Digital Camera Buying Guide

Say Cheese! Yes, the cliché phrase you have heard for years right before someone takes a glamorous picture of food in your teeth….well let’s hope not. Of course we are talking about getting your lovely smile captured on a photo to be shared with friends and family. For many years it was the bulky cameras that used refillable rolls of film, or the one-time use of disposable cameras that made us capture our memories. Well in the last few years the innovations of digital cameras have really superseded the old-fashion camera. For the digital camera buyer, choosing the right device to make sure future memories (oxymoron?) are captured correctly and efficiently, while remaining within the budget, can be exciting yet slightly overwhelming. Well, it’s time to take a seat at your desk, and learn the basics of digital cameras. Pictures are not allowed during the lesson, however please take notes

Digital Cameras 101

Welcome to the Cowboom Classroom on digital cameras. Please keep a photographic memory of all the information you about to learn in this guide….or just take notes. Just like many electronic devices that you will purchase in your life, the first thing you must always figure out is the reasons you want the device. In the case for a digital camera, you must know what type of photographer you are going to be. Is this camera going to serve purpose for one of the following reasons?

  1. Professional or advanced use. Are you going to use this digital camera for an occupation requiring extensive features and capabilities?
  2. Regular everyday use. Are you going use this camera when you go to family events, walk your dog to the park, drop off your kids at the first day of school, or capture in the moment activities?

Many digital cameras are designed for the everyday use purpose, but several are also designed to keep the professional photographer in mind. Knowing the purpose you want a digital camera is the first and most important thing to consider before looking at the following main elements of a digital camera. Those elements are:

  1. Size
  2. Memory
  3. Resolution

Size Doesn't Matter

When it comes to digital cameras it's true! The bulky Ultra-Compact model can take quality photos just as the the itty bitty Mini Digital Camera that can fit in the palm of your hand. However, the bigger the camera, the more features it generally will have. An Ultra-Thin model compared to the Ultra-Compact model (Usually geared toward the professional photographer) will not have as many high-end features, but will still be suitable for the regular everyday user. Mini-Digital cameras as well will not have as many features, but will still take quality images and are very much an item to consider when working within a budget.

Of course when it comes to size you will want to think about storage. If you own a purse, will it fit properly in the purse with all the other 500 items? If you are going to put it in your pocket, is it too small that it falls out of those cargo pants? Or in will it be uncomfortable in those wrangler jeans pockets?

With the wide variety of digital cameras available on Cowboom.com there is bound to be a camera that meets your size need for the places you think you will store it. The other thing to keep in mind when thinking of size is the amount of accessories you may want with your digital camera. Such as carrying case, extra batteries, battery charger, etc. Accessories can always be stored in a different place when using the camera, but keep in mind the bigger the camera, the potential for bigger accessories.

Remember Your Memory

You may be saying, "What?" Well, this means is that you have to keep in mind the memory in your camera. Tired of having to constantly remember to buy new film and replace it into your old camera? Yeah, it can be a headache. However, no more aspirin is needed, because with the innovation of digital camera memory capabilities, it has cured all headaches of having to reload film! Similar to a computer hard drive and memory, a digital camera operates on either an internal memory and/or memory card. This is great because it means that pictures that are taken with a digital camera are automatically captured and saved to the device's memory.

Just as a computer with an initial amount of memory and hard drive, you can always purchase extra computer memory with an external hard drive. For a digital camera, there is always an initial amount of internal memory that can be used, however for heavy camera users, it is a valuable idea to purchase a digital camera that comes with a memory card for that extra amount of memory space to take more pictures. The convenient thing about a memory card as well is that, unlike having to replace rolls of film in an old camera, memory cards can be reused over and over again. Once the memory card reaches its capacity, you can simply upload the photos from your camera to your PC via a USB adapter, in most cases. Once the photos have been transferred, you can erase them off the memory card through the digital camera, than it will be ready for use again. Plenty of digital cameras with memory cards included, or memory cards sold separately can be found on Cowboom.com

R+E+S+O+L+U+T+I+O+N=resolution

Alright, of course you know how to spell resolution, but when it comes to a digital camera resolution, a little math goes a long way. The term you will hear time and time again in this subject is pixel. This is the term used to describe the amount of resolution in a digital camera. Most of the devices you will find these days are measured in megapixels.

MP=Megapixel
MP=Measuring at 1,000 by 1,000 pixels.

The amount of MP you want on your digital camera also will determine how you want the resolution of the photo to appear when either printing photos or displaying for view on a pc. The smaller the prints, generally the smaller amount of MP's you will need. Anywhere from 2-5 MP's are enough to print out your standard 3x5 or 4x6 photos, for the regular user.

Any size prints higher than that than you will want something at least 6-7 MP's. The professional user generally will purchase a digital camera with higher MP’s. Since their prints are generally bigger than standard sizes, or used for publications. However professional users who just want to transfer the images via computer or internet may also consider a digital camera with less MP's to cut down on download time. It all comes down to user preference.

Features to Create Your Features

In creating your features (scrapbooks, slide shows, publications, etc) digital cameras offer many different features of their own to make yours happen. Key features to keep in mind when you experimenting with a camera for your potential purchase are the following:

  1. Zoom
  2. Flash & Speed
  3. Stablization
  4. View Finder
  5. CCD
  6. Automatic VS Manual

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom…..

Optical VS Digital: Sounds like a grudge match, but really it's just the difference on how you will zoom in and out when capturing your images.

Optical-the camera lenses itself shift in a way to help put an image in the distance you prefer

Digital-the camera's internal computer chip shifts the image in the distance you prefer

The winner and undisputed zoomer of the world?....Optical. Generally takes a better digital picture than the digital zoom.

Flash Possess' "Super Speed"

Remember the comic-book hero possessing "super speed" by the name of Flash? Well that's what the title of this section is describing as well, how a digital camera possess' both quality flashing and speed capabilities.

Flash-Your digital camera will always have a flash feature built in. Generally the built in flash is a bit smaller in the brightness when the photo is captured. However the quality of the image captured can be better served if using an external flash. Sold separately, an external flash serves purpose to catch a brighter image in dark locations, but also reduce red-eye.

Speed-The speed of your camera to take image after image depends on the amount of time it takes for the flash to refresh itself between captures. If you want a camera that has a fast flash refresh between images, make sure to look for flash that possess' "Super Speed".

Keeping Things Stabilized

Of course you don't want your images to come out blurry or to where you can't even make out what's in the picture. Also, if you're taking pictures in a busy setting, it is difficult at times to keep your hands steady as your taking an image, so it's important to note that your digital camera should either have and OIS and EIS.

OIS=Optical Image Stabilization
EIS=Electronic Image Stabilization

These internal features of your digital camera well guarantee that your images remain in focus.

What a View

That is something you will tell yourself when you take quality images through your digital camera. However, to make sure you can say your photo has a great view, you want to understand the differences between the three main view finders:

LCD-Liquid Crystal Display. This view finder allows you to monitor your digital frames as you capture them. It exists as a mini LCD TV inside your camera.

DSLR-Digital Single Lens Reflex. This operates as the function to view an image before it's captured through the lens. It also operates as a function to increase the flash refreshing between images to ensure stability and avoid blurry images.

Optical-Is the most common view finder in digital cameras, and most preferred. It operates as the eye piece to use before an image is taken, which also helps prevent shake and blurry images.

Point and Shoot-This view finder feature is more of an automatic approach to photo capturing, whereas the other options above are more manual by the user. Point and Shoot method is generally used by the regular casual type user than that of the professional user. The professional user will want a more manual approach and will probably choose a digital camera with the first three view finders described. The Point and Shoot view finder operates easier for the user, and its settings automatically and the user will just have to trust that the images created are quality.

Lights, Camera, Action!

The key term in that phrase in this section is light. Last but not least, one of the most important features to your digital camera. You will want to make sure than when looking at the features of your camera that is has a quality size CCD (Charged Coupled Device). What this feature does is operate as the function to allow the amount of light to be taken in the photo. The larger your CCD, the more light you will be allowed to capture. The CCD also operates as the image recorder, capturing the image and converter for the amount of pixels in the image.

Alright, now you know key features and essential information on digital cameras. Browse Cowboom.com for your own digital camera. Go take some pictures! Class Dismissed!



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