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How to Buy a Digital Camera
Speaking Notes from a Tech Talks Presentation by Nancy Reis, November 15, 2006
- Types of Digital Cameras
- Some Questions to Think About
- Where to Find Out About Digital Cameras
- Where to Buy Cameras and Related Equipment
Types of Digital Cameras
- Point-and-Shoot
- Prosumer
- Single Lens Reflex (SLR)
Some Questions to Think About
- How do you use/want to use digital cameras?
- How much equipment do you want to carry around?
- In what environments will you use the digital camera?
- How big are your hands? How good is your eyesight?
- How many megapixels do you really need? Compare these photos: 1A, 1B, 1C, and 2A, 2B, 2C. In each group, one photo is from a 3 megapixel camera, one is from a 5 megapixel camera, and one is from an 8 megapixel camera. Can you tell the difference? If your pictures will primarily be shared on the Web, the resolution is limited by your monitor, and you may not need the biggest, baddest camera out there. However, if you do a lot of cropping and enlarging, or if you print enlarged photos, you may want more megapixels.
- Why is white balance important? See for yourself: the model was photographed under fluorescent lighting with the camera white balance set at automatic, fluorescent, and tungsten.
- Which features are important to you?
- How much money do you want to spend?
Where to Find Out About Digital Cameras
Reviews
Specialist
Generalist
- c/net Reviews
- Consumer Reports Website requires subscription, but UNT affiliates can access Consumer Reports Online through a number of electronic resources. Follow any of the links from the UNT Online Catalog Record.
Fellow Consumers
Googled
- To find still more reviews, try Googling
the camera model and "review." Example: Canon A530 review
Photo Communities
- photo.net
-
flickr groups Search for a group based on the manufacturer and model you're interested in. Example: Olympus E-500
[Author's Note: Since this Tech Talk was presented, flickr has also instituted a Camera Finder which provides basic information about each camera along with statistics on how many flickr members use it and examples of "Explore" photos taken with it.]
Manufacturer's Web Sites
Camera Stores
Discount/Office/Electronics Stores
Magazines
Colleagues, Friends, and Neighbors
Where to Buy Cameras and Related Equipment
- On the Web
- Camera Stores
- Discount/Office/Electronic Stores
- Considering Used Equipment
About the Author: Library Associate Nancy Reis purchases and maintains digital cameras for the UNT Libraries' Digital Projects Unit.