Tips to Buy Right Digital Camera
By Kaushal Sheth
With every new class of digital photography that I start giving courses to, a large proportion of the students bring cameras that are not well suited for them. Most of them simply bought cameras that the salesman suggested they should have. In the end, many of them discover their expensive blunder. Thus it is best to assess the camera in terms of your needs before making a purchase. Some of issues that must be considered before selecting a camera are discussed below:
(I) Picture-taking readiness
The amount of time a camera takes before it is ready to take a picture is a crucial issue. The faster a camera is, the less missed opportunities there will be. The lag times between turning on the camera and taking the picture are as follows:
a. Time to turn on camera: most commercial cameras take between 1 and 5 seconds; the average is 3 seconds.
b. Time-taken to focus the camera: between 1 and 3 seconds
c. Shutter lag time: time between pushing the button and the photo being taken: between 1 and 3 seconds
Thus, cameras can take anything between 3 seconds and 11 seconds to take a picture. Often, this is enough for the moment to pass. Imagine missing the exact moment your child blew his candles at his birthday just because the camera took 3 seconds just to focus. Of course, some may argue that they will always be leaving their camera on, but there is still a lag time between your decision to take a picture and the picture being actually taken. In cheap cameras, this can be up to 9 seconds, sufficient to miss out on important events that would unfortunately not come back.
(II) Manual white balance setting
It is important that the camera enables you to set the white balance manually and not just automatically as this feature may not be as effective as the ad states. Nearly 60% of cameras do not allow manual adjustment.
(III) Different Exposure Modes
Exposure modes refer to the way the camera takes a light reading. Cheap cameras often take an overall reading which does not allow you to take pictures in all light conditions. You should look whether the camera has a spot, center-weighted or matrix light metering system that will enable you to take good pictures whatever the light conditions prevailing.
Finally, many people buy cameras with different features, for example taking videos. Often such cameras can do many things but none of them well, a jack of all trades and master of none! It is better to buy a camera for its primary function: taking still photographs.
So much can be obtained from a digital camera. It only requires some effort to understand how it functions and learning how to take pictures from it appropriately. It must be remembered that nobody looks a second time at a bad picture! Thus, if you want quality pictures that you and your family will cherish all your lives, take some time and effort with your digital camera.
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