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Buying a digital camera for Christmas
Digital camera features that really count
It's a great time of year to buy a digital camera. Prices have come down and the good news is that you get more features in 2007, for less money than a year ago.
Consumer digital cameras have become so good in many areas that manufacturers don't have a whole lot of new features to dangle in front of you this year. Instead, many have pumped more megapixels into cameras with tiny sensors. That's a shame. In 2007, you can buy compact cameras with 10, even 12 megapixels! But should you??
High megapixels or not?
When a small sensor has too many megapixels, overall image quality can degrade and increase noise when shooting at higher ISO numbers. To be fair, if you reduce images in size for web display or printing, the degradation in image quality is not always visible. However, as many professional reviewers and photo enthusiasts point out, most don't need more than six megapixels unless we regularly crop a lot or make huge prints. [Megapixel Madness]
When buying a new digital camera, don't let the number of megapixels be your primary consideration. Besides the standard feature set, there are more important features worthy of your consideration:
- Zoom - Get a camera with an optical zoom not just a digital one. A number of digital cameras now have a 4X zoom as standard. Super zooms to go up to 18X and deliver decent image quality for all but the most demanding photographer.
- Wide angle - Some digital cameras now have a 28mm equivalent wide zoom, great for group photos, scenes and photographing real estate. [Focal lengths]
- Optical Image Stabilization - An increasing number of digital cameras offer optical image stabilization, and for good reason. Optical IS is a hardware based system that helps prevent blurred images due to camera movement. Many users, including professional photographers, consider Optical IS an essential feature. [Misleading Image Stabilization terms]
- High ISO - not necessarily a substitute for Optical IS, high ISO numbers help reduce the effect of camera shake when taking pictures in low-light by increasing a cameras sensitivity to light. High ISO capability also allows more opportunities to take photos without a flash. The downside is that shooting at high ISO produces digital image noise. Compact digital cameras with five or six megapixels often produce better results at high ISO than do higher megapixel cameras [High Sensitivity mode]
- Face detection - the camera detects faces in a scene and automatically focuses and optimizes exposure and flash output.
- Extended optical zoom - extends the maximum zoom range of a digital camera without losing image quality.
- In camera red-eye removal - the dreaded red-eye is removed by in-camera processing. This feature is surprisingly effective and especially handy for those who don't like to edit photos.
- Viewfinder - as LCD monitors improve and increase in size, viewfinders are becoming a rarity on smaller digital cameras. Make sure you can live without one. [The Disappearing Viewfinder]
Related reading: Digital camera buying guide
Category: Best Camera Features
