a single step forward, this question needs an answer. Without it, you might as well go shopping for wheels without figuring out whether you’re looking for a car or a motorcycle.
You probably recognize DSLRs as the heavy, bulky cameras professionals use. As you would expect, they offer unbeatable image quality at the expense of weight, size, and price tags to match. Besides high-resolution sensors and sharp photos, they can shoot extremely fast and accept swappable lenses for shooting everything from sporting events from 200 yards away to coins from two inches away. You can generally expect to spend at least $500 for an entry-level model.
Point-and-shoot cameras commonly take a form factor barely bigger than a deck of playing cards, but get chunkier as you add more features or drop down the cost. You can score some of the latest budget models for just under $100. As the name would suggest, they’re almost foolproof to use, but as a tradeoff to the size, price and ease-of-use, they shoot slower, take lower quality pictures, and don’t offer swappable lenses.
Check out our guides on the subject for an even more in-depth look at this critical decision.
How many megapixels do I need?
In 2000, the answer to this question was “more is always better.” In 2010, the answer is more likely “if you have to ask, you have enough.” Even the cheapest cameras these days typically pack eight or more megapixels onto a sensor, which produces superb 4 x 6 prints, all the way up to 8 x 10, and sometimes more. The physical size and quality of the image sensor along with the corresponding optics play a much bigger role in image quality than megapixels alone, so don’t be fooled into thinking more megapixels will produce better photographs. Unless you’re planning to blow up shots to poster or billboard size, any modern camera has enough resolution.
See our guide to camera resolution for a more detailed explanation.
What’s the difference between digital and optical zoom?
Like megapixels, manufacturers frequently throw around big numbers relating to digital zoom. Like megapixels, you should ignore them. Optical zoom uses real optics to get you closer to your subject, while digital zoom merely takes the same amount of pixels you would have in a standard shot and blows them up to fill the frame. The camera captures no more detail. It’s the same zooming or cropping trick you could pull in Photoshop, done in the camera on the fly. While that can sometimes be handy, image quality suffers severely as a result, and most photographers would never use digital zoom.
Our guide to digital versus optical zoom further breaks down the differences, with examples.
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