What You Should Know Before Buying a Digital Camera

By Daniel Henderlei

The key technical component of digital photography is the semiconductor. Light is focused onto a semiconductor, creating a digital image. Digital images have let us enter a new paperless age of photography as images can be stored on computers instead of printed.

Creativity is highly personal, and it is what drives photography. When planning to get a digital camera, talk to those you know who own one. Extensive information is available on the Internet, so that you don't make your purchase blindly.

There are certain features that are especially useful for certain types of photographers. Nature lovers will find a large zoom lens to come in handy when taking pictures in the outdoors. Anyone who wants to shoot photos of children should look for fast response times, because they move quickly and you don't want blurs. Models that take good pictures in dim light will be helpful when taking photos where friends and family are in set poses.

For novices interested in photography, a simple all-around model should do until you learn more about the challenges of taking photos. There are two kinds of digital cameras - the Point-and-Shoot, and the Digital SLR.

The Point-and-Shoot

Beginners will like the point-and-shoot. It lives up to its name as most settings are automatic, and will adjust itself for you based on the environment and lighting. Customization can still be available as many cameras offer presets for environments like sunny, outdoors, indoors, etc.

The ISO (sensitivity to light) and focal length are calculated for you when using automatic settings. Some cameras are excel more at different environments than others, so keep that in mind.

The compact camera can offer solid features as well as small size, including image stabilization and blur reduction. Some even have face detection. You should also be able to find many compact cameras that offer a large, easy to use LCD screen.

Optical zoom cameras can capture small details that compact cameras might not be able to. Optical zoom is different than digital zoom - with optical zoom, the image is physically adjusted and looks natural. Digital zoom crops the image and then enlarges it, which can reduce image quality. Not everyone has use for an optical zoom; beginners probably don't need one unless they love distant landscape type shots.

The Digital SLR camera (single lens reflex)

The Single Lens Reflex has a dual-function lens. The lens captures the image and shows it to you in the viewfinder. SLRs offer features such as interchangeable lenses, lots of customization, and a wide array of manual controls. You can create photos of any composition you desire. Depth of field and focus will be adjusted automatically by the camera. This camera allows the photographer to be as creative as they wish. - 29888

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