Choosing the right digital camera when undertaking a new hobby or profession in digital photography will be the key element to your success and photo quality. With such a wide range of camera types and prices, it’s important to know every option that’s available to you and buy only what suits your needs.
Equipment Costs
Your digital photography budget may be limited, so determine first how much you’ll be willing and able to spend and take a portion off for the additional accessories you’ll require such as memory cards, batteries, a tripod, and a camera bag. Once you know what you have left to spend on the camera itself, determine which features you think you’ll absolutely need and which ones will be useless to you. As you progress in your digital photography skills and interest, you may decide to upgrade, but buying an inexpensive digital camera to start off with can be an excellent device to learn on.
Camera and Photo Size
Digital cameras come in all shapes and sizes and some can be big and bulky while others are incredibly compact. A tiny camera may be less cumbersome to shoot with, but keep in mind that it may not have as many added features or might not photograph with the same quality a larger one would have. Photo size is something else to consider because digital cameras with less megapixels will not be able to provide decent quality for large photos. More megapixels will allow your photo to be printed on a larger scale while retaining the proper resolution and preventing pixelation.
Additional Features
A large LCD screen can be very handy when trying to review your pictures as you take them. Especially when photographing in extreme lighting conditions, such as too sunny or too dark, a bright, large screen can allow you to see the shots you’ve taken much more clearly. When it comes to zooming, pay attention to whether the zoom feature is optical zoom or digital zoom. Optical zoom will extend the lens of your camera while digital will just magnify the image. Magnifying could result in loss of quality, so choosing an optical zoom feature whenever possible will give you better shots.
Too many features could make your camera more difficult to use and will likely increase the price of that device. Decide in advance which features you’ll require to prevent overpaying and buying things you don’t need. In time, if you become more serious with your digital photography endeavors, you may find you’ll need to upgrade and at that point you’ll likely have a more specific idea of your camera needs.