Digital Cameras

Everywhere you go, from the office to family reunions, someone has a stack of digital pictures--often on copier paper--to show off. They will invariably look a little smug as they tell you that they printed the pictures themselves (as if you couldn’t tell.) They might whip out their digital camera and show you the last sixteen pictures they took of their Aunt Bertha's last dental visit. "Oh, I know I don't need that many pictures of this," they'll say, "but it's free so I just couldn't resist!" Or maybe that's just how the true geeks of the world, like myself, see digital photography, but my husband--also a geek--and I have taken nearly seven thousand pictures in the almost-four years we've been married. So if you've been secretly coveting your neighbor's digital camera, you're in luck--this is the first of a three-part series on that very subject. In this issue, we'll talk about buying the camera. In the next installment of Sapphire Wire, we'll look at tips for taking perfect pictures, and the next issue will contain ways to share and print the excellent and free photos you're now taking.

The first thing you should know is that even for us geeks, buying a camera isn't exactly a piece of cake. There are a lot of things to consider, and of course, budget is always a major concern. Five common factors that you should consider are the resolution of the camera, the type and amount of zoom, the kind of storage it uses, the price and the physical design. There are many more things to keep in mind, but those things will get a bit more technical than we need to right now. If you're seriously shopping for a camera that you want to love more than life itself, you should consider becoming very familiar with DP Review.com. You'll also want to read reviews from Amazon and similar for all the cameras that you're thinking of purchasing. In this article, though, we'll just focus on the features that most general merchandise stores will try to sell you on so you'll at least be familiar with the terminology.

Resolution: This is the most talked-about feature of all. How many megapixels does the camera you're looking at have? Essentially, this refers to how many pixels there in the image--the bigger the number, the larger the picture can be. Theoretically, then, the higher the number, the sharper your pictures will turn out. It's not the be-all, end-all measurement, though, which some people forget. Consider it a starting point. When I bought my current digital camera last year, I picked out the megapixels I required first--four, as it happened--and then compared the cameras in that range to find the one I eventually ended up purchasing.
Zoom: There are two types of zoom--optical and digital. Optical zoom is what people actually want; digital zoom is what camera manufacturers like to sell. The numbers and terminology that they come up with can be rather misleading. Digital zoom doesn't actually increase the resolution of the picture. If you zoom in on something far away, the camera will crop away the details on the outside of the zoomed area, but it won't actually gain you any detail inside the zoomed area. With optical zoom, though, you can actually get a closer view of the area. I'm not saying that digital zoom doesn't have its place, but put your money where the optics are. Don't get too carried away, though--when you zoom in on something, you decrease the amount of light that gets in. That will again decrease your picture quality.
Storage types: How does the camera store your pictures? You'll want to steer away from the cameras that use regular floppy disks, however tempting the familiar (and cheap) little diskettes are. They're slow, bulky and they don't hold all that many pictures, particularly when you're looking for quality. At the highest setting of my camera, it would require about twelve floppy disks to hold one picture, which is, of course, physically impossible. Along these lines, you might want to consider how the pictures in the camera you're considering will be transferred to your computer. If you have a particular docking station in mind (or already on your desk), for instance, you'll want to make sure that it's compatible with your new camera! Similarly, if you have a camera already, you might want to go with one that uses the same type so you can continue using your old memory cards. I doubt this will be a deal-breaker, in most cases, though.
Price: This is probably the one that sells the most cameras. You can buy very cheap digital cameras now for as little as $20 or so. You get what you pay for, of course, so I really wouldn't recommend that if you're looking for a camera that will produce quality prints--but possibly if you want something that you can carry to the beach with you without fear of damaging it.
Physical design: You might not think at first that this is an important feature, but once you start carrying this thing around with you every day, you'll quickly change your mind. You want lightweight and small, but without negatively impacting the above considerations. And if you're a true nerd--it should look cool.

After you decide which camera you want, it's time to actually purchase your new baby. As with any item worth more than a few dollars, your best bet is to shop around. Look at the flyers of the local computer store in the Sunday paper, do a Google search, check out Ebay.

When you finally bring the shiny new camera home, spend a little time reading the manual. Take lots of pictures of the same thing with different settings. Play with the zoom. And above all else, remember that these pictures are absolutely free from this point on. If you don't like them, you can delete them without feeling guilty--as long as Aunt Bertha isn't watching.