Digital Camera Basics
Camera Advice for Buying a Digital Camera
These digital camera basics will help you choose the right camera for you from among the many types of digital cameras on the market today. Following some basic camera advice will help you know what to look for when you're at the store trying to pick a camera.
Once you've decided what type of digital camera to buy, you need to know what features you're looking for in that camera. One of the first things people look at when looking for a new digital camera is megapixels. Have you ever seen people brag about the number of megapixels their camera has? They might say something like, "Oh, your camera only has 8 megapixels. I got mine just the other day and it has 12." Don't let that make you feel like you've somehow got less of a camera. The whole megapixel thing just isn't what it's cracked up to be. To find out what I mean read my page on megapixels.
Memory
Let's start with the digital camera basics about memory. Since digital cameras don't use film, they store images much like a computer stores files. Find out what type of storage a camera uses before you buy it.
When a memory card is referred to as being fast it means that the picture is quickly stored allowing the camera to be ready to take another picture in a shorter amount of time. Having a slow memory card in your camera will increase the lag time between taking pictures. I discuss lag time a little more at the end of this page.
When you buy your camera it will come with a memory card. This card will probably have a very limited amount of storage space. Be prepared to buy an extra card so you're able to store more pictures.
When I bought my first digital camera I refused to buy extra memory, but I wanted to take pictures at the highest picture quality. So I could only fit eight pictures on my memory card. It was ridiculous. Eventually, I bought a larger memory card. Don't make the same mistake I did. Your photography experience will be much better if you don't have to be worried about using up all your memeory. Buy a couple extra memory cards and keep them in your camera bag.
Some ultracompact cameras use only internal storage systems and can't use a memory card. Be sure to find out if the camera you want uses a memory card before you buy it. Here are some of the most popular types of memory cards.
CompactFlash used to be the most common way to store digital images, but recently smaller cards that can hold more have taken over. Most DSLR users still use CompactFlash because they can store a lot of images and they're fast. This memory card comes in two types, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 2 has more storage room but is also thicker than Type 1. Make sure your camera is able to use a Type 2 card before you purchase one.
Memory Stick is another type of storage for images that people refer to often. There are two types of Memory Sticks. One is simply called Memory Stick and the other is called Memory Stick Duo. The Memory Stick Duo is smaller and fits into ultracompact cameras. There are pro versions of both Memory Sticks that are faster. Memory Stick is made by Sony and works in most Sony devices. It works in some cameras that aren't made by Sony too, but you'll have to check to see if your camera is one of them.
Secure Digital and Multimedia Cards are very small memory cards. They are normally used in compact and ultracompact cameras.
xD Picture Cards are used in Fuji and Olympus cameras. These are also quite small. They come in three types. The first type is standard. The second is the M xD card. This card is very similar to the standard card, but it doesn't fit into older cameras. The third type is the H type. This card is faster than the other two.
Keep these digital camera basics about camera memory in mind while shopping for your camera.
Batteries
Let's look at the digital camera basics about batteries. Find out about the type of batteries a camera uses before you purchase. Camera companies often switch things up a bit. So if you look at a Nikon that uses one type of battery don't assume that the other Nikons you look at use the same type of battery.
Some cameras use plain AA batteries that you can buy in any grocery store. They're really convenient because you can pick them up anywhere, but they don't usually last very long. If your camera runs on AA batteries, buying rechargable ones is a good investment. You should ideally have at least two sets of rechargable batteries so you can charge one and use the others. Rechargable is the cheapest way to go in the long run and it's also the most environmentally friendly.
Other cameras use lithium-ion (Li-ion). You can't buy these batteries at the grocery store, but they last a lot longer than AA batteries. They're rather expensive too. Be sure to have more than one and keep them charged.
You can get high quality replacement batteries for digital cameras and other electronic devices ShopforBattery.com.
Zoom
Here are some digital camera basics about zoom. Most point and shoot cameras come with a zoom function. If you get a DSLR, you'll need to buy a zoom lens. Which lens you buy depends on the camera you own and how far away you want the focal point to be.
Most point and shoot cameras have both digital and optical zoom capabilities. Optical zoom is where you zoom into the object with the lens before taking the picture. Digital zoom zooms into an object without any lens adjustments. Digital zoom isn't a necessary function. When you use it you lose the quality of the image and you can achieve the same thing with most photo editing software.
Shutter Lag
It's finally time to discuss digital camera basics about shutter lag. Shutter lag is the time delay that happens between pressing the shutter button and the camera actually taking the picture. DSLR's are quite fast and most don't have problems with shutter lag.
Point and shoot cameras on the other hand do have some shutter lag. You can find out about how long the shutter lag is for a camera you want to purchase by looking it up online. You can usually find a cameras manual online and the shutter lag time should be listed in the manual.
You want a shutter lag that is as small as possible. If there is too much time between when you push the button and when the camera takes the picture you might not get the moment you were trying to capture.
Related Articles
Types of Digital Cameras--Still not sure about the kind of camera you should get? This article explains the various types of cameras on the market.
Understanding DSLR Camera Lenses--Figure out what type of lens you should get with your DSLR camera.
Digital Camera Settings--Now that you know these digital camera basics you need to find out what all those settings on your new camera mean.
Leave Digital Camera Basics and Return to Home
|
