Your First Digital Camera

Can anyone use a digital camera? You bet! Just be sure to get one with the "Auto" mode for taking pictures. This mode handles all the operations of the camera and you simply point-and-shoot the picture. The best advice I have for anyone using a digital camera is to learn to "squeeze" the button till the camera snaps the picture. Taking the shot quickly will cause you to move the camera and your images will be blurry. Digital cameras use different shutter speeds when taking pictures. The speed of the shutter will go down to about 1/30th of a second (correction.. what was I thinking?) when you shoot in the evening or darker scenes.

Recommended Camera Deals at right --->

How many Pixels? First of all the maximum number of pixels the camera uses to take a picture, determines the quality of the images. Pixels are like dots of different colors in an image. Typically you will see cameras of 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and higher megapixels (millions of pixels). A 2 megapixel camera will give you great images at 4 x 6. If you plan on printing 8 x 10s or higher than you'll want to get at least a 4 mega pixel camera. Any more pixels than that will allow you to very large posters. The only other reason you may want to get a 5-6-8 megapixel camera when you're really not interested in super large prints is that you would want to zoom into an image and then crop that smaller view to fill the frame. However, better to do your image composition while taking the shot so that you won't need to crop later. Sorry... I left some information when first posting

Website Images If you only need images to be shown on a website then you'll do well with a 1.3 or 2 megapixel camera. Typically, website images are about 320 x 240 pixels wide or a the most 640 x 480 on the high side.

Printed Pictures Actually a 2 megapixel camera will print descent 4 x 6" prints. As mentioned above, if you're expecting to print 8 x10 then you'll need at least a 4 or 5 megapixel camera. Before printing check to see what the resolution of the image is. You should set it for at least 200 to 300 dpi (dots per inch). Know that computer screen resolutions are only 97 pixels per inch. This means a picture on the screen will almost always look good. It may not look as good on the printer.

What About Batteries? Most of the Point-and-Shoot cameras today use AA batteries. Of course you can use the rechargeable AA batteries that are readily available and saves you money. Do not get NICAD (Nickel Cadmium) batteries, only NIMAH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries as these batteries are better than NICADS.

What about Zoom? There are two kinds of zoom (or image magnifications) to consider. Analog zoom magnifies the image through the power of the camera lens. Digital zoom basically how much the camera will take the image on the sensor and magnify in the camera. Most of the cameras come with a 3x analog zoom which is about normal for general picture taking. If you want to be able to zoom in some real nice close-ups, get a 10x analog zoom and that will give the equiv. to almost 400mm on a 35mm camera lens. Using too much digital zoom can render your images with a poor quality showing the pixilation effect. A digital camera with 5 or more megapixels will provide pretty decent images even with the digital zoom on.

What about the FLASH? Point and shoot cameras come with a built in flash that generally works well between 4-7 feet. Taking pictures closer than that will cause your image to be washed out because off too much light. Further than 7 feet may cause your images to be too dark.

Storage Media There are a number of different storage media options for today's cameras. Some are very small and others are larger. There is no preference on what type of card to use. The size of your memory card will determine the number of images you'll be able to save in the camera at any specific resolution. The higher you set the image resolution in your camera, the less images you'll be able to take for the size of memory you have in the camera.

What about Video Capabilities? Some cameras will have the ability to take video of like a movie camera though they are designed to be emailed to a friend or just played in a small window on your computer. Usually the size will be about 320 pixels across that is good enough for website viewing as well. The videos will record sound as well but make sure the camera records sound as well because some of them don't.

So that's that... let me know if you have any questions.