Camera Buying Guide : How to select a digital camera

Now a days Digital Camera has been replaced by Mobile phones but people still buy Digital Cameras. In most scenario an Entry level Digital Camera will Give better Images and Video than a cellphone as these cameras have been specifically crafted for only one purpose, that is video and still photography.

In the Market there are a large varieties of cameras from we can choose one. It is very hard to buy a digital camera which takes horrible image but still buying a digital camera is daunting task for an average user. An average user is always confused what to buy and what not to buy. Million dollar question is how to select digital camera. Choosing a digital camera is a hard task because of the choice available in the market, because of our biases and we all want best out of the bunch to get best value for our hard earned money.

If you want to pick up best digital camera, you need to spare sometime to do the research. One also needs to know what they really want from the digital camera. That being said, let’s learn how to buy digital camera.

Before you can select digital camera, you need to answer the following questions:-

1. What’s your budget
2. What kind of digital camera do you want 
3. How much size and portability matters
4. How frequently will you use and carry
5. What kind of picture do you want to take.
6. What kind of photography you want to indulge in.

How much do you want to  spend will determine everything. Basically one can buy a digital camera starting from 50$ to 50000$. Neither of them is good or bad, it’s just want you want and how much can you spend. Second question is what kind of camera do you want , do you want just a vanilla point and shoot or feature reach compact camera , do you want to reach the object far from you and want a super zoom camera , or quality and clarity is everything and you need slr .

Type of digital camera : -

1. Compact Camera
2. Bridge or super zoom 
3. High End Compact
4. Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera
5. SLR
6. Medium Format

Comparison of Digital Camera and Their Form Factors

Features	Compact Camera	Bridge Camera	High End Compact	Slr	Medium Format
Sensor	Small	Small-medium	medium-large	Large	Very Large
Weight	Light	Moderate	Light - Moderate	Heavy	Very heavy
Form factor	Compact	Semi compact	Compact - Semi compact	Bulky	very bluky
Image quality	Enough	Decent - Good	Decent - Good	Good - Great	Great
Low light capability	Enough	Decent	Good	Great	Great
File Format	Jpeg	Jpeg-Raw	Jpeg-Raw	Jpeg-Raw	Jpeg-Raw
Speed	Slow	Slow-moderate	moderate	Fast	slow
Cost	50$-500$	200$-1000$	200$-2000$	500$-xxxx$	5000$-xxxx
Example	Canon Ixus 105	Fujifilm S2800	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100	Nikon d810	Pentax 645Z

Factor Affecting Image quality:-

1. Image sensor , bigger sensor is better
2. Megapixel, neither less is good, nor more is better, for every sensor size there is a sweet spot
3. Lens quality and aperture
4. Image stabilization

Larger the sensor better will be image quality.

As far as Story of Pixels in Cameras goes, pixel density and pixel pitch plays an important role. In general, larger pixel size or pixel pitch, the better. So essentially it means, increasing the number if pixel does not create better images.Megapixel count is marketing tactics which fools us and makes us believe that higher the megapixel better will be image.

Megapixel myth, simply means that more pixel does not always improve the quality of Image but it can be detrimental to quality of image. It is nothing more than marketing Gimmick.

Lenses are one of the most important element of a camera, while buying a digital camera one should try to get a camera with lowest aperture, camera with 2.8f lens will able to take better pictures at night than a camera with 3.5f lens .

Zooming is capability of lenses how far can you reach, camera is usually equipped with digital and optical zoom, Only optical zoom counts, and digital zoom just does the image interpolation and reduces image quality. It’s better to turn it off.

Image stabilization, stabilizes the handshake and reduces blurriness, again like digital and optical zoom, camera manufacturer uses two method of stabilization, the camera with sensor shift or optical image stabilizer stabilizes images and produces sharp images and electronic digital stabilization which is not as useful as optical stabilization and sometimes digital stabilization can mess the image.

Other factors we must consider are :-

1. Lcd Size.
2. Battery Capacity.
3. View Finder
4. Storage Medium

Larger LCD with more pixel is better, you will be able to gauge and compose images and also review the images after it have been taken.

Battery, is most important, it is life juice of camera, larger batteries allow user to take more pictures without recharging. While most digital camera uses rechargeable batteries, there are some which uses interchangeable AA batteries.

While both Setups has some pro and some cons In case of AA batteries, it is easier to get at any place. But the problem is that most camera that uses AA batteries does not provide any solution for rechargeable AA batteries. In case of Rechargeable batteries, well you will need to buy a few as they tend to die pretty fast and if you are shooting a lot you certainly will need more than one battery. Only con with this solution is that, they are more expensive than Standard AA batteries.

Storage medium is not a big issue now a days as it used to be in past. Cost of Memories card has come down bu there is a Glitch, no all memory cards are alike. Faster card is needed if you are going to shoot video. Any Card with Minimum write speed of 6MB/s and above will be fine. You must opt for a large card if you are going to Record Video. 32 Gigabyte is Minimum Recommended Card Size if you intend to shoot HD videos. 
 In the end I would like to say that exactly Same rules apply to Mobile Phones Cameras.  If you are just looking take pictures, and do not mind a little inferior images, just use your cell phone. Any mobile phone over 150$ Will give you, good enough and reasonable image. If you need something better, depending on your budget you can start with feature rich compact camera.

So to conclude, A Camera is just a tool, good tool does help, but It cannot make you master craftsman. So if you do not know anything about photography, even if you will get 50000$ professional camera, you will not be able to Create Professional Images. While  professional with experience will be able Capture Great Pictures with 50$ use and throw camera.

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