You can shoot till you drop

Taking digital images on your camera has no implication other then you have captured image. Then you can review each image on small screen on back of your camera. You can shoot as many pictures of same scene as you like – store them in memory – delete ones that you do not like and print one(s) you like.

Each image is a winner

Alternatively you can put an image up on a computer screen or email it to all you friends – can black mail be this easy?

Print at home or in a lab

You can print your image at home on a photo printer – turn your image into a greeting card, calendar, or a whole other list of photo memorabilia. Or hand over job to professionals.

So what digital camera should I buy?

A question we are often asked is ’what sort of camera should I buy’? There are literally hundreds of different models available from a large number of well known manufacturers.

This is a difficult question, which might be answered in a complex way. Rather, here we have tried to emphasise salient points and assist you in your decision.

Key components of camera, which will influence your buying decision will include: What do I want to use camera for? How big an image can I print? Does camera have a zoom? What size and weight is camera?

How big an image can I print?

If your objective is to take a camera on holiday, take it onto beach and up a mountain and to print memorable images of your time on 6 x 4 inch prints, then do not spend a lot of money on your camera. A small compact camera with an image resolution of 2 or 3 Mega Pixels will be adequate for your needs and should you drop camera or get sand in its workings then you will be pleased that you did not spend too much money. More serious photographers will want to make bigger pints or selectively enlarge. They will want a higher image resolution and will benefit from a zoom lens. So – what is this MegaPixel thing? Well it is image size – quality – taken by camera. The higher number – better quality and larger prints which can be made.

Does camera have a zoom?

In past times zoom lenses were regarded as second best because of their distortion and fogging. This is no longer case – zoom lenses are truly brilliant. 3 x zooms are common and 6 x zooms feature on more expensive cameras. So you can have a single lens which covers both wide angle views and provides a short telephoto. All very usefully packaged in a lightweight camera.

Beware of Digital Zoom. This is a technique, which zooms in on a portion of image by processing picture and interpolating image between pixels – a technique which always produces inferior results.

What is size and weight of camera?

There are quite a few reasons for it, but one I would like to mention now is what I call "point of discipline". This is point when initial enthusiasm of learning that new lick/exercise wears off. It is no longer so new and exciting. This is time when you will have to use your self-discipline to complete task at hand.

A lot of guitar players will tell you at this point…"Hey man, guitar's supposed to be all about fun! If I have to use my self-discipline, I'll no longer enjoy it." If anyone says that to you, have a look at their playing. Most of time they are not very good :)They have not reached a virtuoso level of playing, so why listen to them!

The point of discipline is when most guitar players quit. Rather than using their self-discipline to TRULY master lick/exercise, they stop practicing it and move onto something new. It's tempting isn't it? We've ALL done this at some point in our development as a guitarist. But what's cost of doing this?

Some of negative consequences of quitting at point of discipline include: