Used Digital Camera Buying Guide Part One
You first need to determine why you want to use a digital camera. How you answer this question will be the base of the rest of your camera buying decisions. If you're only interested in sending pictures by e-mail, or posting them to the Internet, you won't need to buy a high resolution camera. However, if you want to print your digital photos you'll want to buy a camera that has a higher resolution.
Whether you are buying a used or a new digital camera you will want to be looking for the same things. The following points will help you determine just what type of a digital camera you need for the types of pictures that you are going to be taking.
Resolution
Every digital camera is rated by how many megapixels, or millions of pixels, can be recorded. This is also known as the "resolution" and is one of the most important camera features that will affect how much the camera costs. The rule of thumb is that the more megapixels there are the higher the cost of the camera.
Pictures that are only looked at on the computer screen won't need a high resolution. If your monitor is set to 1280x1024 it will only display about 1.3 megapixels. This means that a digital camera that has a rating of two megapixels will be appropriate for images for your computer.
If you want to print pictures you will have to focus on other issues. A professional photography print shop will most often print pictures at about 300 dots per inch. You will most likely be disappointed with any photos that are lower than this standard. At 300 dpi a 4x6 photo will need to have an image with about 2.8 million pixels. You will need to have a digital camera for printed pictures of this level with a rating of 3 megapixels.
You don't always get better photos with more megapixels. A camera with more megapixels (and equal lens quality and image sensor) will only allow you to print bigger photos. With more megapixels you'll also have the option of cropping your pictures as well as maintaining prints that are a standard size.
Budget
Once you have picked a megapixel rating that is going to work for you, you are ready to buy a used or new camera that fits into your budget. You will want to get the highest quality of photos that you can for the amount of money that you have to spend. You may need to give up some of the more complicated features, such as sound and video recording, to get the best buy. However, buying a used camera may allow you to spend the same amount of money that you would spend on a more expensive camera, plus the addition of added features and equipment. Try to focus on the quality of the camera lens as wells as the quality of the image sensor.
You can buy both glass and plastic lenses. Glass lens are a better quality and will give you sharper images. Good quality cameras will have lenses that are manufactured by well known companies such as Zeiss or Leica.
There are many digital cameras that come with a zoom function. This function lets you focus closer to the object without actually moving the camera any closer. You can choose from two different types of zoom: a digital or an optical zoom. The optical zoom will alter the length of the lens while the digital zoom will take away the outside edges of the picture and interpolate the image over the entire area of the sensor. A digital zoom isn't as good as an optical zoom.
An image sensor is an electronic device that will record the photo images. Two of the most popular sensors are CCD (charged couple device) and CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor). The CMOS will cost less than the CCD but the quality of the images will be less.
No matter what type of budget you have for your camera purchase make sure that you buy one that has a top quality lens as well as a CCD sensor. These two factors will ensure that you get great digital photos.
|
