If you are new to photography, the apparatus may seem very confusing, especially the camera. It was hard enough working out the terminology before the digital revolution, but now it is practically impossible. Digital cameras are dedicated microcomputers and equally as difficult for the uninitiated to comprehend.
Even a medium grade $300 digital camera will almost certainly have 40-50 adjustable controls and every one of those might have four or five settings. Most of those controls the amateur will almost certainly never appreciate and never change from default, but the camera will still take decent photographs. However, it will take even better ones if you do make use of them.
Here follows an explanation of some of the more common terms that you will come across when you go to buy a digital camera.
Megapixels is the rating used to convey the resolution of the photo that a digital camera is able to take. A pixel is a dot of colour and a picture is made up of dots of colour, therefore, the more pixels in a photograph, the higher the resolution of that picture and resolution means sharpness. So the higher the number of megapixels the better.
Cheap digital cameras might have a resolution of 4 megapixels (4,000,000) whereas an expensive one may have 36 megapixels. If you just look at your photos in small format, say, a couple of inches by a few inches, on your camera or computer screen, the difference might not become apparent, but if you go to a larger format or have your photographs printed on paper, you will see the difference.
The downside of a higher resolution is that it takes more storage space. Naturally it takes double as much room to store 8 megapixels as it does to store 4, so the higher the resolution the more memory your camera and computer will need. This is not a big problem unless you plan on taking thousands of photographs.
Zoom is the camera's ability to get a closer shot of the topic without really going nearer to it. Digital cameras frequently have two sorts of zoom: digital zoom and optical zoom. Digital zoom simply refers to magnifying the pixels, so an image that has been treated with high digital zoom will look grainy, unless you have lots of pixels in the picture.
However, computer image handling software has more ability to apply digital zoom than any camera, so the camera's digital zoom is largely irrelevant, since you will almost certainly edit your best photos on the computer anyway. While purchasing a digital camera, pay more attention to the amount of optical zoom.
Optical zoom refers to a moving lens, just like you would adjust a pair of binoculars, a telescope or a magnifying glass. Optical zoom is very useful because the quality of the image is not impaired by this zoom. The higher the better for optical zoom, however, be wary of total zoom, which is optical and digital zoom added together. You have to know how much of each.
Even a medium grade $300 digital camera will almost certainly have 40-50 adjustable controls and every one of those might have four or five settings. Most of those controls the amateur will almost certainly never appreciate and never change from default, but the camera will still take decent photographs. However, it will take even better ones if you do make use of them.
Here follows an explanation of some of the more common terms that you will come across when you go to buy a digital camera.
Megapixels is the rating used to convey the resolution of the photo that a digital camera is able to take. A pixel is a dot of colour and a picture is made up of dots of colour, therefore, the more pixels in a photograph, the higher the resolution of that picture and resolution means sharpness. So the higher the number of megapixels the better.
Cheap digital cameras might have a resolution of 4 megapixels (4,000,000) whereas an expensive one may have 36 megapixels. If you just look at your photos in small format, say, a couple of inches by a few inches, on your camera or computer screen, the difference might not become apparent, but if you go to a larger format or have your photographs printed on paper, you will see the difference.
The downside of a higher resolution is that it takes more storage space. Naturally it takes double as much room to store 8 megapixels as it does to store 4, so the higher the resolution the more memory your camera and computer will need. This is not a big problem unless you plan on taking thousands of photographs.
Zoom is the camera's ability to get a closer shot of the topic without really going nearer to it. Digital cameras frequently have two sorts of zoom: digital zoom and optical zoom. Digital zoom simply refers to magnifying the pixels, so an image that has been treated with high digital zoom will look grainy, unless you have lots of pixels in the picture.
However, computer image handling software has more ability to apply digital zoom than any camera, so the camera's digital zoom is largely irrelevant, since you will almost certainly edit your best photos on the computer anyway. While purchasing a digital camera, pay more attention to the amount of optical zoom.
Optical zoom refers to a moving lens, just like you would adjust a pair of binoculars, a telescope or a magnifying glass. Optical zoom is very useful because the quality of the image is not impaired by this zoom. The higher the better for optical zoom, however, be wary of total zoom, which is optical and digital zoom added together. You have to know how much of each.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is at present concerned with tips for product photography. If you have an interest in photography, please visit our web site now at Photography Studio Cameras