"The Beginner Buyer's Guide To Digital Cameras, Or The Ins And
Outs Of Megapixels."
The Beginners buyer's guide to digital cameras or The Ins and
Outs of Megapixels.
By Warren Lynch http://www.wlynch.com
The most important part of buying a digital camera is making
sure that the one you select meets all of your needs.
Digital Camera 101
Better digital cameras uses a chip called a "Charged Coupled
Device" (CCD) instead of film. Light enters the camera, through
the open shutter, and strikes the CCD where it is converted to
digital data before being stored in the camera's memory.
While that is the simple description, things can get pretty
complicated from there.
Megapixels & Resolution
Resolution is a measure of how many pixels are used to make a
digital copy of an image. Pixels are tiny dots of light that
make up a digital image.
The quality of a digital camera's image is usually measured in
'Megapixels' where each megapixel represents one million pixels.
Here's how to determine how many megapixels you'll need
depending upon the type of photos you will be taking and what
you intend to do with them.
1 megapixel
Almost obsolete, you might still find these in cell phones,
PDAs, and desktop "web" cameras. They're OK if you only intend
to email pictures to other people and those people aren't going
to be printing them.
1.1 to 2 megapixels
Only slightly better than the 1.0, this resolution is OK for an
average 4x6 snapshot, but it isn't going to be a production
quality image.
2.1 to 3 megapixels
This is the beginning of the decent camera range. You get very
good 4x6 images and reasonably good 5x7 images. These cameras
are low cost and provide a good platform for beginners.
3.1 to 4 megapixels
You are qualified to say that you have a "pretty good" camera.
You get professional quality 4x6 images, real good 5x7 and 6x9
shots, and somewhat decent, but not great 8x10 images.
4.1 to 5 megapixels and up
People will be saying "Hey, great pictures!". You can count on
professional images all the way up to 8x10's. Of course, as the
megapixel count goes up, so does the price.
If you are only going to be viewing your pictures online, such
as posting them at a photo site or using them on your web pages,
keep your money in your pocket and pick yourself up something in
the 1.5 megapixel range.
If you will be shooting pictures that will be printed at a print
house, such as for brochures, postcards, etc, then you will need
at least a 5 megapixel camera if not higher. Of course, you'll
also need to have a fat wallet or a lot of open to buy on your
credit card because, even thought prices are steadily falling,
these puppies aren't cheap!
Once you've solved the megapixel puzzle, the rest of a digital
camera's features, such as lens types, storage capacity and
shutter speed are pretty routine and easy to understand. You
shouldn't have a problem deciding on those features.
Join Photopheed's Daily Digital Dose and see Warren's Tips.
Warren Lynch has been shooting commercial photography since 1979
in Louisville, Kentucky. Clients include Makers Mark Bourbon,
Heaven Hill, Yum Brands, GE, Fruit of The Loom and many more
highly recognizable brands. Have him make your product more
recognizable too. Visit his website at http:www.wlynch.com or
just him a call at 1-502-587-7722.