Buying a digital camera

Last updated: August 8, 2008.

Instant photos you can edit, print, or post on the Web—that's the promise of digital cameras. If you're still using a traditional film camera, you might be surprised how easy it is to switch to digital and how good the results will be. You don't even need a computer: providing you buy a compatible photo printer, you can use a digital camera all by itself. If you want to find out how these amazing gadgets work, you might want to start off with our article on digital cameras. For a quick guide to the Web's best photography sites, our complete guide to photography is well worth a look. If you're thinking of buying a digital camera but you don't know where to start, read on!

Photo: A 4 megapixel Vivitar digital camera with its zoom lens extended.

Compact or SLR?

Photo: A Canon EOS 400D SLR camera.

The first and most important question is whether you want to buy a simple point-and-shoot (compact) camera or a more professional SLR (single-lens reflex) with a detachable lens. If this is going to be your first camera, a point-and-shoot should be fine for your needs. A typical point-and-shoot such as the Canon PowerShot (also known as the Ixus in some countries) will cost about a half to a third as much as a typical SLR such as a Canon EOS. Unless you're really serious about photography, start with something small. Even if you graduate to an SLR later, it'll still be handy to own a compact that you can take wherever you go.

The main advantage of point-and-shoot cameras is that they're mostly automatic. You can leave the camera to set the shutter speed, flash, exposure, and so on and just press a single button. Most compact digital cameras also have a range of pre-set "modes" for shooting things like indoor scenes, portraits, night-time photos, moving images, and so on—so they are, in a sense, both automatic and semi-automatic. But few compacts have a true "manual" option where you can determine every single setting for your photograph. If you want that kind of control, you'll need a high-end professional SLR camera. For most of us, most of the time, automatic settings and modes are just find—and make life very easy indeed!

Size and weight?

Control isn't the only thing that differentiates point-and-shoot from SLR cameras. If you've ever seen a professional photographer at work, you'll know that a serious camera is a heavy, expensive, and fragile bit of kit. If you're a keen photographer already, you'll also know that the best photographs don't sit around waiting for you to turn up with your camera: if you've not got your camera, you miss the shot. The most powerful argument for compact cameras is that they're light enough to take anywhere and sufficiently inexpensive to risk using in places (like the beach) where you'd be unwise to take your prized SLR. If you're going to be reluctant to lug a heavy camera around, or afraid to take it out in case you break it, definitely opt for a compact instead of an SLR (or, in an ideal world, have both). I've recently upgraded my own compact, so now I have a "best" model that I reserve for photographic outings and a "second-best" reserve that lives permanently in my backpack.

Build quality?

Photo: A typical low-cost digital camera. This one has no optical zoom.

Portability is a hugely important feature of compact cameras but it's not worth much if your camera is made of flimsy plastic that will break easily. In one respect at least, digital cameras are more forgiving than old-style film cameras: you don't have to have an intact, properly closing case to keep light out of the film. Some of the cheapest digitals are, ironically, almost indestructible: there's virtually nothing in them that will break if you drop them. Short of smashing them with a hammer, or dropping them in the sea, there's probably not much you can do to harm them. But a typical compact camera with an LCD display and motorized zoom lens is much less forgiving. Cameras like this are like laptop computers: they're so tightly packed with delicate electronics that there's no room inside to absorb bumps and shocks. Drop them from head height onto concrete and you might as well hurl them as hard as you can at the floor—they're relatively heavy and fragile too, so there's every chance they'll smash to bits.

Image quality?

Repeat after me: megapixels are a marketing gimmick. If you're shooting photographs purely for use on a computer (on a website or to email to friends), it's a waste of time worrying about whether your camera can manage 10 megapixels, 7 megapixels, or 4 megapixels. The photo you shoot will turn out as a JPG computer file anything from about 500 kilobytes to 3-4 megabytes. To make a photo compact enough to email or use on a web page, you'll probably want to shrink it in size and quality to 100 kilobytes or less. If you turn a 4 megabyte photo from your camera into a 100 kilobyte photo for use on a website, you're compressing the image and reducing the file size by over 99 percent. The change in quality won't seem like 99 percent, but the point should be clear: you could have started off with a much smaller photograph (taken with a less sophisticated camera) to begin with. Any camera claiming about 2-3 megapixels will produce images of perfectly good quality for any kind of website work and most normal-sized, hardcopy photo prints. Go much above 5 megapixels and you're probably wasting your time unless you want to print large photographs or commercial images.

Screen and viewfinder?

One thing that really differentiates modern digital cameras from old-style film cameras is the ease with which you can see your results. Virtually every digital camera has a small LCD display on the back that lets you preview the image you're about to take and (after you've pressed the shutter) review the image you've just taken. Better, more expensive cameras have larger and clearer LCD displays—but there is a catch. LCD screens don't generate much light; they can be very hard to see in direct sunlight. While cheaper digitals have only an LCD screen, better ones also have a traditional viewfinder that you can look through to help frame your shots on those dazzling summer days. Unfortunately, though, unless you're using an SLR camera, the viewfinder won't show you exactly the image that your camera will capture with its lens (a problem that you may remember use to afflict old-style, compact film cameras).

Photo: More expensive cameras (right) tend to have bigger and better LCD screens than cheaper cameras (left).

Optical and digital zoom?

A zoom lens makes a huge difference to the quality of the photos you take: wherever you stand, you can get much closer to the action. It's very important to know the difference between the two different kinds of zoom that digital cameras use. "Proper" zoom is called optical zoom. It means a camera has a motorized lens that moves in and out to make the lens zoom in the scene you want to take without losing crispness or detail. Optical zoom is like using a pair of binoculars or a telescope: it means you use the camera's optics to get a better image to fall on the CCD (light-sensitive chip) that captures your digital picture.

The other kind of zoom is called digital zoom and it's not really zoom at all. It works on the assumption that a digital image is going to have far more pixels in it than you really need (as we discussed up above under image quality). If you use digital zoom to make an image seem three times bigger or closer, what you're really doing is telling the camera's electronics to make each pixel occupy three times as much space. So it takes the middle part of the image and blows it up to occupy the entire picture area, making it seem bigger, while discarding the outside part of the image completely. Because digital zoom works on the image that's already been captured by the lens, it loses detail in exactly the same way as an old-style photo would lose detail when you enlarged it. Digital zoom can work quite well for basic snapshots and it's great for getting you closer to things like distant animals you couldn't otherwise capture. But it's really not a patch on optical zoom, because it always reduces the image quality.

Many compact cameras have both optical and digital zoom. Like many compacts, my Canon Ixus has a four times optical zoom and a three times digital zoom. When I press the zoom switch, the optical zoom lens moves out as far as it can. If I keep pressing the switch, the zoom lens kicks in as well. If I use both optical and digital zoom to the maximum, I can effectively blow up a basic image to 12 times its normal size—but I will start to lose quality the minute I switch on the digital zoom.

Taking videos?

A few years ago, if you wanted to take still photos and videos you had to use a separate film camera and camcorder. Now you can capture both kinds of image with a basic digital camera. Most compacts have a switch that flips them from still mode to video mode. Many have tiny microphones and loudspeakers so they can capture sound and play it back as well. The only thing to bear in mind is that making movies needs a huge amount of storage space, so you'll need quite a large memory card (I recommend 1-4 gigabytes or GB) if you plan to make more than a few minutes of video at a time.

Extra features

Compact camera makers know very well that their products are all very similar, so they try to differentiate them with extra features like "red eye removal", "automatic face detection", and so on. Features like these may sound a good idea, but they're mostly gimmicks: they add little of real value. Assuming you'll be uploading your photos to a computer before printing them, you can remove red eye quite easily in any basic graphics program.

As for face detection, the best way to master taking photos of people's faces is simply to practice until you get the hang of how your camera's auto-focusing mechanism works. Another good tip is to take three or four photos instead of just one; you have nothing to lose (no film to waste) by taking extra shots with a digital camera. If you don't read any other bit of your camera's manual, that's fine—but make sure you do read the page about focusing. If your hand tends to shake, try using a tripod or steady your elbows on a table, gate, shelf, or whatever else is nearby.

Software

Don't be persuaded by cameras that say they come with extra software. Virtually all cameras—even bargain-basement models—come with some sort of graphics program and most of them are no use whatever. There are plenty of freely available image processing programs you can use to improve your digital photos. Google's excellent Picasa program is a favorite with many people (including me). If you don't mind paying, Adobe PhotoShop is the gold standard in photo-processing, though the full version (intended for graphic design professionals) is quite expensive for home users. Also well worth a look is the GIMP, a freely available image-processing program for Windows and Linux.

Photo: Image-processing software can help you "warm up" colors, add sepia tones, remove red-eye, and make all kinds of other fixes. Google's Picasa (left) is free to download and use. ZoomBrowser (right) is a similar image-processing program that comes free with Canon cameras.

"Optional" extras?

It's sad but it's true: almost without exception, camera manufacturers don't include a number of essential items in the box with your new camera.

The case

You'll be very lucky if there's a case: my latest camera came wrapped in nothing more than a useless papery, plastic sleeve. If there is a case, chances are it'll be woefully inadequate: it won't be the kind of padded case you can drop out of your pocket without smashing your camera to bits. So a decent case is the first thing to invest in. Avoid smart, posh, leather slip cases: go for a tough rubber case with a properly padded inside and add some extra bubble wrap in there too if you think it'll help. Also add a couple of sachets of silica gel to absorb any damp or moisture, which can harm your camera. Most cameras do at least come with a wrist strap. If yours hasn't got one, get one straight away to reduce the risk of dropping your new pride and joy.

Photo: If you're lucky, you might get a cheap and flimsy case with your camera (left). It'll stop you scratching your camera, but it won't protect against harder knocks or dropping from a height. Don't be a fool: if you've spent hundreds on the camera, why skimp on the case? Invest in decent protection. The basic case on the right cost me less than $10 (£5). It has a central protective compartment for the camera, padded inner layers, and a thick rubberized outer case. I've added a sachet of silica gel (just next to my thumb) to absorb any moisture.

The memory card

Photo: A typical secure digital (SD) flash memory card.

While I can just about understand camera companies not providing cases, I can't see why they all skimp on memory cards. Some cameras come without a memory card at all—which means they can only take a couple of photos before the internal memory fills up. Others, like my Ixus, come with a puny memory card (32 megabytes in my case) that barely holds 10-20 snaps. With memory cards now costing just a few pounds, it's hard to see why the camera companies don't include much larger cards. Get a memory card with a least 1GB of storage if you have a camera with 3 megapixel image quality; that should let you store a few hundred pictures. If you're blessed with 5-10 megapixels or even more, aim for a 2-4GB card.

Batteries

Even if you make little use of the flash and zoom lens, you'll still find your camera chews through battery power very quickly. The Canon Ixus redeems itself by shipping with a decent, built-in rechargeable battery and charger, but many compacts don't come with batteries of any kind. Don't use disposable batteries in digital camera; it'll cost you a fortune. Instead buy yourself a couple of sets of rechargeables so you've always got enough batteries fully charged to use at all times.

Tripod

If you're going to make a lot of use of that zoom lens, or if you plan to shoot indoors or where light conditions are low (so your camera will use long exposures, increasing the risk of blurred shots), a small tripod is a very worthwhile investment. The Joby Gorillapod, which has ingenious ball and socket joints, is absolutely brilliant for compact cameras. Made of sturdy plastic, it weighs almost nothing and easily slips in your pocket.

Photo: Virtually every camera has a screw hole underneath where you can add a tripod. The screw is a standard size so all tripods fit all cameras.