posted
My parents asked me if I would like a digital camera for Christmas. I said, "Yes!" They said, "Great, we have $200 to spend, do the research and tell us which one you want."
I said, "Uh, okay ..." because I know next to nothing about digicams. Actually, the only thing about them I do know is that you should get optical zoom over a camera with digital zoom.
posted
It's not that you should get optical zoom over digital. The camera will have both. It's that you should ignore the digital zoom figure, because it's essentially useless.
Apart from that, my knowledge of digital cameras doesn't go much beyond "you should probably get a 4 megapixel minimum, although don't worry about going much higher unless you're going to get your photos blown up to some giant Tim-like size".
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
There are some cameras which have Digital Zoom, only, but no optical zoom. Ignore those like the plague.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Highter the Mega pixel the bigger you can print up your picture and still retain picture quality. For instance one megapixel is aprroxiamately 4x6, two is 6x8,three is 8x10 etc. Also the larger the mega pixel setting for your picture the more room it takes up on your memory card. A one megapixel pic takes up 1/3 MB, A two megapixel pic is about one 1MB, a three MP pic is 2 MB...so if you only have a 16MB card...get a bigger one.
-------------------- "Well, Sergeant? Aren't you going to say that it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? Everybody else does."
"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?"
The Doctor and Sgt. Benton, in "The Three Doctors"
Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged
posted
Battery life: Digital Cameras will suck the life out of your batteries faster than a Wraith sucking the lifweforce out of the Red Shirted extra on SGA. Older generation cameras you got about 30-50 pics before having to fill er up, newer ones get you about 60. Advise either use rechargables or turn off that screen in back and don't use the optical zoom, those are the killers.
-------------------- "Well, Sergeant? Aren't you going to say that it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? Everybody else does."
"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?"
The Doctor and Sgt. Benton, in "The Three Doctors"
Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged
posted
Zoom: Where are you taking your pics? Inside: you dont need zoom unless your living room is a stadium. Outside: Optical is nice for getting closeups of Moose without pissing them off (IKnow!) but is a drain on batteries. Think about your regular camera, do you have Zoom on it, most people dont, they use those little disposable ones and you don't hear them complain about optical zoom.
-------------------- "Well, Sergeant? Aren't you going to say that it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? Everybody else does."
"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?"
The Doctor and Sgt. Benton, in "The Three Doctors"
Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Also^1, you don't just buy a digital camera. You buy a camera and then a slew of accessories to complement it. So have your folks reserve at least 20 percent of their budget for batteries and the like.
Also^2, what type of photography (macro- or tele-, basic P & S) are you planning to do the most? What size (compact, slr, etc) do you want your camera to be? What kind of data storage medium (compactflash, smartmedia, memorysticks) do you want to use? How much room for expansion (lenses, filters) do you want to have? What sort of material (metal, plastic) do you want it made of?
So, y'know, do the research. B)
(Also^3, I should probably kill your spirits right here and warn you that $200 really doesn't buy you a lot of digicam.)
posted
In some ways having a camera with a built-in battery and recharger cable might be better than having to lug around a battery charger everywhere. I once lost my charger for three whole months, couldn't find it anywhere.
Anyone who goes on about how many Megapixels their camera does must have a very small dick. My Canon is two years old, and has the same number of megapixels, but it does me perfectly fine. Well, I say that, but I just had to have it repaired for the price of a new one because I have an underwater housing I use when scuba-diving.
As time goes on the number of megapixels any nbew camera will do will go up, that's inevitable, but it's not worth obessing about how many the one you choose does. Not less than two, anyway.
posted
Digital Photography Reviews is a pretty good site. On batteries, I definately recommend rechargeables, and get yourself a 1 hour charger and two or three sets of batteries. My biggest drain seems to be the flash, I can get alot more non-flash pictures than flash ones. Get a camera that doesn't use proprietory batteries. Don't just buy the cheapest memory you can, there are differences in write speed and this could affect whether you get the picture you want. My experiences with digital zoom are not very good. In order to get a good picture with digital zoom you need high light conditions. Try to get as much optical zoom that you can. While you are looking, try to find out about picture taking speed, some are slow and you miss the shot you wanted. Also read your manual, this is not a 35mm camera, white balance is very important and very unforgiving.
-------------------- "and none of your usual boobery." M. Burns
Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
