Shopping for the Right Digital Camera

Today, everyone from icons of the photography world to powerhouse players in the computer and electronics market offers some sort of digital photography product. Having so many different fingers in the digicam pie is both good and bad. On the upside, more competition means better products, a wider array of choices, and lower prices for consumers. On the downside, you need to do a lot more research to figure out which camera is right for you. Different manufacturers take different approaches to winning the consumer's heart, and sorting through the various options takes some time and more than a little mental energy.

Pixels

More pixels mean better-looking images. Different cameras can capture different numbers of pixels; generally, the more you pay, the more pixels you get.

Pixels are the individual dots that make up a picture. The more pixels, the higher the resolution. Megapixel means one million pixels. A 2-megapixel camera offers 2 million pixels, a 3-megapixel camera offers 3 million pixels, and so on.

How many pixels do you need? That depends on how you want to use your pictures. If all you want to do with your digital photos is share them via e-mail, post them on a Web page, or use them in a multimedia presentation, you can get by with a VGA-resolution camera (640 x 480 pixels). At the very top of the consumer market are a few models that offer resolutions of 4 megapixels or greater. These models are geared toward the serious digital photography enthusiast who needs to produce quality 8 x 10-inch or larger prints.

The moral of the story is this: For top image quality, look for the camera capable of capturing the most actual, not interpolated, pixels with the least amount of compression. (A camera interpolates pixels by adding extra pixels between the actual pixels.) But because image quality is affected by many other factors, such as the quality of the lens and how sensitive the image sensor is to light, don't rely totally on these numbers. Instead, use your head — more specifically, use your eyes. Shoot test images on several different cameras and judge for yourself which unit offers the best image quality.

Compression

Most digital cameras compress image files when saving them in the camera memory. To compress a file means to eliminate some data in order to reduce the size of the file. Several forms of compression are available, but most cameras use a type known as JPEG (jay-peg) compression.

JPEG is a file format that was designed expressly for storing digital image data. The letters stand for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the imaging-industry committee that developed the format.

For the most flexibility, choose a camera that enables you to select from two or three different compression amounts so you can compress a little or a lot, depending on what sort of quality you need for a particular picture. If your photographic projects require the highest possible image quality, look for a camera that offers a no-compression or low-compression setting.

Typically, compression options are given vague names such as "Good," "Better," or "Best." On some cameras, though, these same types of names are given to settings that control the number of image pixels, so be sure that you know what option you're evaluating. Check the camera manual for this information.

Memory

Another specification to examine when you shop for digital cameras is what kind of memory the camera uses to store images. A few cameras have built-in memory (if you want to be hip, call it on-board memory). After you fill up the on-board memory, you can't take any more pictures until you transfer the images to your computer.

On-board storage used to be the norm. But most cameras now rely on removable media for image storage. You put a memory card or disk into a slot on the camera, just as you put a floppy disk into your computer. The camera then writes the image data to the removable media as you shoot.

For a look at the most common types of removable camera memory, see Figure 1. The options in the top row, a mini-CD and standard floppy disk, are used by some Sony digital cameras, as is the Memory Stick shown in the bottom row. Most other manufacturers design their cameras around either SmartMedia or CompactFlash cards, also shown in the bottom row. A few new cameras, especially those that feature tiny camera bodies, store pictures on the diminutive Secure Digital (SD) cards.

Whether on-board or removable, when you're comparing cameras, look closely at the manufacturer's "maximum storage capacity" claims — the maximum number of images you can store in the available memory. The figure you see reflects the number of image you can store if you set the camera to capture the fewest number of pixels or apply the highest level or compression, or both.

LCD

Most cameras have an LCD (liquid-crystal display) screen. The LCD screen is like a miniature computer monitor, capable of displaying images stored in the camera. The LCD is also used to display menus that enable you to change the camera settings and delete images from the camera's memory.

The ability to review and delete images right on the camera is very helpful because you avoid the time and hassle of downloading unwanted images. If an image doesn't come out the way you wanted, you delete it and try again.

On most cameras, the LCD can also provide a preview of your shot. So if your camera has a traditional viewfinder and an LCD, you can frame your pictures using the LCD or the viewfinder.

A few cameras with LCDs lack traditional viewfinders, so you must compose all your pictures using the LCD. It may be difficult to shoot pictures using the LCD for framing because you have to hold the camera a few inches away from you in order to see what you're shooting. If your hands aren't that steady, taking a picture without moving the camera can be tricky. Using a tripod is especially important in this shooting scenario.

Some new cameras offer an electronic viewfinder. A twist on a traditional optical viewfinder, the electronic viewfinder is actually a tiny microdisplay much like the larger LCD monitor in the back of most cameras. The electronic viewfinder displays the same image that the camera lens sees, so you can shoot without worrying about parallax errors — you get exactly what you see even in close-ups.