Digital Photography
Ten years ago, a digital camera was still seen as a bit of a novelty. Nowadays it is the other way around, there are the common digicams and some old-style film loaded cameras. As for myself, I got my first digicam back in 2001. It was a Canon Powershot G2 boasting a whooping 4 Megapixels image resolution - and it cost me over $1000! Today you could get a digital camera with similar specs for a fraction of that money. Or, if you are interested in the current version of this camera - the Canon Powershot G9 last time I checked - then you get an excellent piece of equipment sporting 12 Megapixels for around $500! Three times the image resolution at half the price, roughly. Not only that, but the G9 also offers a much larger zoom range than my old G2 plus it has such new features as image stabilization.
One good thing about my old Canon digicam is that it has a pivoting viewfinder. I love that, since it means you can for instance hold the camera high up over your head and look straight up into the viewfinder, while the camera points straight ahead. This is great when you for instance stand in the middle of a crowd, and want a picture of something in front of you beyond all those other people obstructing your view.
One thing I don’t like about this Canon digicam is that it uses a special battery which seems to be made just for that particular camera model. All re-chargeable batteries do eventually stop working, and when that happens I have to replace the thing at considerable expense - I’ve had to do it once and the cost was over $100. In my opinion, it is better to have a digicam that uses those standard batteries you can get anywhere. Like, the other day I saw I could get a battery charger plus a couple of standard rechargeables for around $20, in the local hardware store.
Well, that is my opinion and you could argue that a custom-designed battery is better because it takes up less space and allows for a more compact camera body. Remember, though, that you probably need TWO sets of batteries, to make sure you always have your camera in working order.
Digital cameras now have everything going for them. Price used to be a drawback but not anymore. There are simple easy-to-use digicams for beginners available at very affordable cost. And even quite advanced SLR digital cameras now cost no more than the least expensive classic SLR cameras from a few years back.
Note that there are two kinds of digital camera zoom: optical and digital zoom. The optical digicam zoom feature is the “real” one while “digital zoom” simply means the image is enlarged inside the camera. In this latter case the image quality will suffer.
Image resolution used to be a limitation of the earlier digital cameras, but that is changing fast. Nowadays even simple digital cameras tend to have about 4 to 6 Megapixel sensors, which is enough to make a fairly large print with excellent quality. The resolution of the image sensor isn’t everything, however. The quality of the camera lens, and the way the image is processed in the camera, also matter a great deal.
There are many examples of good digital cameras, too many to mention here. Canon and Nikon are some of the top brands, both have been around for decades and have excellent reputations. And there are several other good brands also like for instance Olympus, Panasonic, and good old Kodak.
New camera models enter the market all the time, and the lists of features gets continously more impressive. When choosing a digicam for your needs, make sure you get an opportunity to handle it before buying. Does it feel “right” in your hands? Are the controls easy to find? Great features are good to have, but if you don’t feel comfortable handling the camera it still is a poor choice for you.
A definite advantage of digital cameras is that the images don’t cost you anything (until you print them out on paper). You never have to buy film, or spend money on film processing. Generally, I recommend you get a memory card with a capacity of at least 1Gb - since memory is rather inexpensive nowadays. (Back when I got my first digicam, even a 128 Mb card was quite costly!) And if you are getting an advanced SLR digital camera you probably want to have even more memory card storage space.
Lately I have seen memory cards with a storage capacity of up to 8 Gb! Such a memory card can store about 2000 pictures, if you have an 8 Megapixel camera. And this is equivalent to around 60 rolls of old-fashioned film. Imagine the cost of 60 rolls of film - and although the memory card also costs a bit of money, it is a one-time expense.
