Kamera Digital News

Digital camera range

May 7th, 2007

Digital camera range
Advertiser Adelaide, Australia

WITH the price of digital cameras falling significantly in recent years, you can pick one up now for less than $200 but there are some things to consider before going out to grab a bargain.

Andrew Kliem, digital camera specialist at online technology reviewer PC World, said perhaps the most important consideration should be your own level of expertise.
“There are cameras that cater to all kinds of different skill levels,” he said.

“If you’re an amateur photographer you don’t need to buy something like a digital SLR, with a lot of manual features.”

In a digital camera, film is replaced by a light-sensitive sensor that converts light into a digital image.

Mr Kliem said another consideration for someone looking to purchase a digital camera was megapixels, which indicated the detail captured in the photograph.

“The more megapixels, the more information captured on the camera and the more detail the photo has,” he said.

However, this was only really significant if you planned to make enlargements of photos, he said.

“There’s a difference in image quality between five and 10 megapixels, but realistically unless you’re doing big enlargements it’s not going to be noticeable.”

He said the decision between film and digital cameras came down to personal choice, with advantages to each.

“Digital a lot of people find more convenient – you can store a lot more photos, you can see them on a computer, you can print from home – but plenty of people still argue film is of a higher quality,” Mr Kliem said. “You just have to work out what elements of photography you enjoy and choose appropriately.”

Mr Kliem said in terms of price, a basic digital camera started at about $150, with recognised brands closer to $250. The most expensive SLR, with features that include fully manual operations, an increased zoom, interchangeable lenses and external flash, was about $8000.

National consumer group Choice this year tested 25 digital cameras and ranked them in terms of image quality, ease of use, versatility and viewfinder accuracy.

The top-ranked compact cameras were the Panasonic DMC-LX2, which was priced at $799, followed by the Canon Powershot A630 for $499 and the Cannon Powershot G7 for $899.

The highest ranking digital SLR was the Nikon D80 Kit DX 18-70mm for $2498.

Choice calculated that the cost of using a digital camera was about $88 cheaper than a standard compact camera in the first year, taking into account film and processing costs, compared to purchasing ink and paper and printing from a computer or using a mini-lab.

Entry Filed under: World Digital Camera