[...Continued]
I started this topic with the intention of elaborating a bit on the different components of a camera, in the hope that it helps in finding your next best camera to buy. But when I started, I blabbered a lot more, and so this is the Part 2 post on this topic. If you haven't read Part 1, find it here.
Now, I'm gonna list few components and/or criteria that you'll find in the technical specifications of the camera or stuff that you need to look out for. When choosing the right camera for YOU, remember these aspects and make an informed decision. You can easily google more technical details if need be, so I'm only giving some quick thoughts here (and not comprehensive technical details). So let's start...
Type of camera: These days you have the compact cameras, DSLRs and also whats known as Mirrorless cameras. DSLR is the digital single-lens reflex cams (same as the traditional camera, just the D in front as they are digital now, no film) that have a mirror inside that reflects the image onto the sensor. With mirrorless cams, they have got rid of this mirror, enabling the camera body to be much more compact, but at the same time give results similar to SLR cameras. The mirrorless cams are doing well, but still have a huge way to go especially in terms of compatible interchangeable lenses. Certainly a good option if you want a compact compact camera, that performs almost like an SLR and you can expand too (getting newer lenses, external flashes, etc).
Expandable: Taking off from the last point, do you foresee that you might be interested in getting new lenses? Maybe wanna add an external flash or a microphone? These won't be possible with a normal compact camera. You'll have the most flexibility with DSLRs ofcourse. With big brands (like Canon, Nikon, Sony), you have 3rd party companies (like Tamron or Sigma) that make a wide variety of accessories too. Also check if the camera has HDMI connectivity as this is something useful to hook up the camera to your Television (do note, most cameras will have a mini-HDMI output).
Sensor type: You basically have CCD and CMOS sensors used in cameras these days. CMOS is better and as costs get cheaper, I see it making its way to more and more camera ranges. Apart from this, you also have full-frame sensors found in high level models. These capture the most of any composed shot, as nothing is cropped off. What you compose, is what you get and there is little information lost at the edges/corners of the sensors. Ofcourse these full-frame cameras are much more expensive, and unless you're looking into professional photography or have a lot of extra cash to spare, its not needed.
Megapixels: This is something I'm passionate about and try to explain to everybody I meet. Don't go running after larger megapixels. It's just a war raging out there, but you don't need the highest megapixel camera, and it might not be the best overall camera anyways. In most cases a 5meg shot is all you need - You can print upto A4 sizes with that. So why do you need more? Especially if you are gonna watch your pics on the computer all the time, or might occasionally print a few pics at the common sizes of 4x6" or 5x7".
These days, event the basic compact cameras come with resolutions higher than 5Meg, but the main pain point of shooting at the highest resolution of your camera is the image size. My camera is around 6years old now, and is a 10.2MP camera. But guess what, I done most of my shooting with 5MP shots, because thats all thats needed. Even with that I have over 60Gb of data to manage, so imagine if I had shot at 10MP - I'd need roughly double the amount of storage!!! The first thing I tell people is to change the camera resolution when they get a new camera. There are times when you can increase the resolution, like when you have a large group of people or a great nature shot that you'd like to blow up. But for daily use, choosing something around the 5MP mark is optimal.
Another reason why you might want to click at high resolution is if you often zoom into portions of your picture, crop them and then enlarge it or print them - then maybe you need a camera that shoots at much larger resolutions. But you still don't need to have the camera set at full resolution all the time... :)
[I told you I'm passionate about this point, apologies for the long paras]
Zoom: Firstly, let me be clear, I'm talking about optical zoom here, not digital. Don't be caught out by marketing terminologies that publicise combined zoom capabilities. Please check whats the actual optical zoom is. Another setting I always change on a camera is switching OFF the digital zoom. The moment you go into digital zoom space, you're into software enhancement, not the actual lens moving - so pictures are bound to be pixelated. Usually zoom is shown as 3x, 10x, or it can be shown at 18-200 also (especially for interchangeable lenses). Dividing 200 by 18 would be you a rough optical zoom range of the lens, in this case around 11x or 11 times zoom. Decide how much zoom you need based on what you wanna do with the camera. For indoor shots 3-5x zoom is more than enough.
Expansion slots: What type of memory card does it take. I think these days its mostly SD cards, so shouldn't be an issue. SD cards are freely available and most cost effective option. Next, do you want to have additional accessories, like a external flash or an external microphone? Please note, if you try to take pics with a big zoom camera, its built in flash might not be enough for taking pictures of distant objects in low light conditions. A good case of investing in an external flashgun.
Looks: Needless to say, its your camera and at the end of the day you should like how it looks. See how it feels in hand. Although you get great deals online, there is nothing like going instore and playing around with the models you have short listed. See how they fit and feel in your hand. Are the buttons easily accessible for most common operations. A larger display screen at the back with higher resolution makes viewing pictures on the camera more fun. These days you can cameras in different colors too, and I've noticed the prices vary based on the colours too.
Additional features: #Panorama shot is making its way into many camera ranges now, but then maybe you want a Wifi capable camera? Maybe you want the ability to geo-tag your photos? There are loads of features out there. Just make sure you're not paying ridiculous amounts of money for features (or gimmicks) you'll never use. If you're the lazy type and won't bother manually copying the photos to your computer and then sharing them, maybe you want to invest in the Wifi option.
So these are few things I've highlighted. There are many more specifications you can delve into, and this is just a start. Feel free to comment and let me know if you think of any aspects that might be important when choosing the right camera. Things like autofocus points, movie recording capabilities, ISO ranges, etc are important, but you can get more information about this if you are really enthusiastic and want to dive deeper in your camera research. Feel free to email or message me for any help in choosing a camera. First thing I'll ask is about your budget, so fix that before reaching out to me... :)
I hope you have found this interesting and it'll help you too. Needless to say, check out for good reviews on the net. These days you find comparison videos for almost anything on youtube. Me personally I use DPreview site a lot...
Happy shopping...!
[Part 1 can be found here]
I started this topic with the intention of elaborating a bit on the different components of a camera, in the hope that it helps in finding your next best camera to buy. But when I started, I blabbered a lot more, and so this is the Part 2 post on this topic. If you haven't read Part 1, find it here.
Now, I'm gonna list few components and/or criteria that you'll find in the technical specifications of the camera or stuff that you need to look out for. When choosing the right camera for YOU, remember these aspects and make an informed decision. You can easily google more technical details if need be, so I'm only giving some quick thoughts here (and not comprehensive technical details). So let's start...
Type of camera: These days you have the compact cameras, DSLRs and also whats known as Mirrorless cameras. DSLR is the digital single-lens reflex cams (same as the traditional camera, just the D in front as they are digital now, no film) that have a mirror inside that reflects the image onto the sensor. With mirrorless cams, they have got rid of this mirror, enabling the camera body to be much more compact, but at the same time give results similar to SLR cameras. The mirrorless cams are doing well, but still have a huge way to go especially in terms of compatible interchangeable lenses. Certainly a good option if you want a compact compact camera, that performs almost like an SLR and you can expand too (getting newer lenses, external flashes, etc).
Expandable: Taking off from the last point, do you foresee that you might be interested in getting new lenses? Maybe wanna add an external flash or a microphone? These won't be possible with a normal compact camera. You'll have the most flexibility with DSLRs ofcourse. With big brands (like Canon, Nikon, Sony), you have 3rd party companies (like Tamron or Sigma) that make a wide variety of accessories too. Also check if the camera has HDMI connectivity as this is something useful to hook up the camera to your Television (do note, most cameras will have a mini-HDMI output).
Sensor type: You basically have CCD and CMOS sensors used in cameras these days. CMOS is better and as costs get cheaper, I see it making its way to more and more camera ranges. Apart from this, you also have full-frame sensors found in high level models. These capture the most of any composed shot, as nothing is cropped off. What you compose, is what you get and there is little information lost at the edges/corners of the sensors. Ofcourse these full-frame cameras are much more expensive, and unless you're looking into professional photography or have a lot of extra cash to spare, its not needed.
Megapixels: This is something I'm passionate about and try to explain to everybody I meet. Don't go running after larger megapixels. It's just a war raging out there, but you don't need the highest megapixel camera, and it might not be the best overall camera anyways. In most cases a 5meg shot is all you need - You can print upto A4 sizes with that. So why do you need more? Especially if you are gonna watch your pics on the computer all the time, or might occasionally print a few pics at the common sizes of 4x6" or 5x7".
These days, event the basic compact cameras come with resolutions higher than 5Meg, but the main pain point of shooting at the highest resolution of your camera is the image size. My camera is around 6years old now, and is a 10.2MP camera. But guess what, I done most of my shooting with 5MP shots, because thats all thats needed. Even with that I have over 60Gb of data to manage, so imagine if I had shot at 10MP - I'd need roughly double the amount of storage!!! The first thing I tell people is to change the camera resolution when they get a new camera. There are times when you can increase the resolution, like when you have a large group of people or a great nature shot that you'd like to blow up. But for daily use, choosing something around the 5MP mark is optimal.
Another reason why you might want to click at high resolution is if you often zoom into portions of your picture, crop them and then enlarge it or print them - then maybe you need a camera that shoots at much larger resolutions. But you still don't need to have the camera set at full resolution all the time... :)
[I told you I'm passionate about this point, apologies for the long paras]
Zoom: Firstly, let me be clear, I'm talking about optical zoom here, not digital. Don't be caught out by marketing terminologies that publicise combined zoom capabilities. Please check whats the actual optical zoom is. Another setting I always change on a camera is switching OFF the digital zoom. The moment you go into digital zoom space, you're into software enhancement, not the actual lens moving - so pictures are bound to be pixelated. Usually zoom is shown as 3x, 10x, or it can be shown at 18-200 also (especially for interchangeable lenses). Dividing 200 by 18 would be you a rough optical zoom range of the lens, in this case around 11x or 11 times zoom. Decide how much zoom you need based on what you wanna do with the camera. For indoor shots 3-5x zoom is more than enough.
Expansion slots: What type of memory card does it take. I think these days its mostly SD cards, so shouldn't be an issue. SD cards are freely available and most cost effective option. Next, do you want to have additional accessories, like a external flash or an external microphone? Please note, if you try to take pics with a big zoom camera, its built in flash might not be enough for taking pictures of distant objects in low light conditions. A good case of investing in an external flashgun.
Looks: Needless to say, its your camera and at the end of the day you should like how it looks. See how it feels in hand. Although you get great deals online, there is nothing like going instore and playing around with the models you have short listed. See how they fit and feel in your hand. Are the buttons easily accessible for most common operations. A larger display screen at the back with higher resolution makes viewing pictures on the camera more fun. These days you can cameras in different colors too, and I've noticed the prices vary based on the colours too.
Additional features: #Panorama shot is making its way into many camera ranges now, but then maybe you want a Wifi capable camera? Maybe you want the ability to geo-tag your photos? There are loads of features out there. Just make sure you're not paying ridiculous amounts of money for features (or gimmicks) you'll never use. If you're the lazy type and won't bother manually copying the photos to your computer and then sharing them, maybe you want to invest in the Wifi option.
So these are few things I've highlighted. There are many more specifications you can delve into, and this is just a start. Feel free to comment and let me know if you think of any aspects that might be important when choosing the right camera. Things like autofocus points, movie recording capabilities, ISO ranges, etc are important, but you can get more information about this if you are really enthusiastic and want to dive deeper in your camera research. Feel free to email or message me for any help in choosing a camera. First thing I'll ask is about your budget, so fix that before reaching out to me... :)
I hope you have found this interesting and it'll help you too. Needless to say, check out for good reviews on the net. These days you find comparison videos for almost anything on youtube. Me personally I use DPreview site a lot...
Happy shopping...!
[Part 1 can be found here]
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