Authored by Jackie Acosta in Photography
Published on 12-19-2008
Photography is becoming a popular hobby as more and more inexpensive digital point and shoot cameras are available to consumers. Camera manufacturers are continuously coming up with improvements and innovations on their product line giving consumers a wide range of options to choose from. While having more options is beneficial to consumers, it also has made the purchase decision for a point and shoot camera a complicated and time consuming task. Most would simply get the latest model out in the market as the best camera for them and then complain to camera companies and the poor hot-line agents about how complicated their point-and-shoot cameras are! For this reason, it is worth taking more time and effort to get a camera that is truly best for the need. There is no single approach towards deciding on which camera is the best but there are a couple of basic factors that should be considered before making a decision on which camera to get.
Image quality — This dictates how big or small in terms of megapixels the camera can support. If one needs high resolution pictures with the option of printing them in large sizes, around 5X7 prints or greater, then the cameras to be looking at is filtered to the ones with at least 5 megapixels. A camera with more than 5 megapixels will come in handy however; taking high resolution photos will also come at a higher cost. Aside from the unit cost of a camera that supports a higher megapixel, taking high resolution photos would also entail investing in memory cards and more space in a computer hard drive for when the photos are transferred. For those whose main purpose of getting a camera is taking photos to post in web spaces or to share via e-mail, a low-resolution camera would suffice.
Features — Extra features of a point and shoot camera is another important factor to consider especially for those who would like to maximize the use of the camera as fast as possible. With advancement in technology, camera manufacturers keep adding features to point and shoot cameras. Features such as waterproof, shock-proof, face detection, image stabilization, movie clips capability and a long list of features are making point and shoot cameras easier to use. But of course this again entails a higher cost as more extra features come with the camera.
Budget — it is important to decide ahead how much to invest on a point and shoot camera as this would set the range of options. For those who are willing to pay for high resolution, features and all the extra cost that go with them, then the best option would be to take the top range of available products in the market across credible camera brands for trial. For those who are more constrained with budget, it is more important to consider the personal purpose of the camera and match it with the proper factors, the camera to buy may not be the latest but it will be the BEST for one’s needs.
These are some important factors to be considered when buying a point and shoot camera. The most important note is that the sharpness of photos will not depend on the camera’s megapixels and features. Camera functions will help capture great photos but the sharpness of these photos will really depend more on a person’s skills as a photographer.
