Digital Camera Help - FAQs

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions that I have answered from visitors to my Digital-Camera-Help.com website.

What is the difference between optical and digital zoom?

Canon PowerShot SD1200IS

Optical zoom on a digital camera works the same way a regular 35mm camera's zoom works, the lens physically moves in and out using the optics (lens) to bring the subject closer without sacrificing quality. These moving lenses allows a range in optical magnification that runs anywhere from 2.0x to 10.0x. The higher the optical zoom on a camera, the farther away you can be to take a photograph and still get a clear, close image.

Digital Camera Help - FAQs

Digital zoom is a software simulation of optical zoom using no moving parts. Simply put, the camera crops the picture and enlarges it, filling in the extra pixels by guessing what the picture may look like in a process called interpolation. This results in a loss of quality, and is no different than cropping and enlarging an image with editing software. Instead of using the digital zoom on your digital camera you can use editing software on your computer and have more control over cropping and enlarging the picture.

Many new models of digital cameras are advertising having both optical and digital zoom capabilities. Most of these cameras have a feature that automatically uses digital zoom when you have exceeded the optical zoom limitations. You may choose to disable or shut this feature off so that you know exactly what kind of quality picture you are taking.

How much zoom does your digital camera need?

Optical zoom ranges between 2x and 10x but most average users find 3x to 6x optical zoom about what they need. Most experts will tell you to buy as much optical zoom as you can afford being careful not to overlook the other features.

What is megapixel?

Ok, first let's define pixel. Digital images like our computer screens and digital camera pictures are both made up of grids of dots. The word "pixel" is actually short for "picture element", which is computer geek talk for one of those millions of dots on your computer screen or digital image. Now, every one of those pixels holds one color and combined with the other millions of single colored dots, forms the picture.

Megapixel means a million pixels, so a 3 megapixel digital camera has 3 million pixels. To get the total pixel count, you multiply the horizontal pixels by the vertical pixels. For example, 2590 x 1920 = 5 Megapixels. The more mega pixels your digital camera has, the more information and detail you capture on each picture.

Say for example, you a take a picture, once with a 2 megapixel digital camera and once again with a 4 megapixel digital camera. The 2 megapixel digital camera will give you 2 million pieces of information (pixels) and the 4 megapixel digital camera gives you 4 million pieces of information (pixels). If you print both the pictures 4x6, you probably would not be able to tell the difference between the two. Now say you were to crop the pictures or enlarge those pictures to 8x10, you would see a big difference in the two photos. The picture taken by the 4 megapixel digital camera would be a clearer, truer image replication because the picture contains more information than the 2 megapixel digital camera.

How many megapixels does my digital camera need?

It mostly depends on what you plan on doing with the pictures and images. If you do not often crop your photos and only print 4x6/5x7 size photos, a 2-3 megapixel digital camera will do the trick. If you ever plan to make 8x10 or larger prints at least 4 megapixels would be suggested. Of course most would tell you to buy the highest megapixel digital camera you could afford, but the smart ones would also remind you there are a lot of other of other features besides megapixel you want to look at when making your digital camera purchase.

What is the difference between a Nickel-Metal Hydride battery and a nickel-cadmium battery?

A Nickel-Metal Hydride battery (or NiMH) is a rechargeable battery similar in design with a Nickel-Cadmium battery (or Ni-Cd) but instead of using cadmium, which is an environmental hazard, it uses a hydrogen absorbing alloy for anode. A Nickel-Metal Hydride battery can have 2 to 3 times the capacity of an equivalent size NiCd, the memory effect is not as significant and it is less detrimental to the environment compared to a Nickel-Cadmium battery.

Digital Camera Help - FAQs

Related : Canon Rebel XSi Kit

Compact Digital Camera Reviews - Which One Should You Buy?

Over the last few years manufactures have been releasing a vast array of compact digital cameras. If you are thinking of buying a compact digital camera for yourself, or as a present for someone else then there are a few features you should be looking out for?

1. Amount of Megapixels

Canon PowerShot SD1200IS

2. Camera Size

Compact Digital Camera Reviews - Which One Should You Buy?

3. Optical/Digital zoom

4. LCD screen size

5. Memory cards

6. Battery type

Amount of Megapixels: Many people are confused into thinking that the more megapixels a camera has, the better the camera or picture will be, but this is not necessarily true. A 10 megapixel camera may produce sharper, crisper and better pictures than a 12 megapixel digital camera. When looking for a digital camera you should choose a model with 8 megapixels or more. But don't get sucked in by the more megapixels the better, hype. Canon for example have released some new cameras with lower megapixels than their previous versions.

Camera Size: Compact digital cameras come in many different sizes and thicknesses. Before you buy one it is important to decide what you want to use it for. If you just want a point and shoot camera that will fit in your purse or pocket then look for one of the slim digital cameras. If you want to be more creative then you will find that most slim digital cameras will not have the features that you need, so a larger digital camera will be more suitable. These cameras will normally need a case to put them in, and will be too large for a pocket. Slim and thin or compact and creative, you decide.

Optical/Digital zoom: All digital compact cameras have both an optical and digital zoom. Sometimes the manufactures make the digital zoom sound really good. Again don't be taken in by a 10x or 20x digital zoom, because using it will actually make the picture look very grainy. The optical zoom is much more important as the picture quality doesn't degrade when using it. Look for an optical zoom of 3x and above. The bigger the optical zoom, the closer and bigger the image will look through the view finder or LCD screen.

LCD size: Many compact digital cameras have a viewfinder and an LCD screen to take pictures with. But these days most people just use the LCD screen as it is easier to use. Having a bigger screen allows you to easily see what you are taking a picture of. It is also easier to navigate menus and review pictures after they have been taken. Buy a camera with an LCD screen of 2.5 inch or bigger.

Memory cards: My advice here would be to find out what memory card the camera will use, and buy the largest capacity that you can. Memory cards sizes are normally between 16MB and 8GB. When taking digital pictures you will find that a 1GB card doesn't hold as many pictures as you think, especially if you go on holiday or like to travel. For example if you have a 10 megapixel camera, you will be able to get around 200 jpeg images on a 1GB card. The best option is to buy two and then you always have a spare, if one gets lost or is damaged then you always have a back up.

Battery type: Your camera will either use disposable batteries or the manufactures own rechargeable battery. I always prefer to buy a compact digital camera that uses the manufactures own battery. The reason is that you are normally able to take more pictures, and they are easier and cheaper in the long run, as you don't need to constantly buy batteries. I would always recommend having a spare one, as they have a tendency to go flat just when you need them most.

The compact digital camera reviews article above covers the most important things you should be looking for when buying a camera. I hope you found it helpful.

Compact Digital Camera Reviews - Which One Should You Buy?

Thanks To : Camera Us Shop Canon Rebel XSi Kit