I know nothing about digital cameras. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Where should I begin looking for info on a camera purchase?
It would be easy to go to Wally and buy something in my price range, but what should I know before even trying this? I do know that more MP is better, but what about model reliability? Battery issues?

I am a babe in the woods.

 

Try here >> http://www.dpreview.com/forums/ Lots of great info there. Very helpful people.

Chuck

 

It has been a couple of years since I bought my last digital camera, but I hope you do not get overwhelmed with all the information out there.

One think I like about my camera is that I can use rechargeable AA batteries in it. That has saved me more money over the past couple years than my camera probably cost!

 

First, don't let the megapixels overwhelm you. With a 3 MP camera you can make 8x10's of pretty good quality. With a 4 MP camera you could make 11x14's. So unless you're going to be making a lot of larger prints, you don't need more MP.

Regarding Zoom: Only look at the Optical Zoom number. It will say something like "3x" that means "3 times" which means you can zoom in 3 times more at the end of the zoom from the widest portion of the lens.

Digital Zoom is all bad. It makes for poor quality prints, so don't even consider it. The way that it works is that once you have used up all of your optical zoom, the digital zoom starts to zoom in on what the sensor sees. In the process of interpolating it causes some poor quality images.

If you have one camera that says it has 4x optical and 3x digital and another that says 3x optical and 4x digital, they both aren't equally good 12x cameras. You want to get the one with the most optical zoom if it comes down to it.

Also, go to a local camera store (not best buy, but a real camera store) and get them to show you the cameras in your price range and how they work. Hold them and see if you like how they feel.

Budget for a memory card and batteries if the camera doesn't already come with rechargeables. You should figure that for a 3-4 MP camera you'll want 256 MB of memory. For 5 MP more like 512. For 6 MP a gig.

Hope that helps some for now. I'll write more again later.

 

3cocinas,

Here another place to read more than you'll ever need.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

Earl

 

Oh, and to add on to DiD. Megapixels do not = quality.

Megapixels = quality of the file saved. But if it's a poor camera, it's still going to take crummy pics... Even if high quality crummy pics.

Do your research, and make sure you find lots of positive reviews about whatever camera you choose, from multiple different websites before buying it.

If you think you know what you want, I'm sure you could post it here, what you're going to use it for, and the friendly camera NAMers will advise.

 

All of the above info is great advice. I STRONGLY recommend looking at several different varieties/brands of camera to check the feel, grip, and ease of use of the buttons, etc. A great camera that is awkward to hold and use will be just as useful as a good camera to you because you won't be as eager to use it. Along the same line of thought, when you get the camera, go out and use it. With memory cards, you can look at the pictures without the expense of film processing making it easy to practice your photography skills and learn the camera's features. A good subject to practice on is your MINI so we get to see it.

Since I'm not sure what type of camera you are looking for(SLR, Point/Shoot, etc) I will mention this: if you have a 35mm SLR camera and are looking at a Digital SLR, you may want to consider compatibilty of the lenses you already own vs the camera you are looking at buying. Just a little additional info.

 

Absolutely. I've got a 4 year old 2 megapixel Canon S200 (P&S) that takes really nice pictures, nicer than some newer, higher resolution cameras. It's lacking in depth-of-field, I think, but I couldn't be happier with it for a P&S.

I'm hoping to get a DSLR next year. I *really* want to start taking some long-exposure night shots...

 

Thank you all for the help. Looks like I've got some reading to do!

 

OK camera NAMers, what do you think of this one?
Konica Minolta Dimage Z10.
3MP, 8X optical, good reviews from what I have seen.
Price is right, and it is large enough for me to handle. I am most definitely not a "shirt-pocket" camera customer. Fat fingers.

 

I'm one, but in the desert!
My 2cents: I'm using wife's Fujifilm S 3100 FinePix, 4.0 mega pixels 6x optical zoom. I don't like the shutter for action shots, like imagine a pillow on your brake pedal! Sucks up batteries, multi-action recharged battery replacement. Not Sony like menu. But judge the webbed pictures I've posted for yourself.