Buying a Digital Camera – what to look for

A brief guide to what to look for in your digital camera and how to decide what’s best for you. To find out more visit http://www.which.co.uk/technology/photography/guides/choosing-and-buying-the-best-digital-camera/

So, you’ve decided to buy a digital camera, but you take one look at the variety available and panic. How will you know what you want? Here are some things that you will need to take into consideration.

Before you buy a digital camera, think about what you want to use it for. If you are simply replacing the normal camera you use on holiday, then you can probably go for a compact or supercompact digital camera that will fit in your pocket or your bag and where you can take snaps that can be downloaded onto your PC and re-produced as standard 4x6 prints. These cameras are lightweight and have reasonable features and picture quality, and don’t cost the earth the buy.

If you want to be a little more adventurous with your pictures, you will need something with more features, optical zoom and more megapixels. The number of megapixels determines the quality of picture you end up with so although for basic photography, 2 or 3 megapixels will give you the quality you want, you’ll need 4-5 megalpixels if you want to produce good quality cropped pictures or use them for websites or professional literature.

More serious photographers who have been used to standard cameras with zoom lenses and F-stops will want to look at the more serious digital cameras – those that look like standards, and that definitely won’t fit in your pocket. They’re a lot more expensive – going from serious cameras at around £500 to digital SLRs costing thousands – but they have masses of features that will help you to take outstanding pictures.

Even if you’re buying your digital camera on-line, take half and hour to go and try some out for weight and feel – check that they’re comfortable to hold and that you can easily reach the controls. Before you buy, check about battery type and life – most digital cameras come with rechargeable batteries, but check that they also come with a charger and get some spare batteries so that you’re never stuck without power. Also check that the digital camera is compatible with your PC and that the download time’s reasonable, and think about getting an additional memory card or stick so that you can store more photos.