Digital Camera Purchase Advice
By jlt8030
@jlt8030 (6)
February 1, 2013 7:00pm CST
I am interested in upgrading my digital camera after many years of use and great experience. However, it is 2013 and 3.2 Megapixel seems to be a Stone Age tool compared to what is available on the market today.
My experience with the lower res camera has beef great. I had been using a Sony 3.2 MP camera with the proprietary Sony Memory sicks for almost 10 years. Back in the day, it was a top of the line device and i have thousands of photos in my library as it as been all over the world with me. The resolution allows me to print and blow up to sized around 11x14 with good result It has only a small zoom and most of it digital and not optical. This has caused me some problems as I cannot get as close as I want and digital zoom is inferior to optical zoom. However, the lower resolutions have allowed me to upload my photos all over the world regardless of WIFI or internet quality... something you cannot do with you are uploading 16MP photos.
Since I have been out of the purchasing game for some time, I would like some advice on the features, brands and must haves in the new camera market. Am I going to be satisfied with single lens cameras? Should I be looking for a more traditional / professional setup with a digital body and multiple lenses. Is more Megapixels really the answer and is there a practical limit on how much I can use? What about battery power? Should I stay with easy to exchange AA power or are the rechargeable packs or proprietary setups OK? Features like GPS tagging and social media interfaces (Andriod based) worth the costs?
Looking for advice
4 responses
@duke_31 (18)
• Philippines
6 Feb 13
It really depends on your priorities and budget.
If budget is never a problem and you just want to take decent shots, then by all means go for an entry-level DSLR. If you wish to use it anytime anywhere, then mirrorless cameras are the way to go or the compact point and shoots.
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
4 Feb 13
I have a DSLR (Canon Rebel T4i) that I use for work and I also have two point and shoot (Canon SX230 and a Canon G12) for travel. The Canon SX230 has been upgraded to the SX260. With the Image Stabilization and high ISO settings it makes a great travel camera and gives you a wide range of shooting modes including in low light. The flash is easy to use push it down and you have no flash but you can flip it up to have flash in any situations. I bought mine used on ebay and am planning to buy a new one (SX260 which has come down in price to $229 in several stores) before my next vacation trip. I would suggest that you get an extra battery. The other thing I like about the SX230 is its size. It is about the same size as my smart phone but a little thicker. It fits easily in my jacket pocket in a protective case. It takes the standard and high capacity SD Card. I have gotten some great shots with it and love using it. For the price it is a great value.
@BabyCheetah (1911)
• Australia
4 Feb 13
It really does depend what you are going to use your camera for. I have a semi professional DSLR because I love photography, although it's not my job and started as a hobby I do like these cameras.
My cousin recently was looking at buying a new camera. She isn't a photographer and just wanted it more for happy snaps so I found her a decent little nikon that was 14mp 12x optical zoom for under $200. Perfect for her as it was all automatic settings.
I think the question first is what do you want out of your photography? Do you want to sell prints, just share with family and friends. Can you be bothered traveling around the world with a lot of camera gear or do you just want something small to carry with you? 
@heaytheblogger (2876)
• Philippines
2 Feb 13
It really depends on how you will use such digital camera devices, if you are the more net savvy type of person, well the WiFi enabled camera fits in your category. Since it is more equipped with Android and WiFi capabilities, you won't feel the hassle of plugging-in you device to a computer since you can directly upload it to your social networking and photo sharing sites. as long as you have a WiFi connection available. Some good droid/wifi'd enabled cameras that are affordable in their price range are that of Samsung and Sony.
If you are the traveller type of camera user, well the budget friendly Point and Shoot cameras are quite handy for you, since they are more portable and easy to fit in your pocket, you can always carry them anywhere while you are on travel. However, there are new upgrades on the point and shoot categories which are called bridge cameras, these such as the lineup of Fujifilm finepix and Panasonic Lumix DMC are quite good bridge cameras which are DSLR look-a-like cameras but has a unique zoom range which leaps from the standard 8x to the 24-28x zoom.
But if you are more of serious photography enthusiasts most especially in portrait photography, nothing beats the more high-end Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) owning a DSLR camera in today's generation isn't that much of costs since there are prosumer professional photography camera which has HD video recording and has a wide range of lens to choose from. a prosumer DSLR from Canon or Nikon are quite good cameras to choose from.
