A few years back I was in the market for a new camera. The variety of options out there really made it hard for me to make a selection!
I like to think I'm a photo enthusiast. But I finally acknowledged that I don't get too much into the technicalities of photography but I enjoy taking photographs which essentially means composing them and framing the photograph. Secondly I was looking for a camera I could use on a safari I was planning to take as well as later to capture moments in get-togethers with family and friends. Occasionally I would like to indulge in "photography" of landscapes from a hobby perspective. So I was looking for something that would be generalistic and I could use the same camera in various situations.
So with that background I'd like to share the process I went through to make my camera decision.
The first decision to make is identify your budget. Trust me, this is important as without this you would not know when to stop. Having said this, I'd say keep a budget range i.e., what you you would like to spend and the absolute limit you should not cross. The latter is a financial decision and should be made without emotion and should be used to ensure you do not over spend.
Now we come to cameras. One of the decisions is whether to go for a "still" camera versus a "video" camera. With today's technology the line between these is getting thinner and thinner. I would recommend a video camera but with one major caveat. Video cameras require a lot of post processing, i.e., after the shot, a lot of time will be spent to edit the shot or even to identify frames to print. Another downside of video cameras (as opposed to still cameras) is low light shooting. Most commercial video cameras will not come with a "flash" option. So if you plan to take indoor shots it might be better going with a still camera that has video shooting capabilities.
For this entry I'm going down the path of choosing a "still" camera and hence from now on we won't talk about video cameras.
The next decision is whether to go with a DSLR or a semi-DSLR or a point-and-shoot digital camera. Without a doubt the quality of a DSLR is the best but it is not as versatile for 80% of the users I know off.
Unless you are getting into photography professionally or as a hobby I'd not recommend going for a DSLR. Another reason is the cost. The bare minimum "body" is rather cheap when you compare with the lenses you'll have to buy to get a decent zoom or wide angle shot. Not that the body is really cheap but keep in mind that with the DSLR costs can easily shoot up to get "what you want" out of the picture.
Yet another reason I didn't go for it was the need to change lenses for different shots. And then when you have too many lenses, carrying them around is an issue as well as taking a shot which may make the camera to heavy to hold and may mandate a tripod.
While they are the best, I wouldn't recommend DSLR for those of us who do not want to get into the technicalities of photography which includes understanding the mechanics of light and lenses as well as the time involved in selecting the right lens and switching them and of course the cost of it all!
It might be quite obvious from my paragraph above, the reasons I didn't go for the DSLR. This meant I look at the point and shoots or the semi-DSLRs. However, since both of these pretty much have "fixed" lenses, my research recommended getting a camera with the maximum zoom as this is the one thing that cannot be changed for such cameras. Considering I was going on a safari, I essentially looked for cameras with the maximum available zoom.
Now even with "Zoom" ensure you look for optical zoom. This is essentially zoom made available with lenses giving you the highest quality picture without distortion. Digital zoom would at some point distort and pixelate the picture and quality goes down as zoom goes up. Of course the downside is that as optical zoom goes up the size of the camera also increases.
Hence in this case you would have to balance the size which decides portability of the camera and the zoom desired. In my case, I just went looking for the cameras which had the best zoom. I found a Nikon, a Cannon and an Olympus all give me optical zooms in the range of 36x to 40x.
The next thing I did was to go see these cameras and look at the software loaded on the camera itself. In my case I couldn't find the Olympus so I ended up comparing the Canon and the Nikon.
I didn't do a very technical comparison. I liked both the interfaces (software).
I found the Canon to provide better quality images which I compared by taking a photograph of an advertisment at full optical zoom, then reviewing the picture at full zoom on the camera itself. The Canon had a shaper edges on the image than the Nikon.
The Canon was a bit more expensive than the Nikon but both were within my budget and so I didn't worry a lot about costs.
Next I looked at the video capabilities. Nikon won here because it offered full HD (1280) while the Canon offered semi HD (720). Secondly the Nikon also provided high speed recording which meant more frames per second albeit not at the highest quality. But still that meant I could shoot slow motion videos!
The Nikon also allowed one to take a "still" photo while taking a video recording which I've found to be an extremely useful feature and would recommend cameras that have this feature.
Ultimately I went for the Nikon with the highest zoom which esentially meant a semi-DSLR.
The money I saved (from buying the Canon) I invested in buying a second battery (which I strongly recommend) and a spare charger. The Nikon battery could only be charged if it's in the camera and I wanted the ability to charge my spare without using the camera.
Another suggestion when buying memory for your camera is to look for High speed cards. The standard cards are slow and I would strongly recommend buying high speed card to take your shots as that makes the camera respond faster. Have a look at the following websites to understand about the speed of the memory card:
The downside with semi-DSLR is that it is slow because of the motor used for zooming and focusing. DSLR would be a lot quicker one you get the hang of it but with a semi-DSLR taking the shot may take a while.
Hope you found this useful. In brief, if going for a still camera, decide your budget and get the camera with the highest zoom that fits the budget. And one last piece of advice. Technology changes quickly so do not spend too much on the camera. Look at useage requirements for the next two years before buying!
Happy buying!
