What to look for in a digital camera?

[William]

What do you look for in a digital camera?

I have a list of cameras which have tons of features, but I can't make heads or tales of what is good or not.

Help!

[John]

A high megapixel count, good zoom, and the ability to use regular batteries would be my short list.

[TObject]

I dislike digital cameras. However, on my last trip out of town, I took the digital camera as my primary camera. One of the things that a film camera can not do (without wasting a lot of film), and if you get a digital camera I recommend that you get one that supports it, is, what Nikon calls, BSS ? best shoot mode. It is very useful to take pictures of static objects in poor light conditions without a tripod. You frame the picture, push the trigger, and keep it pressed, while camera takes multiple shots of the same picture ? as your hands shake, and heart is beating, some of the pictures will get blunt. The camera then chooses the sharpest picture, and discards the rest. I like this feature, and highly recommend it for situations where there is not enough light, and you can?t use a tripod.

[PK99TJ]

My list was:

Good optical not digital zoom
Light
Rechargable
Small movie clips

I ended up with a Canon Powershot S330.

I dig it.

[TObject]

I am a little partial to Nikon, so here is my advice:

If I was to buy a digital camera today, I would probably buy the Nikon D-100 (If you are buying one from a dealer, make sure it has the green and/or blue stickers on the box next to the serial number. This means the firmware has been upgraded). If you want something cheaper, try to find the Nikon COOLPIX 950. This is a discontinued model (there are plenty of those on Ebay), but I like it better than the COOLPIX 5000 that I have, in all aspects except for resolution. Kat let me borrow hers some time ago.

[JeepKat]

Try one before you buy it. Find a person who has one that you are thinking about buying and see if they will loan it to you to try.

A digital camera is a personal choice based on features that you like and desire, we all like different features. What do you like?

I like one that uses regular batteries or rechargeable
I like the swivel body
I take all of my pictures using the mini LCD screen
I can take B&W or Color
I have a couple of ways to upload pictures to my computer, serial port connected directly to the camera. (I use a power adapter when I do this, in order to save my batteries) or USB digital filmcard reader

Some other things to think about...

Do you want to use different lenses?
How about an external flash?
What kind of picture media are you looking for, CD, Floppy, Micro Drive, Compact Flash cards, or Smart Media?
Do you want to be able to adjust the size of the photos? (Quality setting)
What format do you require, .jpg, gif, tiff?
Do you want to be able to save multiple set ups and then load the one you want to use without having to reset the camera each time?
What is the largest photo size the camera will take? (Mine can take an 8MB picture on the highest quality setting)

Will you also be investing in a photo printer to print your photos? Or just publish them on the Internet, or send them by e-mail?

How much RAM and spare Hard Disk space does your computer have?

Get the extended warranty, Ritz Camera has the best one.

Decisions, decisions?

[TObject]

Here is an example of the BSS feature at work:

The picture was snapped in a wine cellar. There was barely enough light in there to read the labels!

Here is a resampled full picture image:


And here a full resolution fragment, cropped out of that very same digital camera snapshot:


It was taken hand held. No flash was used (not allowed in that particular place). And I do not have the steadiest hands in the industry, that's for sure.

[Jeff Weston]

Like others have touched on, make sure that it does well in low-light and indoor photos. I've had a 2.3 mpixel camera for nearly 3 years. While it was about the highest resolution thing going at the time, it sucks indoors and under low light (see my pic of the flag under the fluff section). Anyway, it's annoying to see my sister's Olympus take much better photos at less than half what I paid.

Good luck.

[emdub]

This is a personal thought on some of the advice given about choosing the highest mega pixel possible... I think that is one of the biggest misconceptions about digital cameras. It all depends on what you want to do! Personally I have a 2 MP (Megapixel) camera and it's MORE than enough... what do I use it for? I print some pictires at a normal size (2 pics on an A4 paper) and most I post on the web through e-mail and on my site... the quality is MORE than enough.

My 2 MP produces 1600x1200 pixel images at 72 dpi... this is enough for an inkjet printer to print a 16"x12" picture at 72 dpi's. This leads to another misconception: that inkjet printers make use of anything above 100 dpi's resolution (VERY few do). Do the test: make a 72 dpi resolution print, a 150 dpi res. print and a 300 dpi res. print of the same picture at the same size then mix them up and try to tell which is which... but thats another story. For the web most images tend to be 640x480 pixels, any bigger than that and it'll really start slowing a low bandwidth connection. And e-mail? Let's face it, unless we're talking technical details or proffessional print here, anything above 640x480 and the megabytes start adding up and e-mail boxes start geting full! Not even talking about needing more memory on the camera to take fewer pictures, taking up more space on your computer, slowing down your computer while opening an image, needing more RAM in order to work with the bigger images, etc. etc.

What you should REALLY be looking for is a place where you can test the cameras for color quality, ease of use, features you WILL use (face it, who really uses all the features like sepia tones and artistc modes more than once?), connectability to your computer, Software... and price! Which if you go for a lower MP camera should not really be a problem.

So unless you really need to print wall sized posters or want to have the trouble reducing all the images before posting or sending them by e-mail get a 2 MP camera, it's enough and it's cheaper. Then go out and buy the biggest capacity storage for your camera... I've got a 128 MB card, I can fit around 150 pic's on it at the highest Resolution, usually more than enough for a weekend.

Sorry for writing so much, but I get so ****ed off when people send me a 15 MB mail which contains 4 photos just because they bought the "biggest mega-pixel" camera and think that the more mega-pixels the better... it's kind of like buying a Ferrari to drive to the corner store. It's a bit of over-kill, or better yet: buying a Jeep and not take it off-roading, if you know what I mean... ;-)

[emdub]

oh... I forgot one thing:

Nikon, Fuji and Olympus tend to have the best cameras color and ease of use wise... I have a Fuji.

[Stu Olson]

I make no claim to being a camera guru. (standard disclaimer)

I have two cameras that are usually on the trail with me, a Sony still camera and a Sony digital camcorder. Many of you have seen the digital stills on my web site and they do OK, IMO.

However....an above comment about the importance of a good optical zoom and not digital....while I normally agree with that, maybe not be as true when talking about Sony. IMO, Sony has pushed their digital zoom quality to a very impressive level.

My digital camcorder has digital zoom (as most do). The difference is that things don't get all grainy, etc. Granted, camcorders, when shooting in still mode, don't have the high pixel count that digital still cameras have, so it may not be as evident. But none the less, Sony's digital zoom technology is pretty good, IMO.

As was said before....always try to borrow the camera from a co-worker, neighbor, etc. and see for yourself.

[William]

Thanks. I'll post the specs on the one I'm looking at to see opinions. Hmm...

[TObject]

That camera is crap! Do not accept anything less than a Hasselblad... Oh, wait, you haven't posted which one you were looking at, yet.

[HIGLET]

William

I've had 3 digital cameras in the past little while (3 years) and have a couple of additional suggestions.

Figure out what media you want to record on. I mean "Flash Cards" "Memory Sticks" "Floppy Discs" or what I use CD-R's. If this camera is going to be used for family stuff, and things you want to keep forever I recommend a media that you will not re record over, which is why I went to CD-R's. I label them and keep them away from the crashability of a hard drive. I print/use the photos I want with no worry about losing them forever, which is what happened the last time my computer drive crashed. Now everyone will say just dump it onto a CD after you take the photos, or drop them all onto a hard drive. Baloney, it's an extra step, that you won't always take, cus your lazy er busy. What if you are out on the town taking photos and your memory is full? What then? Where do you get another $60 memory stick? Every Rite Aid sells cd-r's. All those memory stick/card things cost ALOT more than a CD-R. 10 CD-R's =$15.00, 64mb memory stick = $60.00. CD-R 156mb storage, memory stick, well whatever it says on the side but no more than 128, which is about 50 photos.

The higher the megapixel count the better the options you will have, period. It's like a computer processor, get the most you can afford. Will you always need the high count? No, I resize all mine down to 640x480 for my websites, 320x240 for emails, but the highest res I can get to print the 8x10's of my kids for the Grandparents. You can always lower the quality for the situation at hand but you can never make it better than it was to start with.

The more Optical Zoom you have the better, sometimes Digital zoom does suck. That can be overcome through the use of Wide Angle and Telephoto adapters, but that of course is an additional cost.

All that said,

My favorite 3 are

Sony MVC-CD400 for overall usability, and features all mentioned above. It's bigger than most Digital cameras.

Canon Elph for small size and excellent picture quality. I've only been on the lens side of this camera, never owned it, but it seems pretty nice. It's limitation is the recording media.

Fuji FPS2 for extreme high quality (this is the camera Ross has) Ha who can afford this who has a Jeep to support!

If you are just taking web snapshots get an old Mavica from eBay for about $100, just don't expect to print anything with it.

[William]

Resolution
2240 x 1680 pixels, 1600 x 1200 pixels, 1120 x 840 pixels, 640 x 480 pixels, 320 x 240 pixels (Motion Image Recording)
CCD
3.9 Effective Mega-Pixel (4.0 Total Mega-Pixel)
Built-in SD Card Slot
Yes
Mega Burst? Imaging
Yes
Focusing Area
Normal: 11.8" (30 cm) - infinity
Macro: Wide: 2.4" (6 cm) / Tele: 7.9" (20 cm) - 19.7" (50 cm)
Aperture (Iris)
F2.0 - 2.5
Shutter Speed
8 - 1/1,000 sec
White Balance
Auto / Daylight / Cloudy / Halogen / Fluorescent / Flash / White Set
LCD Monitor
2.5" Diagonal Polycrystalline TFT Color LCD with 200k pixels & Adjustable Brightness (? 3 steps)
Optical Zoom
3x
Digital Zoom*
2x Variable Zoom
Memory Types
SD Memory Card (32MB Card Included)
MultiMediaCard (Optional)
Image Formats
Still Image: JPEG (design rule for camera file system) / TIFF (RGB), DPOF Compatible
Still Image w/ Audio: JPEG (design rule for camera file system) & QuickTime Motion JPEG (Still Image w/ Audio)
Motion Image: QuickTime Motion JPEG
Power Supply
Li-Ion Battery (1400 mAh, 7.2V)
AC Adaptor (Input: 110 - 240V AC)
Included Accessories
32MB SD Memory Card, Li-Ion Battery Pack, AC Adaptor, Monitor Hood, Lens Cap, A/V Cable, USB Cable, Strap, Software CD-ROM
Speaker
Built-in
USB Port
Yes
Still Image Recording with Audio
5 seconds
PictureStage Image Uploader
Yes
SD Viewer for DSC
Yes
ArcSoft? Editing Software Package
ArcSoft PhotoBase?, ArcSoft PhotoImpression?, ArcSoft PhotoPrinter? Pro, ArcSoft Panorama Maker?
ArcSoft? PhotoBase?, PhotoImpression?, Panorama Maker? and Image Uploader: Requires Microsoft? Windows? 95, Windows? 98, Windows? Me, Windows? 2000 or Windows? xp, or Macintosh? OS 8.5-OS X (Classic Mode). ArcSoft? PhotoPrinter? Pro requires Microsoft? Windows? 95, Windows? 98, Windows? Me, Windows? 2000 or Windows? xp, or Macintosh? OS 7.5-OS X (Classic Mode). SD Viewer for DSC requires Microsoft? Windows? 95, Windows? Me or Windows? xp.
Focus
Hybrid Auto Focus with Auto Focus Sensor (Passive Type), Auto/Macro/Manual Switching, Spot Auto Focus Switching, Manual Focus Ring Compatible
Image Sensor
1/1.76", Complementary Color Filter
Leica DC Vario-Summicron Lens
8 elements in 7 groups (2 aspherical lenses)
Focus Distance
f=7-21mm (35mm equiv: 33-100mm)
Built-in Flash Mode
Auto / Red Eye Auto / On / Red Eye On / Red Eye Slow Synchro / Off, 1st and 2nd Curtain Slow Synchro Switching, Light Intensity Adjustable
Interface
DC Input, A/V Output, USB
Motion Image Recording with Audio
320 x 240 pixels, records up to 160 seconds per motion-image clip
Self Timer
10 seconds / 2 seconds
Image Modes
TIFF/Fine/Standard
Interface for Optional External Flash
Hot Shoe
Conversion Lens Compatibility
Yes
Focus Bracketing
3 or 5 Frames
Auto (AE) Bracketing
0.25-1 EV Step, 3 or 5 Frames
Exposure
Auto, Program AE, Shutter Priority AE, Aperture Priority AE, Manual Exposure
Exposure Compensation
0.25 EV Step, ? 2 EV
ISO Sensitivity
Auto / 100 / 200 / 400
Auto Review
Image Automatically Displayed for Approx. 2 seconds
Review
4x and 8x Display
Light Metering
Multiple / Center-Weighted / Spot
Quick Delete
Deletes Last Image while Maintaining Rec. Mode
Shutter Sound Select
3 Types
Image Quality Adjustment
Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation
Audio Dubbing
Maximum of 10 Seconds
Flash Photo Range
ISO 100: Wide: 3.9" (0.1 m)-177.2" (4.5 m), Tele: 7.9" (0.2 m)-137.8" (3.5 m)
Optical Finder
Real Image Type (Adjustable)
Delete
Single Page Delete / Multi Page Delete / All Delete
Dimensions (H x W x D)
3.2" x 5" x 2.5"
Weight
1 lbs

[PK99TJ]

Nice specs. In my opinion:


Camera
----------------
Kill

:-)

[TObject]

http://www.photo.net/leica/digilux/

[HIGLET]

How much $ are those flash cards, and how many pictures can each one hold?

Otherwise it seems really good. The fact it's a Lieca is great, I think they make great lenses. Also 3 different shutter noises! Woohoo what will those crazy germans come up with next.

I did notice however it doesn't have the on board atomic clock or coffemaker, you might want to rethink this.

[William]

It's not a Lieca, though it uses Lieca lenses. I can get this kind of inexpensive, as I have an inside line with someone at the company where it's made.

Sergey, where the heck have you been hiding that info? That's what I was looking for!!

Apperently, despite the bells and whistles, it may not be worth the price of what I'm gonna pay.

[William]

Wow, 900 dollars is what they retail for?