Choosing Your Digital Camera Wisely

by Yaroslav Lyssenko

[ 07/19/2005 | 09:24 PM ]

With a wide range of digital cameras available on the market it is quite difficult to decide which one will serve you the best way. The Tech Zone has posted an article about different digital cameras’ specifications. The author takes an in-depth investigation on such parameters as megapixels, memory, battery life-time, aperture size and others. In a separate review, AnandTech takes a look at four compact cameras, including Canon PowerShot SD400, Nikon Coolpix S1, <%BANNER[article_nw]%>Olympus IR-300 and Sony DSC-T33.

“In a traditional camera, the lens was king. If the lens delivered a decent image, exactly that image would be recorded on the film. As the original image size was limited by the film size (35mm having become the standard), you would then have to enlarge it to get any size of print. If the original was at all blurred this would be exaggerated by the enlarging process. The more light the lens let in, the ‘quicker’ it could take an image - hence expensive traditional cameras had wide lenses. What electronic cameras have done is to downgrade the importance of the lens. Computer software can supply the missing light, and sharpen the image. What you need instead is memory. A 1 megapixel image enlarged to 6x4, is barely acceptable. Above that size, it is a waste of print, but, funnily enough, can be viewed at larger sizes on a computer screen with little loss of quality. A 4 megapixel image can be enlarged to A4,” the article at The Tech Zone states.

“If possible try not to buy sight unseen before parting with your money, you should be able to “play” with a demonstration model, failing that you should consider taking your business elsewhere! If that is not possible, consider asking friends or neighbors that have similar (or even the one you are thinking about) and ask to play with it,” advises the author at The Tech Zone.

“Throughout our time with these 4 cameras, it became very clear that the strongest performers were the Canon SD400, Nikon S1, and Sony T33 (we'll get to the Olympus IR-300 in a bit). These 3 cameras were very competitive with each other in numerous aspects. In terms of speed and responsiveness, the Canon SD400 and Sony T33 were incredibly impressive. Both had very fast startup and cycle times. In addition, both cameras proved to have outstanding battery life. With respect to image quality, both the SD400 and T33 had the highest resolution capability,” AnandTech web-site informs.

• The Tech Zone: Things You Should Know Before Buying A Digital Camera.

• AnandTech: An In-Depth Look at 4 Ultra-compact Digicams.