digicameras

This is very simply a basic guide to buying a digital camera. This is basic info and is a guide, opinion only. We cannot be held liable for any information contained here or any act based on this info. Inclusion and links in this page do not mean endorsement of any of the products, companies or any guarantee of their suitability or reliability!

Some basic guidelines that I know to help you - I'm just passing on what I know in order to help, sorry if it seems a little patronising. I could be more detailed but would confuse me let alone you!

Digital Cameras - Why Would I Want One?

Digital Cameras are cameras that don't use film to record photos but use digital forms of memory to 'save' the photo. So what? Well, you can 'upload' the photos to your PC or Mac and then alter the image, save it on CD, email it to friends, use it as a screensaver, put it on a website and so on.

You have a viewscreen on the camera which allows you to view the image you will take and any images you have taken. You can instantly delete it if you're not happy and try again, no more wasted film!

You don't need to go to have the photos developed, although you can, but can print them up yourself. Many digital cameras allow you to print directly to a printer without turning your computer on. Once you've transferred the images from your camera to your PC you can delete the photos on your camera and use the memory again, time after time!

In terms of youth work, you can take photos, then everyone can look at them straight away, you can use them instead of polaroid cameras in games (and with much better quality), many have movie modes too, many with sound (but not all). Possibilities are endless!

What Do I Want It For?

Before deciding on a digital camera, decide what you want one for. If you just want a basic one to take small pictures then a 2 or 3 megapixel camera is for you. If you want to produce slightly larger images, have an interest in photography but aren't too worried about using cameras, get a basic 4-5 megapixel camera. If you are into photography and want to learn more, experiment, produce images that you can alter when on your PC and want photos at least A4 or A3 size then a 3 to 5 megapixel camera is essential, as is one that accepts attachments like new lenses - and has more manual controls to set white light, exposure etc. Anything more then that is into the more 'prosumer' and even professional zone.

All these terms - megapixels and all that - what does it mean? Help!!!

Megapixels

Pixels are dots of information. They make up what you see on an image, a TV screen etc. The higher the number, the higher the quality of the image and the larger you can produce the image. (If an image is poor quality and you enlarge it, the quality drops). Nearly all digital cameras (and camcorders, and many cellphones) have at least 3 megapixels.

A higher megapixel level does not equate to a better image necessarily, though it may mean you can enlarge an image more effectively. Quality needs to be judged on more than megapixels and I recommend reading the internet, user reviews on places like www.internetcamerasdirect.co.uk and magazines.

Image Sensor

CCD. This is a complicated measurement. Usually the higher this number the better, we'll leave it at that!

Lens

This is a very important one. Lenses differ vastly in quality and in what you are able to achieve with them. One important aspect will be the 'optical zoom' which is basically how much a camera can zoom in on a subject. My one camera has an optical zoom of 3 (more than that and the camera starts to get bulky, as with my 'prosumer' Panasonic digital camera which has a 12 optical zoom).

You will also hear of 'digital zoom' but this is of much less importance as it reduces quality. As with camcorders, this is zooming in on an image taken more than an image.. here's what I mean.. these photos an simulation of digital zoom, not actual..

So, the main point to note here is to ignore the 'digital zoom' claims. Instead, you want a good 'optical zoom' figure.

Here is Washington DC looking along the Reflection Pool

Here is the same image with faked digital zoom - no loss in quality

And here with a digital zoom effect - notice how the pictures is becoming 'blocky' as digital zoom effectively makes the image larger rather than zooming in on the subject

Image Recording Format and Quality

Most digital cameras take photos as jpeg/jpg images (these are exactly the same, just that different makes use the different 'endings' - so for example me.jpg or me.jpeg are the same). This is basically one method of image compression. There are other formats where the image you take does not get compressed at all (these formats are usually RAW and TIFF formats). Compression is basically a balancing act between image quality and file size. So, the greater the compression, the more of the quality you lose.

Your camera will probably use jpeg and that is absolutely fine unless you need high quality images for stuff like print and media work, in which case you won't be reading this!

So, the compression. Just check your camera has a varied range of compression settings, usually around 3, which is fine. This means your images will be low, medium and high quality. Again, the higher the quality, the larger the file size but the larger you will be able to print without loss of quality.

My small digital camera has 4 sizes of images - High (2048 x 1536 pixels), Medium 1 (1600 x 1200), Medium 2 (1024 x 768) and Small (640 x 480). Each of these comes with 3 different methods of compression - Superfine, Fine and Normal.

My prosumer Panasonic camera has different options. There is an option of picture size and quality. However, the camera imports both 'TIFF' and 'RAW' formats. Don't worry too much about them, except that if your camera has the option, it will cost more and be of better quality as there is generally less compression than a jpeg image.

Remember not to enlarge prints beyond their actual sizes, so that they end up looking like picture 3 (above). Remember that if you edit jpeg photos too much in your computer, you will gradually lose the image quality of your image. One way to avoid this, is to import your photo to your computer as a jpeg. Then, save the file as an uncompressed (or less compressed) format - such as a photoshop or a TIFF file. Then you can edit and not lose too much quality.

Make sure the camera has a flash too, or an accessory 'shoe' where you can attach a separate flash.

Storage

Your digital camera will come with a minimum of 16MB of memory built in to the camera system, or 16MB via a small memory card you insert into the camera. This memory is where the photos you take are stored. The higher, the more images you can store at once. This is useful when you take your camera away and don't have access to a computer to download the images - to start over. There are various forms of storage media - don't worry too much about which one but some are more expensive. Buy more memory when buying the camera to save money!

I wouldn't consider buying less that 64MB or 128MB memory at an absolute minimum, especially if you will be using your camera on its highest quality settings - or shooting video with your camera. My one camera has 128MB, my prosumer camera has 2GB. Remember that camera makers such as Sony have a proprietary format for storage. This means you have a unique method, which only Sony produces. (This is the same on many Sony products). Incidentally, many USB cables that come with all cameras are often proprietary too.

Movie Mode

Many people like to have this facility on their camera. It can provide fun for basic and small movies. Many lower-end cameras have movie mode without sound but increasingly this is changing. Remember a movie mode on a digital camera is generally a very poor substitute for an equivalent contemporary digital camcorder.

Make sure you can output your movie to your PC or TV (not all allow this) and that it can either be as PAL (the standard for TV used in the UK) or NTSC (for the US). Look for output of .avi (Windows standard) or .mov (Apple Quicktime) files from your movie mode. Movies take up significantly more memory than still images (this file size increases where it has audio). But a movie mode is a cool feature, get it if you can!

Remember again that your movie mode will enable you to create different settings - in terms of size and quality (resolution) that you shoot the video in. So, for example, many cameras shoot at 640x480 pixels. This is not 'full screen' size, so you may want to increase the physical size of your movie (to 720x576 or 760x576 for PAL). You may also have compression settings. So, again, to get the highest quality, set the compression to minimum / image quality to maximum. Some of the more modern cameras are now shooting in widescreen mode, and have more frames per second ('fps'). This means that the wuality will be higher.

Batteries and Power Consumption

Your digital camera is a clever little fella. With its cleverness comes the need to keep it powered up. Many cameras use up to 4 AA batteries (increasing the weight). This is something you may want to consider. Others take just 2 AA batteries, some take a manufacturer-specific battery. Many take rechargeable batteries. My small camera takes 4 AAs or 4 rechargeable. My Panasonic takes batteries that are rechargable, along similar lines to a digital camcorder battery.

Advanced / Special Features

This is where photography gets more personal and more fun. Most cameras will give you different shooting modes - low light, backlit compensation, red-eye reduction, fast shutter (for sporting events for example) and more. These are fine but there are some things to look out for to help..

Backlit compensation is an important tool. Think of this scenario: you are at a wedding, taking a photo of the bride and groom. Unfortunately, they are sat with their backs to a window, with the sun streaming in behind them. If you take a photo of them, they will be dark (set against a bright background). Backlit compensation will mean a small flash to light up the subjects in the foreground so they won't look so dark. Better still, get a photo when they're not in front of a bright window!!

A macro mode will enable you to take photos of small things very close up effectively. With no macro setting, the camera will not be able to naturally focus on something very close (eg 3cm away)

Does your camera have decent night or low light shooting settings? Most digital cameras suffer from poor quality photos when the light isn't good, some compensate for this with various effects and tricks. Check this to help make the most of low light shots (raise exposure, or use a night setting).

Shutter / ISO settings (the faster this is, the better for shooting movie subjects), the lower the shutter speed, the more dreamy and blurred an image can be. (This is how people take images looking down on traffic on the highway from a bridge at night and achieve the effect of seeing no cars but the trails of the lights of the cars, as the cars have moved between the time of the shutter opening and shutting, if you know what I mean!)

White balance adjustment.. Have you ever seen video or camera shots that look a bit 'blue'? Things that are supposed to be white look blue instead.. This is because the white balance hasn't been set right. In these and other times, you may want to manually change the white balance, to make sure whites look white. This will be different under different types of lighting (inside, outside, fluorescent, tungsten etc). Have a play and see!

Exposure is very important, especially if shooting in manual mode. You can adjust the exposure manually on most cameras, not just the more 'professional' or 'prosumer' ones. Enclosed are 2 examples of good and bad exposure..

BAD: In this first image (above) you can see that the subject looks very 'washed out'. Look closely at the face and you'll see that it is too bright, you can't make out skin tone, only 'white'.

GOOD: In this example (above), you can see that the skin tone is more finely balanced and this is a more correct exposure.

Finally, what about manual focus? Automatic is very good but if you want control, get manual. My prosumer Panasonic camera has a manual focus (and zoom) ring at the front of the camera to allow me to focus. If you don't have this, you may have 'spot metering' which tells the camera which 'spots' to focus on. Most cameras have this, although my camera will allow up to 9 different 'spots'.

What difference does manual focus make? Well, something called 'depth of field' (DOF for short). Depth of field creates the feeling that the subject is in the 'foreground' against a 'background'. Check out the 2 examples below.

NO DEPTH OF FIELD: In this picture, we see the subject in the foreground holding some ice cream at a party. You can clearly see the subject, and the people behind. (Note this is a well taken photograph, with the subject positioned to one side of the photo and lots of 'air space' to the right, creating a nice dynamic)

DEPTH OF FIELD: In this pic, we can now see that the subject is in focus, whereas the people behind are out of focus. This makes the subject more clearly defined and gives the image a 'depth'.

Attachments

When I was looking to buy a camera, this was something that concerned me. I didn't want a big bulky camera but I wanted one that could be expandable. I love effects and if you get a camera that takes lens attachments, you can get effects if you want them in the future, like the fisheye lens effect, or wide converter, tele-coverter, close-up lenses, flashlight etc.

Editing on Your Computer

Step one, make sure your computer has a USB port. If not, either upgrade or look into buying a converter. Or buy a Mac. In fact, if you're going to be creative then just get a Mac, it has all the ports and software you need.

If you own an Apple Mac like me you'll have the delight of using a programme called iPhoto which opens up as you plug in a digital camera to your system and stores your images amazingly well for a free piece of software. In terms of movie making you have the excellent iMovie which will enable basic video editing and comes with loads of effects. In combination with iPhoto and iDVD you'll be able to create fun and yet quality CDRs or DVDs (as long as you have a CD or DVD writer!)

Whatever operating system you use, there will be free software in order for your computer to recognise your digicam as it plugs into your USB port.

You may also want other software to edit your photos a bit more effectively. For this I highly recommend Adobe Photoshop Elements, an awesome package for this kind of thing. If you want something more advanced get Photoshop full version like me.

Remember (as mentioned above), that the more you edit a digital camera photo on your computer, the more the image will deteriorate in quality (especially if you are using the compressed format - jpeg). So be choosy and careful before continually adding effects and saving (or save again, as an uncompressed format once the image is on your computer, before editing). A good photo from a decent camera often doesn't need post-editing unless going for certain effects.

Shopping for a camera

If you're in the UK you'll notice that often you can buy cheaper from the States. My advice is unless you're going there, don't bother. You can still get very good deals in the UK. Unless you'll need to shop from a local store, don't have an internet connection or don't have a credit or debit card, there's no reason not to shop online. The deals are cheaper, service is usually overnight and security (with a padlock in the bottom left of your browser (top right on Safari) and/or a secure web address when you go to buy of https:// instead of http://) is excellent.

My personal recommendation is www.internetcamerasdirect.co.uk as they are cheaper, have and encourage loads of reviews of their products and deliver overnight. You should make up your own mind.

For further reviews visit the following excellent sites which give detail way beyond little 'ol me!

www.dcresource.com

www.dcviews.com

www.dpreview.com

www.imaging-resource.com

www.megapixel.net

www.steves-digicams.com