Digital Camera

If you want to store the spectacular moments or sights for later admiration, buy a good digital camera and forgot hassles with films and development. Just point and shoot, remove unwanted images later, create web galleries or select images to be printed as normal paper photographs.

The quality of the digital cameras is good enough for both casual snapping and more professional photographing. The only differences are the extensibility of the camera and the price. When photographing professionally or wanting to look as a pro, the camera should at least support changing objectives, have socket for external flash and allow mounting to a tripod. These cameras are usually single lens reflex (SLR) cameras, in which the preview image and the captured image are identical.

If you are not going to frame your prints on the walls or create posters, all cameras that have more than three megapixels are good enough from the resolution standpoint. The optics and the contrast ratio are more important. Check also how long does it take to turn on the camera and are there any delays between pressing the button and taking the picture. These delays can be surprisingly long; do not buy such cameras. All digital effects are also usually worthless, as you can produce them with the computer later. Prefer optical zoom instead of digital.

If you are a casual snapper, check that the camera feels good on your hands (and your thumb does not automatically find its way in front of the lens :), it has all required features and good battery. You really don’t need more. Remember to check how to get your photos out of the camera. You may have to buy a card reader, too. Fortunately, they are extremely inexpensive and provide you all the functionality you need.

For more professional approach, you can purchase an SLR-like camera with an attached lens. The sensor is protected and you have some freedom with filters and other stuff that can be attached on the lens. This is enough for semi-pros. But, the best results will come with a real SLR system that has changeable lenses. Now you can select the best suited lens for every occasion and put the camera into manual mode for tweaking the best of the photographs.

The SLR route is the most expensive. The body is expensive, but it is really peanuts compared to the prices of the lenses, especially when going to the top-end models. The body usually comes with one lens that is enough to get started, but soon you find that you need more lenses. There are several different lens series, for example, for Nikon or Canon bodies, and they are not interchangeable. Check the availability of lenses before selecting the body, even if you do not currently need them.

In summary, pocket digital cameras are good enough for casual photography, but they are limited in several ways. SLR-like cameras combine the good aspects from pocket and SLR cameras, but they do not go that extra mile provided by changeable lenses. SLR is the most expensive and hardest way to get photographs, but it is also the most rewarding one.

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