3 Common Camera Shopping Mistakes

Digital cameras are everywhere now, they have totally dominated the photography world and it is hard to think what life was like before them, but they can be hard to shop for at times. They are so stuffed full of technology now that it feels like you need a degree in IT to understand what the differences are between them, below are our top tips to help you find your perfect digital camera:

Stop checking the megapixels: Megapixels are hyped up too much, what most people don’t realize is that above about 8 megapixels then the only difference it will make is to the size of the photo, not the quality, and therefore how much you can zoom in if you are editing it etc. Unless you are doing lots of photo editing and need to zoom in a lot, or you do really need poster-sized prints, then don’t use megapixels as the deciding factor between cameras.

Looking at total zoom: You’ll find there are two types of zoom on a digital camera. You have digital zoom which is fake and is just where software in the camera zooms in closer on the image you already have, and optical zoom which is the real zoom when the lens moves out to focus on an area. Manufacturers like to quote you ‘total zoom’ figures in their specifications, which is the two types multiplied together, but that can be made to hide a camera with poor optical zoom. For instance, if a camera has a 3x optical zoom and a 6x digital zoom then the total zoom is 18x, but that is the same total as a camera with 6x optical and 3x digital zoom. So you can now see why you need to look at the optical zoom figure for a camera before you buy.

Not trying them out: Don’t forget that while the spec for a camera may look great on paper, then when you get hold of it you may hate it, the menu might be tough to navigate, the LCD screen may be hard to see, it might be too small or have far too many settings etc. These are the kind of things you can only find out if you actually try one out in person. To do that pop into an electrical store and ask to try a display model out, usually they will be more than happy to oblige, and then you can find out what it is really like.

Those 3 tips will help you avoid the most common shopping mistakes that people make, so you can find a camera which you are comfortable with, and one which will give you some great snaps to enjoy for years to come.

If you want a funky model then consider getting a pink camera to liven things up, just remember the tips above so you pick the best one.