Buying A Camera And Understanding Zoom

In the early days of photography the camera was an expensive item which required the understanding many confusing things before a photograph could be produced. As photography became more popular simpler cameras were produced and, eventually, cameras became available which were so easy to use that you simply had to point and click to get a reasonable photo. Unfortunately getting an actual photo usually meant a wait of several weeks as you needed to send the film to a photo lab who then developed it and printed your photo on special paper. Thankfully film cameras have been replaced by the digital camera and as it does not need film we can have our photo in minutes and most of use keep them in digital form looking at them via a computer or a digital photo frame but how easy are digital cameras to understand?

If you have been investigating buying a digital camera you will be aware of the multitude of camera manufacturers out there today. Well known camera producers, such as Nikon and Canon now compete against companies usually associated with other electronic items and a huge number of small companies producing digital cameras a knock down prices. Which company do you choose and is that digital camera bargain such a deal after all or are you paying far too much for old technology repackaged?

Before you purchase a digital camera there are a small number of things you must become familiar with. You may know of the megapixel but do you know what interpolation is? You must understand this to a degree as a camera which interpolates an image will not be as good as another with the same number of megapixels. The digital process takes an image of, say 6mp and increases it to become the same as one take with, say, a 12mp camera.

Zoom is another term which can be confusing but gaining an understanding of the two types, digital and optical, will help you find a digital camera bargain.

Ignore the mention of digital zoom on the packaging of a digital camera because the greater the amount of digital zoom the worse the photo. The reason for this is simple, digital zoom involves little more than removing the parts outside the zoom area and then enlarging the remainder. Nearly everyone understands that the more you enlarge a photo the more blocky it becomes and this, basically, is what happens in the world of digital zoom.

On the other hand, optical zoom, is something of importance. Optical zoom does not have an effect on the quality of your photo. Therefore you can zoom in and your image will still be as good quality as before. The greater the optical zoom the better the camera. However not all optical zoom is equal as the quality of the lens can vary between cameras.

The lens used in a camera can make a huge difference and a photograph taken using a camera with a $3,000 lens will be far superior to one taken using a camera that cost a hundredth of this. For a high quality lens expect to pay a premium price.

Deciding which optical zoom you need depends on how you will be using your digital camera. If you will just be taking snaps of friends then there is no point buying a 800mm lens and a DSLR camera, you would be far better buying a good quality compact digital camera.

The world of the DSLR camera is huge, far too complicated to cover here in one article. Many people are buying them for home use now but they are usually only used by professional photographers.

Personally I use a professional Canon DSLR and a superb Canon PowerShot A480 for quick snaps. I think the A480 is fantastic for the price and suitable for all manner of photography. It only has a 3.3x optical zoom but this is ok for most situations. When comparing cameras look at the specifications carefully and always read reviews before making your final decision.