Buying A Camera And Understanding Zoom

In the early days of photography the camera was an expensive item which required the understanding many confusing things before a photograph could be produced. As photography became more popular simpler cameras were produced and, eventually, cameras became available which were so easy to use that you simply had to point and click to get a reasonable photo. Unfortunately getting an actual photo usually meant a wait of several weeks as you needed to send the film to a photo lab who then developed it and printed your photo on special paper. Thankfully film cameras have been replaced by the digital camera and as it does not need film we can have our photo in minutes and most of use keep them in digital form looking at them via a computer or a digital photo frame but how easy are digital cameras to understand?

If you have been investigating buying a digital camera you will be aware of the multitude of camera manufacturers out there today. Well known camera producers, such as Nikon and Canon now compete against companies usually associated with other electronic items and a huge number of small companies producing digital cameras a knock down prices. Which company do you choose and is that digital camera bargain such a deal after all or are you paying far too much for old technology repackaged?

When buying a digital camera there are a few things to get to grips with. Most people are aware of the word megapixel but do you understand interpolation? These two words are incredibly important as two ten megapixel cameras are not equal if one interpolates the image. Interpolation is a digital way in which to increase the size of an image so a 5 mp camera can interpolate the image up to the equivalent of a 10mp one.

Another term which can confuse some is zoom. Basically there are two types of zoom, digital and optical and understanding them will help you pick up a digital camera bargain.

You will often see an impressive figure for digital zoom quoted on digital camera packaging but in actual fact you would be better off ignoring it. The reason for this is that digital zoom takes your photo and cuts it down in size (to the area you have zoomed into) and then simply enlarges this part. Of course the more you zoom in the more the photo degrades.

On the other hand, optical zoom, is something of importance. Optical zoom does not have an effect on the quality of your photo. Therefore you can zoom in and your image will still be as good quality as before. The greater the optical zoom the better the camera. However not all optical zoom is equal as the quality of the lens can vary between cameras.

The quality of the lens is one of the most important factors to consider when buying a digital cameral. Those tiny cameras for a $100 are not going to produce photo’s of the same quality of those taken with a camera where the lens alone can cost several thousand dollars. Generally the higher the price of the lens the better the quality of the resulting image.

What will you be using your camera for? This is important because if most of your photos will be of friends and general snaps you will not need to spend a small fortune on a DSLR camera with a large mm lens with a large optical zoom. In such cases a compact digital camera would be the best buy.

The world of the DSLR camera is huge, far too complicated to cover here in one article. Many people are buying them for home use now but they are usually only used by professional photographers.

Personally I use a professional Canon DSLR and a superb Canon PowerShot A480 for quick snaps. I think the A480 is fantastic for the price and suitable for all manner of photography. It only has a 3.3x optical zoom but this is ok for most situations. When comparing cameras look at the specifications carefully and always read reviews before making your final decision.

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