Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Shopping Advice on Digital cameras: buying guide

When choosing a digital camera you have to think about the resolution of the pictures, size and memory. It can all be very confusing but I've tried to explain everything on this web site. As with everything you must take into consideration what you'll need your camera for. Whatever you might need your camera for you'll find the best buy for it on this web site.

To choose a camera ask yourself what you need to get out of it and what you will use it for. Then compare prices for digital cameras. When choosing a digital camera you have to think about the resolution of the pictures, size and memory. It can all be very confusing but I've tried to explain everything on this web site. As with everything you must take into consideration what you'll need your camera for. Whatever you might need your camera for you'll find the best buy for it on this web site.

Points to remember before buying a Digital Camera:
Sensor resolutionIt's on the sensor, which is composed of elements sensitive to sunlight, that the image is created. Each of these elements registers one of the points (called pixels) that create the picture. The more there are, the more you can blow up the picture and the higher the quality of the picture will be. This is what is also known as the resolution. 2 million pixels (2 megapixels) is now a minimum requirement.To obtain optimal quality photo development, a definition of 300 pixels per linear inch or 12 pixels per mm is sufficient. Often - and true for photo development in labs and on inkjet - you only need 8 pixels per millimetre. A 2 megapixel picture (1200 x 1600 pixels) will suit a print in 11x15 format or even in 13 x17.

The weight and sizeAt one extreme there are compact cameras weighing 115 grams, the size of a credit card and at the other the Digital SLRs that together with their lenses, weigh more than a kilo. It all depends on what you intend to use it for. The smaller ones are great to impress everyone but the more bulky ones are more stable when taking the picture.

The screen size: diagonals measured in inchesHere are the standard sizes of the screens of the miniature monitors. The bigger the screen, the more easily you'll be able to centre the picture you are going to take or view the pictures or the short films you have taken. Please note that it is difficult to use when exposed to direct sunlight as it becomes too dark.

Optical sensorsThere are two types of optical sensors: The Charge Coupled Device CCD (the most common one) and the Complimentary Metal Oxide Semi-conductor CMOS, the most recent energy saving ones.

The lensZoom lenses usually vary between 35-105 mm. The smallest measurement is the maximum potential of the camera using the wide lens. The other corresponds to the telephoto lens. A lot of digital cameras are not well developed for wide angle lenses. For certain pictures, 28 mm is a big advantage. There are two types of zooms on digital cameras. An optical zoom, the most important one, which determines the quality of the image and the digital zoom that often goes up to x10. The main disadvantage of the former zoom is that it loses quality when it's used, so that when you try and enlarge the image the resulting image is of lower quality. It is to be used sparingly.

Video CaptureMost digital cameras now have a video capture facility (although SRLs don't), meaning you can create short film sequences. The quality isn't always very good (mainly dependent on the megapixel sensors) some cameras don't have a sound recorder . But it's still handy to capture good moments on video.

The types of camerasAs explained before, each user has their own requirements when choosing a camera: Ultra compact for those who want very small cameras; the compact to combine the enjoyment of taking pictures with a wider choice; Compact Digital SLRs for informed amateurs or for professionals who do not want all the various lenses and finally the Digital SLRs for those who are passionate about photography. There is a camera to suit everyone's needs.

Batteries (alkaline) versus rechargeable batteriesThe makers of entry type cameras - probably in an effort to sell them at a competitively low prices - designed them to be battery operated (AA type). The advantage of this is that they are very common, you can buy them anywhere and if you are going away it's easy to keep a stock so you don't run out. Having said that, when used for Digital Cameras, their lifespan can be quite short, so rechargeable batteries are a lot more reliable. Although they can be pricey to start with, it's worth it in the end as replacing traditional batteries ends up being quite expensive.

The ease of useYou have to get used to a new gadget - finding out what all the buttons are for and getting used to the menus all requires a bit of practice. Testing the camera and it's functionalities out before buying it can be useful to check if you like it's look and feel.

Used accessories in Digital Camera:
Memory cardWhen you take a picture with a digital camera they are stored on a memory card, a type of "hard disk". Most makers only provide you with a low storage media card. Since it won't take you long to fill it, you will probably want to buy an additional memory card (128Mb, 256Mb...) to increase your storage capacity.

A computerCan be very useful and will allow you to centre, airbrush, resize and stock your photos, but it's not essential even if you decide to print your pictures yourself.

A photo printerMost of the big makes (Canon, Epson. HP, Kodak...) offer printers which you can connect directly to your digital camera. You just need to check that it's compatible with the printer. The Pictbridge standard, used by a lot of the makers, is making connections easier.

The BatteriesTo avoid a power failure, you can purchase a secondary battery, unless your camera takes AA batteries, then in that case you will find those in a number of shops.

Print developmentNo more films! Simply take your camera or just your memory card to any photo lab. You will have to pay for the photo development and often your pictures will be digitally burnt onto a CD. It will probably cost you the same as "regular" photos as they use the same system as when developing from a film. On the internet it's also possible to have your pictures printedHealth Fitness Articles, you send your folder by email and it will be sent back together with the photos and CD by post.

Find more about Digital Camera at www.shoppingsolow.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Subhash Kumar
SEO Manager
http://www.shoppingsolow.com




Buying A Digital Camera: A Beginner’s Guide

For any beginner photographer or a first time buyer of digital camera, choosing and buying a digital camera can become a task. There is so much that goes in to buying a digital camera for the first time. But you need not worry about that.

For any beginner photographer or a first time buyer of digital camera, choosing and buying a digital camera can become a task. There is so much that goes in to buying a digital camera for the first time. But you need not worry about that. For I provide you a step-by-step camera buying guide here:

Research: Talk to people
As a beginner you should keep certain things in your mind. First of all you should ask yourself, what are the features you need, what type of photos you are going to click with your new digital camera. There are a lot of features in a digital camera such as modes, zooms, lenses, flash, focus, viewfinder, resolution and timer. Decide which features you want in your camera. You can talk to your family and friends and other digital camera features to know their opinions on various camera features. This will help you jot down the basic expectations you owe from your new camera.

Price factor
Set a realistic budget for your first camera and look for cameras in that price range only. Prices of digital cameras have fallen greatly over the years. Still, a digital camera purchase is considered expensive to its 35mm counterparts purchase.

Next, gain a good knowledge about the models of cameras you are considering buying. Dont be a fool by going all by your friends choice. Be a proud owner of a digital camera that suits your needs rather than someone else's.

Satisfy your needs
As a beginner you should look for models that are easy to use and operate. Do not go for flashy models. They may not satisfy your needs.

Now decide on your printing needs. If most of your photos will be uploaded to a website or emailed, you will not need a lot of mega pixels in your camera. But if you are planning to make a lot of larger prints, you need a camera with a lot of mega pixels.

By narrowing down your options as per the needed camera features, you can decide which camera is best suited to you. Visit the stores and handle the devices personally. You should shop around for the best price. Pick up additional warranty if any. Take some great pictures.

Below are some of the great cameras for you:
1.Nikon coolpix 4100: It is a one easy to use camera. The camera is imaging wonder with 4.2 mega pixels and 3x optical zoom features to it.

2.Kodak Easyshare cx7330: This is a decent point and shoot camera that comes with 3.1 mega pixels and a combined 10x zoom features. The camera does not have much fancy features. But for a beginnerFind Article, the camera is perhaps the best pick.

3.Canon Powershoot S410: This power shot camera from Canon is a four mega pixel camera. The camera is very stylish to operate and indeed offer all the basic functions of an average camera.

I am sure buying a digital camera is no longer a task for you.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

To get detailed information on Digital Camera and more Digital Camera articles visit http://www.digitalclub4u.com/ & http://www.digitalclub4u.com/2006-10-07/buying-a-digital-camera-a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide.html

Kodak Easyshare CX7430 Digital Camera Review

The Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is an excellent point-and-shoot digital camera that is currently selling very well. Just consider its features: 4 megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoom, 16MB of memory, as well as a movie mode. Given it’s low price (around $190), it’s an amazing deal. This camera is most suitable for beginners – it has all of the basic functions you need in a simple digital camera. Let’s have a look at its various features:

Design and Construction
Like all point-and-shoot digital cameras, the Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is designed to be compact enough to fit in your pocket. It’s silvery finish will certainly attract lots of attention too. Its dimensions are 4.0 inches by 2.6 inches by 1.25 inches (weight-height-depth), and it weighs only 6.3 ounces. There is a little 1.6 inch LCD screen behind the camera for viewing images. Initially, I found the LCD screen a tad on the small side, but I got used to it after snapping a couple of photos.

Optics and Resolution
The Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is equipped with a Kodak Retinar lens and offers with a 4 megapixel resolution. There’s also a 3x optical zoom for taking subjects faraway. What is interesting about this camera is its wide range of scene modes. Most point-and-shoot cameras have a handful (maybe 5) scene modes for photography under different conditions: macro, landscape, night photography, etc. The Kodak EasyShare CX7430 has 9 scene modes to choose from, which is much more than the competition.

I didn’t expect much in terms of manual control in the camera’s optics. If you’re looking to play around with shutter speed, aperture, white balance and other photography options, then this camera is not for you. Sure, there are some basic exposure controls but they are nowhere near the fine settings allowed in advanced digital SLR cameras.

That being said, the quality of photos taken by the Kodak EasyShare CX7430 were nothing short of outstanding. The photos, when printed out, were of extremely high quality. So if you’re the type you just whips out a camera and takes quick shots, with a minimum of fuss, then this camera will be great for you.

User Controls
The user controls in the Kodak CX7430 are located on both sides of the LCD and also on mode dial at the top surface of the camera. Those more accustomed to Canon or Sony models will find that the controls take a little getting used to. However, I did not have any problems reaching commonly used functions like flash control or image viewing.

Movie Mode
If you like to shoot some spontaneous movies with your digital camera, then you’ll be glad to know that the CX7430 comes with a movie mode. You can capture video at 13 frames per second (fps) at VGA size 640 x 480. The movie mode is continuous, meaning that the camera allows you to record movies up to the memory limit of your memory card.

Storage and Transfer
In terms of storage, the Kodak CX7430 comes with internal memory of 16MB. You’ll certainly want to purchase a SD or MMC memory card to add on to the amount of memory available. In terms of image transfer, the camera supports USB 1.1 ports. This is enough for fast image transfers between the camera and your computer.

Battery Life
The Kodak CX7430 uses AA batteries. The ones that come in the box are alkaline batteries – I’d recommend that you get some NiMH rechargables. They will pay for themselves very quickly. The support for AA batteries is a great bonus because AA batteries are easily found in any convenience store, even when you’re overseas.

Shortcomings
The bad points about the Kodak EasyShare CX7430? Well, here’s a few shortcomings I’d point out – Kodak would sell many more units if they were corrected:

* Videos taken by the camera are at very low frame rate
* The door covering the memory card slot doesn’t latch strongly
* The bundled software isn’t very impressive

Conclusion
Despite its shortcomings, the Kodak EasyShare CX7430 is one heck of a good camera. If you’re just starting out in digital photography, this it the camera to buy. Take it with you anywhere you likeFree Articles, snap many photos and immerse yourself in the world of photography. You can always upgrade to a better camera when you grow in your skills.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site at www.basic-digital-photography.com. Read his tips on digital photography and learn to shoot better photos with your digicam.

Getting the right digital camera for you

With so many digital cameras on the market these days, choosing the right one to buy may seem like a daunting task. Chris Thomas provides a simple camera-buying guide to help you work out which camera type is going to be right for you and your budget!

There are really great advantages in digital photography:
You can shoot till you drop
Taking digital images on your camera has no implication other then you have captured the image. Then you can review each image on the small screen on the back of your camera. You can shoot as many pictures of the same scene as you like – store them in memory – delete the ones that you do not like and print the 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 the job to the 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 the salient points and assist you in your decision.

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

How big an image can I print?
If your objective is to take a camera on holiday, take it onto the 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 the 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 the image size – quality – taken by the camera. The higher the number – the better the quality and the larger the prints which can be made.

Does the camera have a zoom?
In past times zoom lenses were regarded as second best because of their distortion and fogging. This is no longer the case – zoom lenses are truly brilliant. 3 x zooms are common and 6 x zooms feature on the 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 the image by processing the picture and interpolating the image between pixels – a technique which always produces inferior results.

What is the size and weight of the camera?
Digital cameras do not have to be bulky or heavy. Indeed there are some very small models available, which will fit inside a handbag. However the more sophisticated gear tends to be bulkier – and heavier. Professional models with interchangeable lenses and external flash guns will require their own hold all.

Making the Right Selection
There is a fantastic range of digital cameras available on the market. Nonetheless manufacturers focus on their customers and target specific models at certain sectors of the market. The table below summarises the information, which we have discussed.

Basic camera
A fixed lens camera priced at less than £50 [Or $90 USD] which takes digital images of up to 1 MegaPixel - will be adequate for computer or television screen display.

Party Camera
A compact design camera with a fixed lens – cost up to £150 [Or $280 USD] - taking images of up to 2 MegaPixel - will generate good quality images suitable for printing up to 4 x 5 inches

Holiday Camera
Another compact design but with a 2 – 1 zoom lens and costing between £200 and £400 [$350 - $800 USD] taking images or between 3 and 5 MegaPixel which will be suitable for printing up to 10 x 8 inches

Serious Camera
A SLR style camera with a 5 – 1 zoom lens costing between £600 and £1000 [$1000 - $2000 USD] and producing images of up to 6 MegaPixel which will produce prints of up to 12 x 16 inches

Professional Camera
An SLR camera with interchangeable lenses and costing upwards of £1,500 [Or around $3000 USD], which will take images of up to 8 MegaPixel, which will print to poster size.

SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. These are cameras, which do not have a separate viewfinder. Rather the operator looks through the lens of the camera. Momentarily before the shutter is opened a mirror flicks up and the light passing through the lens is allowed to hit the sensitive surface of the camera. In many cases the lens at the front of the camera can be changed for another type. A variation on this presents the image as seen by the camera in a digital liquid crystal display either on the back of the camera or through a viewfinder.

Flash. Many of the inexpensive cameras will have on board flash – remember that these will only work up to about 10 feet, and they might produce red eye. More expensive cameras will expect the user to use an independent external flashgun.

Camera Accessories
Most digital cameras come with interface cables and PC software bundled. So if you have a PC at home or work you can ‘download’ images from your camera to your PC, do basic editing such as removing red eye and delete the images you do not want! Your valued images you can store for future generations on CD Rom or another recording medium.

Digital Memory Media
Sometimes known as Smart Card, Compact Flash, Multi Media Card, Memory Stick. These are the memory chips on which your images are stored – some people refer to them as digital film. The larger the capacity of the mediaFeature Articles, the more images it can store. So buy one larger then you need – for now. Images can be deleted from the media – but back them up on a CD Rom or DVD before you erase the card.

Final Hint – Keep lots of batteries handy. Digital cameras use a lot of power!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christopher Thomas is a keen photographer and company director of Viewlink Ltd based in Amersham, Uk. The company provides digital photo developing for both amateur and commercial photographers. For more articles by Christopher Thomas please visit the company website at http://www.view-link.com/guides.html

Digital Camera Buyers Guide

Take the time to read the following article, Surely you will gain from the research that been conducted in order for it to be written.
We use cameras to take pictures of a diversity of things. These can be special events in our lives or terrific sights that we want to see time and time again. To take these pictures we can use a diverseness of cameras. These can be of the normal cameras where you wait for the picture to develop or they can be digital cameras. To buy a good caliber digital camera these days it helps to look at a digital camera buyers guide.

There are many dissimilar types of digital camera buyers guide magazines that you can buy. While they will look dissimilar in styles and format they are all configured to help you select the best digital camera for you. These digital camera buyers guides should not be that expensive and sometimes you can get one for free with a picture taking magazine.

When you look at a digital camera buyers guide cover you will be able to see the various products that will be reviewed and if they can be of any use to you in your photographic pursuits.

You will be able to see buying info about digital cameras, compact cameras, camera printers, lenses and some of the accessories that are required for photography. You will also see the types of digital cameras that are presently “hot”.

You can also find tips for buying these cameras as parts of kits in the digital camera buyers guide. The table of contents of the digital camera buyers guide will show you the main articles and product features that you can expect to read about when you buy this magazine.

Sometimes you will get valuable purchasing information about the up-to-the-minute digital cameras and the best types of camera lens. These articles will cover in-depth the assorted features and operation abilities of the dissimilar devices. You will be able to see which digital and compact cameras are reasoned to be good value for your money and what you can expect to see from these products.

With a digital camera buyers guide you will be informed about the monetary value of the another(a) compendious cameras, digital cameras, lenses and even the latest photographic camera printers. Also look at the purchasing advantages and prices of these products a digital camera buyers guide will also let you know what are the high end digital cameras and what can be well thought out as bargains.

These are just a few of the products and services that you can find when you look at a digital camera buyers guide. These magazines are jam-packed with lots of info that is necessary for the person who wants to bargain a quality digital photographic camera and of necessity good adviceComputer Technology Articles, and these guides can be reasoned invaluable.

Thanks for reading and good luck putt this data to good use.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Malega presents several Digital Camera Buyers Guide articles for your information. You can visit Michael's WWW site at: http://www.canon-cheap-digital-cameras.com/Digital-Camera-Buyers-Guide.php