Although not as widely known, Fuji, Panasonic, Kodak and Casio, also offer quality digital cameras and accessories for sale.

 

 

Size and Colour: Digital cameras, Sony DSC-T700 with slim (thinner) footprints or the Kodak Easyshare M1033 ultra compact camera, can now fit in your shirt pocket or small purse. Even waterproof digital cameras such as the Pentax Optio W60 for underwater photography now have very small footprints as well as some professional slr digital cameras like the Olympus E420. But keep in mind the more compact the camera, the smaller the buttons perhaps a challenge for larger hands. Who says pink isn’t in fashion? Not so!

Besides the standard black or silver, there is a rainbow of colours to choose from like the Fuji FinePix Z20fd.

 

 

 

Zoom: How close you can focus on a subject. Cameras have two types of zoom, camera optical zoom meaning the zoom is through the lens or camera digital zoom where camera's electronics magnifies the image. The problem with camera digital zoom is the size of the pixels also get magnified, which somewhat distorts the image. Most cameras today have a minimum of 3X-4X optical zoom. The Olympus SP560, Canon Powershot S5IS, Kodak Z1015 digital cameras have zooms 12X up to 18X and are great for taking those spectator sports close-up shots, photos of your kids in a swimming pool or school concert. However, the greater the zoom, the more expensive a camera will most likely be. Some distortion may occur where straight lines appear curved at the higher zooms, for example shots of tall buildings. Most digital cameras have automatic shake stabilization to avoid ‘blurry’ photos at higher zooms.

 

 

Megapixels: The camera resolution which is the number of dots (pixels) to make an image. Ranges 2 to 10 megapixel digital cameras are now common. The more megapixels a digital camera has, the higher the definition of the image, the larger the printed photo size can be. Professionals prefer 10MP and up, because their commercial photos may require billboard-sized prints. For example Canon SD990 has 15MP and the Nikon CoolPix S710 has 14.5MP just to mention a few. Only a keen eye could distinguish between a 4MP and a 10MP print 4”x 6”. The cost of the camera increases with the greater the number of camera megapixels.

 

Memory Card: Cameras come with a minimum sized memory card holding only 10 to 20 photos therefore the purchase of a memory card is mandatory. Standard SD memory card sizes range from 128MB up to 8GB and are available where photographic accessories are sold. As a rule to calculate the number of photos that can be stored on a memory card, divide 1000 (1GB) by the megabytes of the camera. Example 1000 divide by 6MB camera will store approximately 160 pictures, 2GB(2000 divided by 6MB) will hold 330 photos. Become familiar with the specific type of memory card your camera requires.

 

Viewfinder: Some cameras today have both lens viewing and back of the camera LCD screen type viewfinders. Many of the new cameras now come only with camera viewfinder LCD screen.

Screens may be difficult to see in bright sunlight, however many new cameras have an LCD screen manual brightness control. Cameras like the Panasonic TC5 has an intelligent automatic brightness control. Digital cameras, such as the Canon S5 IS have swivel type screens and are excellent for taking macro photos (e.g. inside flowers or tiny objects) where you hold the camera at ground level and swivel the screen up. Also, swiveled screens are convenient in a crowd or parade, where you take photos above your head with the screen swiveled down.

 

Batteries: Although most digital cameras today use re-chargeable Lithium Ion batteries, some digital cameras use double “A” or triple “A” batteries. Since the batteries can be purchase almost anywhere, you are ensured never to run out of power. Although "A" rechargeable batteries have a higher initial cost, they are well worth the price. Keep two sets of batteries, one in use, while the other set is charging.

 

 

 

 

USB Cable: Interface cable between computer and camera is required if you want to transfer and save your photos on a computer. Today this is normally a standard item provided with the camera.

 

 

 

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