Buying a digital camera
Going digital?
Thinking of buying a digital camera? Then there are a few things that you might consider in making your choice from the hundreds of cameras out there on the high street or on the internet.
What will you use it for?
Are you using it for snaps of friends and family, or do you have some other uses in mind, perhaps connected to work, such as creating a web site?
Do you want to print your 'snaps' or images? If so, how big do you want them to be? You need to look to see what size of images the camera produces. One way of checking on this is to see how many mega pixels the camera has. Generally speaking, the more mega pixels (MP) the better and the higher the quality of the image that you can produce / print from the camera. But pixels cost pennies.
Nearly all the cameras available nowadays are three mega pixels or more, which mean that if you select high resolution images from the menu, then you will be able to print decent 'normal sized' photos from your camera. A camera with 3 to 5 MP will serve for most purposes, including producing photos for newsletters and similar publications. If you want a high quality image for a magazine or for publicity purposes, then you might wish to invest in a few more pixels!
If you want to use your camera for taking close-up photographs of things like coins, stamps or flowers, then you should look to see if it has a macro facility. This means you will be able to take pictures very close indeed; normal lenses will focus to within 10 or 12 inches, but if you want to get closer than that you will need the macro facility..
