home email us search checkout specials

How Does a Digital Camera Differ From a Standard Camera?
It Uses Silicon "Film"
 
How Much Should I Expect To Pay?
Snapshot/Personal: Under $500
Business: $500 to $800
Hobby: $800 to $1,200
Professionals: $2,000 and Up
 
Which Features Are Most Important?
Resolution: At Least 1 Megapixel
Get Zoom If You Can Afford It
Interface and Media: Get an External Card Reader
Opt for an Optical Viewfinder
Macro Mode
LCD Display
Out to TV
Optional or Interchangeable Lenses
 
What Do I Need to Work With My Pictures?
Image-Editing Software
Printer
 
What Are My Alternatives?
Videoconferencing Cameras
 
How Should I Pay?
Always Use a Credit Card
Avoid Restocking Fees
 
How Can I Choose A Reliable Brand?
Know Thy Warranty
Ask Other Buyers
 

How Does a Digital Camera Differ From a Standard Camera?

It Uses Silicon "Film"

The defining difference between digital cameras and those of the film variety is the medium used to record the image. While a conventional camera uses film, digital cameras use an array of digital image sensors. These image sensors may be of the charged coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) varieties.

Digital and film cameras each have their advantages. Film cameras cost much less than similarly equipped digital cameras, and they let you fire one shot after another without the processing delays demanded by most digital cameras. Then again, digital cameras save you the hassles and delays of film processing, providing immediate access to your images. Unless you're highly skilled at image scanning and editing, even an inexpensive digital camera will also likely give you better image quality than a film camera and scanner when you need to load images into your system.

Back to Top

How Much Should I Expect To Pay?

Snapshot/Personal: Under $500

If you want a basic, inexpensive camera that delivers good image quality with a minimum of fuss, a camera in this price range should do. It's possible to find digital cameras selling for less than $250, but at this price expect top resolutions of only 640x480 and only the most basic features. Models above $300 or so typically provide built-in LCD panels and resolutions of 1,024x768 or higher. A few also boast an integrated zoom lens, but in general expect fairly little in the way of advanced features at this price.

Business: $500 to $800

Today's midrange offerings often boast optical resolutions of 1,280x1,024 or higher. These models also generally boast 2x or 3x optical zoom lenses, automatic focus instead of fixed focus, and at least some degree of manual control over exposure and some other settings. Aim for this price point if you want more flexibility than a basic point-and-shoot model can offer but don't need a lot of advanced features or controls.

Hobby: $800 to $1,200

If terms such as aperture and shutter speed make you smile instead of wince, you'll probably want a digital camera that allows greater manual control than your average point-and-shoot offering. Compared with more casual users, hobbyists might also demand higher resolutions, high-quality lenses, greater zoom factors, more program modes, more advanced metering, and the ability to attach standard filters and external flash equipment.

Professionals: $2,000 and Up

Digital cameras geared for professionals typically offer the same mix-and-match hardware flexibility and extensive controls that professional-class film cameras do. In fact, from a professional's perspective, the best digital camera is essentially a conventional camera body with a digital back installed; these will cost you over $10,000, however. Resolutions begin at about 2 million pixels.

Back to Top

Which Features Are Most Important?

Resolution: At Least 1 Megapixel

A resolution of 640x480 might be all you need if you're only planning to use and view your images online, but demand at least 1,024x768 pixels if you also want to print your images at a fairly high quality. A resolution of 1,024x768 should enable reasonably good 5x7-inch prints. Choose a model capable of about 1,280x1,024 pixels for satisfactory quality at sizes as large as 8x10 inches.

Most digital cameras charge-couple device (CCD) image sensors, but some cameras now use image sensors of the complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) variety. Also referred to by the acronym CIS (for CMOS image sensors), this newer type of sensor is less expensive than its CCD counterpart and requires less power, but CCD arrays generally yield better image quality.

Get Zoom If You Can Afford It

Particularly if you'll often be photographing people, you may want to make a point of choosing a camera with an integral zoom lens. The fixed-focal-length lenses used by many models should prove adequate for many landscape shots and family group pictures. Then again, being able to "zoom" in for a tighter shot can be a huge advantage, especially when shooting candids or portraits. A 2x zoom lets you roughly double the size of your subject in the captured shot, while a 3x zoom lets you triple the size.

If you have your heart set on a zoom lens, make sure you look for a model with an optical zoom. Many cameras offer digital zoom in addition to or instead of a true zoom lens. The difference, in brief: With an optical zoom, the camera adjusts the lens to focus the tighter image over the entire image sensor array, so that the camera captures the zoomed image at as high a resolution as it can. With digital zoom, on the other hand, the camera simply ignores data collected for all but the intended, tighter image. In other words, when you zoom digitally, you're essentially just cropping part of the image in-camera, without increasing the resolution of the portion of the image you really want to keep.

Interface and Media: Get an External Card Reader

To transfer images to your PC with most digital cameras, you connect an included interface cable to your system's nine-pin serial port. An increasing number of cameras are using a USB interface either as a replacement to a serial-port interface or as an additional interface. Either approach should work well if your system has the appropriate port, but USB's advantages make it a better choice over the long haul. These advantages include faster transfer speeds, support for hot-plugging components, and the ability to provide power to the component through the interface. The FireWire interface should also be available on an increasing number of cameras in time. This interface offers roughly the same advantages as USB but allows faster data transfers still.

Opt for an Optical Viewfinder

The LCD panels provided on the majority of digital cameras can be used to frame your shots, but most buyers should make a point of opting for a camera that also provides a traditional optical viewfinder. Using the LCD panel as a viewfinder will often let you frame your shots more precisely—optical viewfinders usually do not show exactly how much of the scene will be captured—but constantly running the LCD panel will also greatly increase your camera's appetite for batteries. Particularly on aggressively priced units, LCD panels often update slow enough to be awkward to use with fast-moving subjects. Another problem: Direct sunlight can wash out the LCD panels of many cameras, making them difficult to use at best.

Macro Mode

In photography parlance, true macro functionality indicates that a subject can be captured at its actual size, which implies the ability to focus at distances of mere inches. Only a precious few professional lenses actually deliver true, 1-to-1 macro capability, but the term macro has come to denote just about any close-focusing ability. Most digital cameras provide a macro setting to let you get up close and personal without losing focus.

LCD Display

Most of today's digital cameras include a small integrated LCD panel, which most often measure 1.8 inches diagonally. Some models depend on these LCD panels as their primary viewfinders, but the LCD panels probably more often prove useful for other purposes. For instance, the ability to view the image you just captured can be a real help. An LCD panel also comes in handy for image management and camera control: With well-designed controls, the built-in display makes it easy to change your camera's settings and to view and manage stored images.

Out to TV

If you want the ability to show off your images to family and friends using a television or other video device, insist on a digital camera that supports TV hookup. (Most do.) Connecting to a television is easy and requires only an RCA-style, composite connector on the TV end. Many cameras let you choose to control the show manually or have the camera cycle through the stored images automatically. TV-out capability can also give you a way to view and show the panoramas and short videos that some cameras let you create. With some cameras, you can load images back into your camera after annotating and editing them on your PC, so that you can use the camera to give more elaborate presentations than would otherwise be possible. Keep in mind that the TV-out feature outputs a standard video signal, so you could also use it to copy presentations to videotape or to output to a video projector.

Optional or Interchangeable Lenses

Like low-cost conventional cameras, most digital cameras come with integrated lenses rather than using removable lenses. For the time being, at least, you'll have to shell out the cash for a professional-class camera if you want a digital model that uses a standard lens mount. Some sub-$1,000 models accept proprietary add-ons such as fisheye and telephoto adapters.

Back to Top

What Do I Need to Work With My Pictures?

Image-Editing Software

It's probably safe to assume that any digital camera you buy will come with software that lets you touch up your images. Most come with a basic image-transfer and -editing utility plus a separate novice-oriented image-editing package, such as Adobe PhotoDeluxe or Microsoft PictureIt. Such packages lack the power and flexibility of Adobe Photoshop and other veteran image-editing packages, but most casual users would never come close to using the full power of Photoshop.

Printer

You should have no problem finding an affordable printer that can output creditable color prints. Color inkjet printers can do an excellent job with both photorealistic prints and workaday text documents, making them a sensible choice for many buyers. In most cases, it probably makes good sense to print images from your image-editing software, which should be well-equipped to help you tweak image quality and set print size and characteristics. Some camera manufacturers also sell printers that can print directly from the company's cameras or from CompactFlash or SmartMedia memory cards, without the aid of an attached PC.

Back to Top

What Are My Alternatives?

Videoconferencing Cameras

A tethered camera might do the trick if you only want to capture the occasional rude gesture for friendly e-mails, or if you dream of tapping into the wonderful world of videoconferencing. Often referred to as videoconferencing or eyeball cameras, these small desktop cameras typically cost between $80 and $130, depending on resolution and other features. As still cameras, many can manage a resolution of 640x480, though resolution when handling motion-video chores is usually 320x240 or less. These cameras lack any stand-alone capability, so their usefulness as still cameras is limited even if you can live with their relatively low resolution.

Back to Top

How Should I Pay?

Always Use a Credit Card

You don't forfeit your rights as a consumer if you pay by check, money order, check card, or debit card, but you forfeit the most practical way to enforce those rights—credit-card companies' clout—if there's a problem with the product or its delivery. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you have 60 days from the occurrence of the problem in which to report the details in writing. No credit-card company guarantees it will solve every problem or issue a chargeback for every disputed purchase, but the power of the creditor is often the heaviest weapon you can wield. Many debit cards now limit your liability to $50 in the event of fraud, but the money is already out of your checking account. It's the same with checks and even worse with money orders—they're the equivalent of cash.

Avoid Restocking Fees

It's the sometimes shocking reason you should always read the fine print: Restocking fees—often 15 to 20 percent of your total purchase price—can take a big bite out of a money-back return policy. Be sure to ask about the existence and terms of any restocking policies before you buy. Often, different restocking fees apply to different types of products or even to different parts of a system purchase. PC hardware, for instance, might be returnable without a restocking fee, but bundled software may be subject to a fee or nonreturnable once opened.

Back to Top

How Can I Choose A Reliable Brand?

Know Thy Warranty

All things being equal, a three-year warranty is obviously more attractive than a one-year warranty. But sometimes, a solid one-year plan—one that covers parts and labor on all components, not just some—can be better than three years of haggling and headaches. Ask questions like: Must you install replacement parts yourself? Who pays for return shipping for major repairs? Is a loaner unit available during downtime?

Ask Other Buyers

Advice from trusted colleagues is always a good recourse, as long as you keep in mind that a single person's experience with a company doesn't guarantee that yours will be the same.

Back to Top

[ contact us ] [ links ] [ package tracking ] [ login now ] [ questions and answers ] [ index ]

All manufacture's names, logo's, audio, video and part numbers are registered trademarks of their respective companies and are for cross-reference and presentation purposes only. Please be advised there is a limited quantity on hand for all products ivitex sells. Prices and Availability are subject to change without notice.

ã copyright IVITEX 1999 ....... A LEADING SUPPLIER TO AMERICA AND EUROPE