Digital Cameras

Digital cameras come in a dizzying array of possibilities. I am often asked "Can you recommend the features I should look for, how much I should spend and any other information?" - Well, this article should help you make up your own mind.

Building a digital photo web the primary use will probably be photos you can upload to your site. Of course you will also take travel and family photos.  I guess you don't want to go overboard and I know you want a handy and usable camera able to take reasonably good photos.

The digital cameras you can buy are increasingly either hybrid camcorders/digital still cameras or the more professional and bulky digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras. The hybrids represent improvements in technology allowing the recording of movies – albeit at a lower quality than there still pictures. The dSLR cameras operate exactly as traditional cameras, except that they don’t use film, rather they use digital memory media to record their pictures.

Point and shoot cameras are the most popular small format digital cameras. The pictures are usable and to carry a camera is easy and fun. For most photographers, the small digital cameras – now neat enough to fit in a pocket – are often a better choice. Unless you’re prepared to go through the hassle of working harder or are planning on having poster sized prints made, not to mention publishing your work, stick with the more sociable traditional small digital cameras.

Digital SLR cameras are hefty and add a sense of reality that the ever smaller digital cameras don’t offer. If you are a sophisticated photographer and want more control over image quality, better zoom and focus options, as well as the ability to take brilliant pictures. Digital SLR cameras offer you real performance increases, but naturally these increases generally come with a higher price tag

Once you buy a Digital SLR camera, you’ll also need to buy at least one lens, if it doesn’t come included. A good beginner’s lens will go from 25-80mm, while it won’t give you all the options you want, it will help you understand when and where you’d want more specific lenses and allow you to plan future purchases.

Traditional digital cameras are smaller than ever and pack more megapixels than ever before. Increased resolution and speed mean that these cameras, now often no bigger than a deck of cards or your fist and costing as little as $29.99 makes these cameras the ideal choice for weekend photographers or people who want to have a camera to take pictures of their life. Mid-range cameras, such as the Canon PowerShot are about $150, higher end digital cameras about $400. The most over looked factor with these cameras is how quickly the camera takes the picture after you push the button; many digital cameras have a delay, which can be fatal when trying to capture fast moving events.

Digital photography is increasingly blurring the lines between still and moving photos, but the camera designs are very different. For the photographer who wants to take home movies and as an added bonus take still photos, the modern camcorder is a total solution in one easy to handle package. For the tourist who wants to record the occasional cultural event, traditional digital cameras offer enough movie recording capability to satisfy most tourists. Serious photographers seeking to capture titanic energies of a waterfall should invest in a digital SLR and a raincoat.

If you want a simple usable camera for your web site work. Here is what I suggest you look for:

• Get a camera from a one of the brands that have made film cameras before and have a good reputation like Canon, Nikon or Olympus.
• I would prefer a camera with a rechargeable battery.
• 4 or 5 megapixels seem to be the norm now and are quite enough.
• A big screen is a plus.
• A good movie mode might also come in handy as a bonus feature.

You should be able to get some decent photos to use for the websites, especially since you can use a program like PhotoShop to cut out parts of a picture and resize it for the web. Having photos on pages makes them much more friendly for the reader.

For the more professional touch you should go for a dSLR camera and in any event have the following in mind:

• A tripod for image stabilization. This goes a long way towards making your photos look extra sharp or tack sharp as the professionals call it.
• Consider adding a wide angle lens as well as a longer zoom lens.
• Only use OPTICAL zoom on the camera.
• Buy a large (1-2-4 GB) memory card and shoot in the biggest resolution.