How to Buy a Digital CameraWritten by Gary Hendricks
Are buying your first digital camera? Well, you must be confused by bewildering range of models out there. How do you know which model will suit your needs? To make things worse, digital cameras do not come cheap. Choosing a bad camera will easily cost you a few hundred dollars.In fact, buying a digital camera need not be a difficult task. I'll highlight key considerations you need to think through before making that purchase decision. Always, always remember to consider these factors when buying a digital camera: * Battery Life * Number of Megapixels * Zoom Lens * Exposure Control * User Controls Battery Life This has got to be one of most overlooked features in digital cameras. I know many people who go for latest and greatest digital cameras which are short in battery life department. If you want to take good photos, your camera needs to powered for extended periods of time. I've found that cost and battery life don't go together - many cheap cameras have good battery life, while some high-end models drain your battery really fast. Make sure you choose a camera that has good battery life. Number of Megapixels The megapixel rating of a digital camera determines how much fine detail you can capture in your shots. Typically, number of megapixels can range around from 2 megapixels to 8 megapixels. How do you decide how many megapixels you need? As a rule of thumb, if you're only interested in taking small snapshots to send via email or for posting on Web, you won't need more than 2-megapixels. If you want large print outs of your gorgeous photographs, then you'll probably want to get 5-megapixel cameras and above. Zoom Lens You'll definitely want a camera with decent optical zoom. Now keyword here is optical zoom (as opposed to digital zoom). Optical zoom physically moves camera lenses to zoom in on a subject. Digital zoom, however, digitally averages and magnifies image within camera's microchip - resulting in poor picture quality. Many manufacturers' advertisements talk about digital zoom instead of optical zoom - so do be careful when choosing. I'd recommend getting at least 3x optical zoom in any camera you buy.
| | 7 Tips for Shooting Great Digital PhotosWritten by Gary Hendricks
Do you have trouble shooting good digital photos? Perhaps you've been taking digital photos for some time, but never really got beautiful shots you wanted. Maybe you somehow messed up photos you took of important events, like your daughter's birthday or your trip to Paris.How do you begin to take good photos? Well, first thing to remember is this: It's photographer that takes great photos, not camera. Think about that for a minute. It's true isn't it? I've seen some people take great photos with a simple point-and-shoot camera, while some take lousy shots with most expensive SLR. Fret not! Read these tips on shooting digital photos and apply them next time you have a chance. Before long, you'll be shooting photos like a pro! 1. Know Your Camera Does this sound familiar? You buy latest digital camera out there, come home, rip off box, then proceed to fiddle with device. You briefly flick through hundred page camera manual and then never look at it again. Not a good idea! If you buy a digital camera, you owe it to yourself to understand its ins and outs. Learn how to control exposure, how to use different camera modes and how to use flash. The knowledge you gain about camera will be invaluable when you're out in field taking those special photos. 2. Learn to Control Flash One of most important things you need to know about digital photography is to control flash. Personally, I hate to rely on automatic flash that comes with digital camera. Depending on situation, you need to switch off or switch on flash. For example, when taking outdoor photos, it is sometimes good to turn on flash to illuminate subject, especially if he or she is in shade. On other hand, you can also choose to turn off flash when taking indoor shots. Sometimes, using flash indoors will result in unnatural skin color and harsh glare in your photos. 3. Play with Macro Mode Almost all digital camera these days have a macro mode. This setting is ideal for taking close up shots of objects like flowers or insects. On my Canon PowerShot S500, it's represented by a flower symbol. What you do is to pick a subject, turn on macro mode, then get as close to it as your camera will allow. Make sure you allow camera to focus properly before depressing shutter button fully.
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