Thursday, September 27, 2007

How To Buy A Digital Camera ?

Buying a digital camera can be a real hard thing to do these days ... why is that so, you ask? Well for starters, there's just too many choices out there and deciding on a particular model can turn out to be a challenging task in itself. I really don't know about you guy's, but seriously, I've asked myself this question on a number of occasions, "How to buy a digital camera?" Learning the key elements to consider when buying that perfect digital camera can be tons of help.

Once you've decided that having a digital camera is the way to go, then you're on your way to the next phase ... choosing one! This is the part where you get all confused and for most parts of the time, you end up buying something simply because it suited your budget very nicely or either, got something just because you saw it in a TV ad. In my case, it was kind of both, "A match made in Heaven" so to speak, but after owning it for over a year, I soon begun to realize that its not really what I wanted actually.

Since there is an endless selection these days, make sure the final decision rests purely on your needs rather than buying on an impulse. List out the features you're looking for in a digital camera, and work along those lines. Because, if you look at it practically, there's no real need for you to spend thousands of dollars if you're just out there taking some simple 4X6 prints, or buying that branded one just so that you're "in", features proclaiming to have capabilities to print great looking large 8X10 prints but sadly find out later, that even your usual smaller prints turn out horrible, quality wise.

My best take on this, would be to buy at least a 3.0 megapixel digital camera (these are quite common in many of today's inexpensive camera's) if you're going to just use them for some regular shots or just to upload a couple of pictures to your blog. And for those who would want something more advanced and something more professional, you have start looking into camera's that have at least 4 - 10 megapixel capabilities. Now, this is where you get to enjoy photo-lab quality, large quality prints and great looking pictures all year round.

But with all that said, having a camera just based on its number of megapixel solely, can sometimes have a downside to it as well, due to its larger image size, a need to have a more expensive memory card, and as the image size are larger it's bound to take up more space in your computer's hard-drive, not to mention their sky high prices as well.

So here's a perfect video that I found that shares some pointers on "How to buy a Digital Camera" and hopefully after you have watched it, many of your questions can be answered and eventually help you decide better.


8 comments:

darlene said...

oh sure now ya post this , after i bought mine...gesh!....lol
great post Nihal!...sure do miss ya!!

NIHAL said...

Hi Darlene,

Ha ha ha, hopefully yours was a good buy anyway :)

Sorry bout not coming over so frequently as before, been busy with my day job that has me traveling most of the times.

Take care, ya :)

emilayusof said...

Hello Nihal! Great article! I just bought a new 10 mp camera coz I am serious hobbyist.

NIHAL said...

Alamak, Emila ... nampaknya, that news about PayPal allowing Malaysians really took off with you didn't it ??? Wow, a 10 mega pixel camera! Now, that would have cost you a bomb?

Anyway, since you're a very artistic individual, the camera has to also equal your calibre I suppose :)

PS : If you ever get bored with it ...... boleh pinjam tak ??? *HA HA HA*

And, thanks dear dan selamat berpuasa (jangan ponteng tau) :))

Rolando said...

I would also do a search on reviews of camera because not all cameras are alike.

We have two digital cameras, a Sony 10 Mega pixel and an Canon 8 Mega pixel.

You would think that the Sony would take better quality pictures because of the bigger size pixel, but our Canon is way more superior than our Sony.

Of course it's not an apples to apples comparison, but there's more to cameras than the Mega pixel.

NIHAL said...

Hi Rolando,

Ya, somehow I've realized that too, all the while we would imagine that Sony would run miles ahead in aspects of their quality images, but sadly their digital camera's are usually not up to par (hopefully non of our friends work for Sony???) *he he he*

My previous camera was also a Canon, they produced great pictures but there was one thing I could not bear ... the costs for their spare-parts, man, they were just too expensive! So, off it went to the cash converter :)*he he he*

Thanks once again, Rolando :)

Anonymous said...

You know that's quite true. Never totally base the digital camera's worthiness wholly on the number of Mega Pixel it carries.

The video here, definitely points one in the right direction for those planning a purchase soon. Keep up the good work, buddy :)

NIHAL said...

Hey there, Akmal :)

You're the Tech Wiz here, I'm sure what you say would carry a lot of weight :)

The next time something technical is up in my drawing board I'm sure to consult you first *he he he*

Will come over later this week, buddy :)