HOW TO CHOOSE A DIGITAL CAMERA THAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU:
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Being addicted to FW, I've seen enough posts that ask how to choose a digital camera. So I organized this guide in hopes that it will help people to find a digital camera that's right for them.


1) If you are new to digital photography, you should read some articles on what's important and how to choose a digital camera. I've seen good articles featured in CNET.com, ZDNet.com, PCMag.com, PCWorld.com, DCResource.com, DPReview.com, Megapixel.net (thanks MsAnn), and a bunch of other sites, especially since digital cameras are so popular now. If you need more sites, you can always Google for them! [*Optional for advanced users]

2) Read the reviews (expert & users):

www.dcresource.com
www.steves-digicams.com
www.dpreview.com
www.imaging-resource.com
www.megapixel.net
www.pcmag.com
reviews-zdnet.com.com
reviews.cnet.com
www.epinions.com/Digital_Cameras
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/281052/

Take reviews with a grain of salt... especially individual user reviews. One review may not be significant, but if you see a trend, THEN you should take that into consideration.

3) Ask your relatives and friends their opinions/advice/suggestions on digital cameras. Try not to be too swayed by their advice... what's right for them may not be what's right for you.

4) Go to Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Staples, Office Depot, OfficeMax and look at/play around with all their digital cameras. But take employees' advice with a grain of salt... they want to sell you something.

5) Narrow the down the choices to only those cameras that meet your technical requirements, budget, and other requirements you NEED in your camera and eliminate the others. (Some good questions to ask yourself are: "What will be the primary purpose/main goal of this camera: professional photography, macro shots, landscape shots, night shots, general point & shoot, etc.?", "What do I need my camera to do in order to accomplish its purpose/goal successfully: take large/uncompressed pictures for editing, have a short macro focal point, have good low light performance, etc.?" and "What features/technical requirements does my camera need to do those things well: RAW mode, attachable lenses, programmable manual controls, have super-macro setting, have AF assist light, long optical zoom, certain memory media or battery type, etc.?")

6) Compare these cameras and subjectively rank your choice(s) based on their other features, user reviews/opinions, your personal preference, what you WANT in your camera, etc. (Some good questions to ask yourself are: "What attributes are important to ME in MY camera: large swivel LCD, good video mode, direct print capabilities, etc.?", "What would I like to be able to do with MY camera: take underwater pictures, hook my camera up to the TV, edit my pictures/video directly on the camera, etc.?" and "Which camera do I have the most fun using: style, color, convenient size/weight, most comfortable and familiar with, etc.?")

7) Go to HOT DEALS (or other sites) and find some hot deals on your top choices!

8) If you have gone through these steps and still want/need advice, feel free to ask your fellow FW members. BUT you should search for threads with similar topics BEFORE you ask! If you still can't find what you're looking for, you can post your question, but make your question as SPECIFIC and DETAILED as possible! (It will be easier for people to help you. And most, if not all, general questions would have already been answered by following these steps.)


v.4.9


(Feel free to post any comments, suggestions, or additions below... but please DO NOT make this into a huge debate on which camera is the best! One camera doesn't fit all! Bumping, link suggestions, and redirecting other threads to this one are allowed. Rate green if you find this thread useful. Help keep this thread alive! )

I found this article helpful:
How many megapixels do you need?
http://www.megapixel.net/html/articles/article-megapixels.html

Consider the total price of what you will need for the camera to do what you want- add the price of enough batteries and memory for your purposes.

If you go on vacations without a laptop, or you take hundreds of photos at a time, or raw or tiff photos, having lots of flash memory storage and lots of batteries / battery life can be very important. Cameras that take AA batteries can easily use very cheap rechargeables or in an emergency can use alkalines, so they are easy to keep powered. For cameras that take a custom battery, if you are willing to use generic clones of the battery, several cameras have cheap ones available- check eBay for example. If generic custom batteries are expensive on eBay for the camera you are considering, factor this in to your total cost.

For the memory storage, xD is by far the most expensive (often used by Fuji and Olympus cameras), and the varieties of memorystick (for Sony cameras) are usually very expensive but at least have occasional sales. SD is reasonably priced, and CF is usually very cheap. Some of the high end models of Fuji, Olympus, Sony, as well as DSLRs, can take CF (some of them have dual slots). Factor in the price of the amount of memory that YOU personally need to the cameras you are considering. For midrange cameras that take xD or memorystick, if you consider the total cost it is rare for them to be a good value for a user who needs a lot of memory- but if they are on deep clearance they may be. Also, if you cannot live without a feature that an xD or memorystick camera has, or you already have lots of that type of memory, or if you never take a lot of shots or are far from a computer, they may make sense. But don't get a camera that has expensive supplies unless you have a need that justifies it.

dfj said:On the memory cards.. I only buy 128 or 256 capacity cards instead of the higher capacity cards. I've had one go bad and replacing a 128 is much cheaper than a 512 or 1G. I carry several cards with me (which takes almost no room) and have enough room for as many pictures as I want to take.


Good point! You will also lose less pictures from a smaller sized card than a larger card (given that they are both unreadable and unrecoverable by recovery software). However, the flipside to that is that you will have to switch cards more frequently (much more frequently if you shoot a lot of pictures in RAW using a high MP camera). And if your camera does have an unlimited movie function (like the Canon S1 IS), you will not be able to record as long on smaller cards as you can on higher capacity cards.

dfj said:chokaay said:
Good point! You will also lose less pictures from a smaller sized card than a larger card (given that they are both unreadable and unrecoverable by recovery software). However, the flipside to that is that you will have to switch cards more frequently (much more frequently if you shoot a lot of pictures in RAW using a high MP camera). And if your camera does have an unlimited movie function (like the Canon S1 IS), you will not be able to record as long on smaller cards as you can on higher capacity cards.

That's right. I had to go to the 256 when I bought an 8MP camera because the files were double the size of the 3MP I'd had. If you are taking RAW pics or unlimited movies you may want the 512 or 1G. But I wouldn't do this for regular pictures. You may then only need 1 512 and 4 or 5 256's. If you have a 3 to 5MP camera you may want some 128's. I sometimes even use the 64 that came with the camera. Thanks Chokaay, this post is great. I really like your links in the OP.


You're welcome! Hope you learned something new!

Cool site, thanks for posting!

Consumer Reports this month, June? Covers digital cameras, printing & online photo storing websites.

according to this, can this camera make good quality pictures with the 4x6 size when i take to a place to print them?
Also is this a good camera in your opinion?
Kodak Z740

Buy the cult camera - Panasonic FZ 5,20 or the 30.

Best camera on the market for the price and dp preview says the following.

"...and is without a doubt the best 'super zoom' camera on the market for anyone serious about photography, "

2.8 fixed
Leica 12x zoom
digital stabilizer
5MP
many many add ons plus a forum devoted to the Panasonic FZ camera

Panasonic fz forum

chokaay said:
- DON'T fall for the "buy high-speed flash memory for faster shooting" myth. Although many professional SLR-type cameras CAN take advantage of the increased read/write speed in high-speed flash memory like "Lexar 80x Professional" series, "Sandisk Ultra II" 60x series, and "Lexar 40x High Speed" series, the VAST MAJORITY of consumer and non-professional SLR type cameras CANNOT! Camera write speeds are limited by their buffer size and speed. And in most consumer cameras, (like many of the ones posted in Hot Deals), the buffer speed is not high enough to take advantage of the memory's increased speed. Therefore, a 4x flash memory card may perform the same as an 80x flash memory card... the only difference being the PRICE you pay for your flash memory, (different cameras may have different results). HOWEVER, the one definite benefit of using high-speed flash memory is that you can download your pictures and videos faster IF you use a high-speed reader (like USB 2.0, Firewire, etc). So unless you have a camera that can take advantage of the increased read/write speeds, or have a high-speed reader and are very impatient about downloading pictures to your computer, you're probably not going to see any benefit from high-speed flash memory.


I generally agree, but I feel the benefit of the time saved is worth getting the higher speed cards. I have quite a few SD cards of varying speeds. One of which is an older, slower card. Most of my newer cards are 'high speed' cards. While I usually do not notice a difference while taking pictures, the difference is HUGE when using a card reader with my desktop or laptop. Both my desktop and laptop have built in memory card readers. I usually just pop in the cards to view a slideshow and rotate some pictures 90 degrees. With the slow card, a 4 megapixel photo takes nearly 2 minutes to rotate; with the newer, faster card it takes about 4 seconds. Quite a difference!!

Also, as you noted, the other advantage of the faster cards is that the pictures will transfer to your hard drive much faster. The faster the read/write capability of the card, the faster the transfer to your computer. In some inst