Distinguishing Features From Useless Fluff With Digital Cameras
Posted on 04. Jun, 2009 by chris campbell in Photography
Can you name the three best rated ultra-compact, compact, and SLR digital cameras? Chances are most people can't. There are so many choices in digital cameras these days, it's very difficult to get consensus. What's more important though, is that you can tell the differences between the three main categories of digital cameras? Those categories being ultra-compact (subcompact), compact, and SLR digital cameras. Knowing the pros and cons and what features they include is the single biggest deciding factor in what makes the best rated digital camera for you.
The first assumption I may make, is that your not a serious camera buff. Your just looking for a camera that's easy to use. Since your a pretty active player on the move, I'm also going to assume you want something you can just jam into your tight blue jeans pocket, or drop into the bottom of your kit bag / purse and forget about until needed. You probably like sharing pics and videos with your FaceBook and MySpace pals on Flickr or YouTube. The Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph, or the Sony Cybershot DSCW55 would be good choices for you. If your the real rugged outdoorsy type, I might change my pick to the Olympus Stylus 790SW for its toughness and all-weatherproof design.
But, maybe your more of a casual photographer, that only pulls out the camera for special occasions and vacation. Tight blue jeans aren't much of an issue anymore, so you don't mind a little extra bulk . . . in the camera I mean. Something easy to use, with better image and video quality then your cell phones camera are a priority. In this case, I'd suggest either the Canon Powershot A570IS, or the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5. The S5 is about twice the money in the low $300 range, but the extra 12X zoom, sturdier construction, and hot shoe flash make it well worth the investment.
While both ultra compacts and compacts could be considered point and shoot cameras, our next category is not. The SLR digital camera is the choice of many professionals and serious hobbyist photographers worldwide. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. Basically, it means you see through the viewfinder exactly the same picture the camera sees.
With SLR, you get complete control over all camera settings. Although many do include auto settings to ease the newbie SLR photographers learning curve. In addition SLR cameras have interchangeable lenses. Meaning you have a plethora of choices for shooting all kinds of shots from macro, to landscape, to wide angle to sports. The Canon Digital Rebel XTi and the Nikon D40 are both popular and well rated cameras in this category.
Hopefully you found your best new digital camera in one of my assumptions listed above. At the very least, I've escaped making the embarrassing wrong assumption about you, only to be followed by even worse advice camera advice. All you need to do now is get the best deal on the camera you want, and start taking photos.
