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Pixels On Your Mind?
Unless you’re a professional photographer, you don’t need a camera with a lot of bells and whistles … it will probably come with several features you don’t need and a price tag you don’t want.
However, all modern cameras will have a few standard features. Here’s what you need to know about some of them.
Zoom
Zoom allows you to vary the focal length, so you can get close-up shots without having to actually get closer to the person or object you’re photographing. The typical 3x zoom goes from a standard wide-angle view (35mm) to moderate telephoto (105mm). Some cameras have extended zoom ranges between 5x and 30x, which gives you more flexibility. If you want to take panoramic landscapes or group portraits, look for cameras with a wide-angle end of the zoom range as low as 28 or 24mm.
There are two main types of zoom: optical and digital. Optical zoom uses the optics (lens) of the camera to bring the subject closer. Digital zoom simply enlarges the pixels and can make your photo more grainy. So, you’ll want to pay attention more to the optical zoom because the image quality is better.
Mega-pixels
Mega-pixels basically have to do with image quality. The more pixels, the higher the image resolution and the better the image quality. This is important when it comes to printing your photos.
Most new cameras have a mega-pixel range that will be perfect for most standard printing situations. The majority of basic cameras out there start around 10, which is plenty. If you’re only printing images at a normal size, then anything 7 or larger will be fine. Only if you are going to blow your images up should you pay the extra money for more mega-pixels. Also, more mega-pixels means more memory.
Here is a chart that gives you an idea on how many mega-pixels you want for the size of photos you want to print.
| Resolution Needed for Various Print Sizes | ||
| Resolution | Avg. Quality | Best Quality |
| 0.5 mega-pixels | 3×5 in. | N/A |
| 2 mega-pixels | 8×10 in. | 3×5 in. |
| 4 mega-pixels | 11×14 in. | 5×7 in. |
| 6 mega-pixels | 16×20 in. | 8×10 in. |
| 8 mega-pixels | 20×30 in. | 11×14 in. |
| 10+ mega-pixels | 25×40 in. | 13×17 in. |
Keep in mind, mega-pixels are only really important if you’ll be printing photos. If you’re just going to be keeping them digitally, a camera with lower mega-pixels should be fine.
Image Stabilization (IS)
Image stabilization helps prevent photos from becoming blurred if the camera moves while you’re taking the shot. There are two main types of image stabilization technology.
Optical Image Stabilization is hardware based, so a sensor and microprocessor are built into the camera; they detect when the camera shakes and then compensate for any movement.
Digital Image Stabilization is software based and simply boosts the camera’s sensitivity to light (ISO sensitivity) and makes it take the picture faster.
Digital IS sometimes causes the image quality to go down and the picture will look grainy, so optical IS is preferred. Some cameras say they come with “anti-blur technology,” “anti-shake function,” or “image stabilization mode,” but this can refer to digital IS, not optical; so make sure you know for sure which feature the camera has.
LCD Screens
It’s pretty standard for cameras to come with an LCD screen that allows you to preview what the picture looks like. In fact, some cameras only have an LCD screen and no optical viewfinder. One drawback of an LCD screen is it can sometimes be hard to see the image in bright sunlight. For that reason, a camera with both an LCD screen and an optical viewfinder will be more versatile. LCDs vary in size and resolution. The higher the resolution of a LCD, the better for viewing.
Some people like to upgrade to a twist-and-tilt screen. The benefit of this is it allows you to take pictures at awkward angles, or self-portraits or group shots with you in them – no more guessing if you cut your head off because you’ll be able to see the image before you take the picture.
Face Detection and Other “Smart” Features
Face detection finds a face in the image to determine focus, exposure, and color balance, so people appear in focus and well exposed. For example, if you’re taking a picture of your daughter blowing out her birthday cake candles, the camera will focus in on her face, not the cake in the foreground. So, you get crisp pictures of the images you really want.
Other smart features are “smile shutter mode,” which takes a picture when the subject smiles, “blink warning,” which alerts you when a person may have blinked in your shot, and intelligent ISO, which automatically adjusts ISO sensitivity and shutter speed according to the movement of your subject to avoid blurring.