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Simple guide to buying a digital camera

Can it really be simple with around 20 brands all offering multiple models? Choosing a digital camera can be a challenge – but by sorting out the options in a logical way, it can be done.
    By sorting your requirements under the 3 headings below, and then making some basic decisions under each, you should be left with an obvious choice.

Let's make it even easier by calling them the 3 Ps
                                 Price – need I say more?   
                            Power – translate as megapixels
                       Photography – your pictorial ambitions

    First arrange the 3 Ps in order of importance – for you. Okay, so lots of people start with a budget. For them, price will be priority one. But it's still amazing there are so many for whom price is no object. They can put photography (their pictorial ambition) at number one. Or maybe, power in the form of megapixels might be the top consideration.
    To help set your own priority, let's looks at the 3 Ps in detail.

Price
Digital cameras start at under $100 (real basic/toy) to the tens of thousands (special purpose and professional models). But the vast majority are sold in the retail market so we can leave out the offerings at either end of the scale. A competent camera can be acquired for around $200 while $5,000 will buy the most versatile of tools. It would be nice to say, you get what you pay for . . . but it isn't that easy.
    Firstly, let's recognise that digital still photography is effectively a new medium. The film/chemical process ruled photography for over 160 years – unchallenged. But just in the last few years, digital has all but eclipsed sales of film cameras. However, most current equipment and processes for digital photography borrow heavily from models from the film era. But don't make any mistake. Everything is different and cameras in are in the throes of rapid change.
    And that points to a strong argument for not spending any more than you need to. Odds are that your new camera will be obsolete within a couple of years – at best

.
    Types of cameras neatly divide into three groups. Marketing-speak for these are:
            1. Point-and-shoot or Compact (mostly the cheapest – $200 to $600)
            2. Prosumer or Bridge (middle bracket pricing – $500 to $1,900)
            3. DSLR (for digital single lens reflex and generally the most expensive 
                          – $750 to $5,000).

Point-and-shoot: these are the carry over from 35mm film cameras of the same name (also called rangefinder models and compacts). They are the small, usually-silver cameras that fit easily into pockets and bags. They can be whipped out quickly and by virtue of mostly automatic controls, used to grab a quick snap. These days, if you pay a bit more they can come with some manual controls. But these are usually frustratingly limited. You can expect to get a limited zoom lens of unremarkable resolving power... mostly.

Prosumer: now often called a bridge camera, so far, this is the only truly new style of camera born of the digital era. Not surprisingly it seems to make the most of the new medium. As the name indicates, this style of camera provides many of the features that would be demanded by a professional photographer – but is priced to appeal to consumers (read amateur/serious photographers). It comes with a high degree of manual control, but also with automatic features. Like the point-and-shoot, it comes with a fixed zoom lens but of much higher quality and the zoom range will be significant (and in some cases now, remarkable).

DSLR: these are 35mm single lens reflex cameras with a digital sensor bolted into the back. They enjoy the advantage of having interchangeable lenses. SLRs were without doubt the pinnacle of achievement for film photography camera design, allowing mobility (compared to larger format professional cameras), wide variety in lens choice and technical sophistication in exposure and focusing. These had been developed to a high level by virtue of the mass market they generated in the last few decades of the 20th century. The best thing about SLRs though is to be seen in the viewfinder. You are looking pretty much at what the cameras sees – in fabulous detail. So DSLRs are a great attraction to established photographers because lens purchased for film SLR camera bodies can still be used. DSLRs are the most expensive and generally speaking, offer the highest level of features. At the top end, many professional photographers have embraced them. But are they the perfect solution? For more on this question, see our separate article here.

When you come to look at actual models and prices, you will notice that there is crossover between the three categories, and there are advantages and drawbacks to each. But hopefully, you now have an idea of where to aim on price.

Power
Many of us like to get a handle on the relative merits of different models of the same product via the use of a number. With cars it's often engine cylinders and with computers, chip speed for example . With digital cameras, the magic number is megapixels – millions of pixels. And there's some sense in that because the more megapixels, the greater the resolving power of the camera. That's shorthand for the bigger the number, the bigger the print you can make of your picture before it cracks up in a pixilate mess. That is a simplification but is the easiest way to look at it without getting bogged down in the high tech side.
    In the last few years, there has been an exponential increase in the megapixel count offered with new digital cameras. You might see it argued that megapixels above a certain number (often 6) are a waste. Don't believe it. Since the medium's invention, photographers have striven to get the maximum in clarity and size in their prints. There is every chance the even the most casual snap shooter will get the occasional picture that they want to print big.
    So go for maximum megapixel power: chances are that the number you get will seem too small next year anyway.

Photography
This should really be the key concern. What sort of pictures will you be taking and what will you do with them?
    So let's also divide photographers into categories to simplify things again.

The snap shooter:  this is the popular mass photography segment that used to be typified by the Kodak customer. It's pictures of family and friends, the high days and holidays that mark the wealth of modern life. Point-and-shoots made this field their own long before digitals arrived. The only difference (but a big one) is that the new digital point-and-shoot cameras are far superior in quality and photographic potential.

The amateur: covering a range of photographic ambition from advanced snaps of family, friends, holidays and even use at work – to part-time professionals. The amateur acquires basic to advanced technical knowledge in both photographic equipment and processes. They desire to make good pictures and the have the intention to use cameras regularly. It was once common for the amateur to join camera clubs. Some still do but more likely now is that their pictures appear on the web. In a sense, the amateur might be described as a social photographer. For this group, the SLR 35mm camera was widely accepted as the main tool prior to the digital revolution. But now the amateur is probably the perfect customer for prosumer cameras with technical and manual controls available on command.

The photographer: This is the group that aspires to create visual art in photographic form and includes many professionals and advanced amateurs. Real photographers are concerned to make pictures that inspire and provoke the emotions through original composition and complex visual constructions. To maximise the chances of success they require the greatest control over the camera's output and the ability to capture the scene/subject in the most challenging lighting conditions. They could choose a prosumer digital if those units satisfy their ambitions. More likely they will choose a DSLR camera.

Summary
So decide what you want to spend, what megapixels power is right for you and where you want to go with your photography. It's all pretty simple from here. Even though there are so many models from so many makers on offer, it's not going to make a huge difference which brand you chose (with the exception prior SLR owners who may be constrained by lenses already purchased).

Background to camera brands in the digital era
Digital photography has brought big changes to camera branding. Besides most of the established film-camera makers, there are many new brands making inroads through their digital products. The newcomers are typically electronic and computer companies that have expertise in building the heart of digital photography – the image processor. The established brands rely on their photographic name but many are now struggling to keep up in the crowded market. At least one has already bowed out and passed the baton to an electronics company (Konica-Minolta to Sony). The newer brands have also associated themselves with much older film era brands (especially European lens makers) to give themselves a bit of old camera cred(ibility). So be aware: all are in a state of change. Brand loyalty makes little sense in the photography of today.

Useful sources for further information
The Internet is a wonderful source of news and reviews on digital cameras. See our Links page for a list of the main camera review sites, camera makers and retailers.
    Another useful resource when deciding on what digital camera to buy is Yahoo's shopping site for digital cameras also flagged on our links page.

© This article is by Greg Dickins of Photo Sydney, Copyright 2007 and should only be reproduced with the author's permission. Last updated May 2007.