Buy Digital Cameras

canon

Canon have announced an update to their entry level EOS 400D model. The headline improvement is a new 12mp sensor. Canon has quite a bit to celebrate this year. Not only is it Canon’s 70th birthday and 20th anniversary of the launch of the EOS line of SLR cameras, but they’ve reached a rather remarkable milestone. Canon have followed with the launch of their new range of digital cameras. Second is a new addition to the ixus range, the Canon Ixus 80 IS .

Canon Canada leveraged its decades of experience as a global leader in optics and imaging technology to engineer these new Multimedia Projectors to satisfy the demands of users in the many markets demanding high-resolution and precise colour reproduction. The new REALiS SX7 and the REALiS X700 Multimedia Projectors also feature a new, improved 275-watt AC projection lamp that provides richer colour reproduction and longer life (from 2,000 to 3,000 hours) than earlier models.

Researching buying a digital camera, I realized how convoluted and baffling the world of high-tech has become. It seemed like every digital camera review had something different to say, and every week there was some new feature that was a must-have on all new digital cameras. There were digital camera user reviews, written by people who understood the technology poorly and were either hopelessly over-impressed by standard features, or hopelessly un-thrilled because they didn’t understand how to use the cameras that they had. There were digital camera pro reviews by professional photographers who had much different expectations than I did, and who were able to notice distinctions that I surely would have missed. In short, there was no way to get information from an expert writing for laymen. Either I would make a blind purchase, or I would have to find another source for my digital camera review information.

What I didn’t realize was this: the reason that there were so many digital camera reviews was because there are so few features that are really crucial for digital cameras. You heard me right ñ I said so few features. Basically, digital cameras need about three qualities.  They need to be well made, they need to have high resolution, and they need to have a variety of different lenses available. Everything else is just icing on the cake. Some of the digital camera review websites focus on features like digital zoom, but digital zoom is simply an advertising gimmick. A high-quality digital camera will have optical zoom. If it doesn’t have optical zoom, it will have a lens available for it that does.  You don’t need to look through every digital camera lens review article. You simply have to choose a camera that has been made by a company that makes other high-quality photographic equipment. Usually, all the lenses will come in a standard format that can fit any of their products.

Basically, there is no need to look for digital camera review articles. What you do need to do is figure out what your needs are. If all you intend to do is to take 3 x 5 glossy photos of your family, practically any cheap digital camera on the market will do. If you want to be able to blow up and manipulate those photos, however, you should buy a high-resolution one from a respectable company. If you fancy yourself a serious photographer, you need to buy one that has fittings for new lenses. That’s all there is to it!

The popularity of digital cameras has skyrocketed in recent years. Every event or celebration you go to now has at least several people snapping away. Once you pay for the camera and memory cards, your costs are zero, until you actually have a picture you want to print. You can take 40 pictures of your new child, niece, nephew, grandchild, etc, and if only two good shots came out of that, then you only pay for those two.

The question is - where should you print those two masterpieces?

Owning your own photo quality printer is definitely faster. There are even people who take a small printer with them and make prints for other guests right away. Almost as easy as a traditional Polaroid camera.

Is it cheaper?

The large chains have jumped into this fray in a BIG way. Wal-Mart, Blacks, Business Depot, and many others. With all this competition comes low, low pricing. A typical 4×6 print from a big chain is cheaper than the retail cost of the do-it-yourself paper that the same chain sells in their photography center. And at home you still have to pay for the ink!

Here are 6 things to consider when getting a photo lab to print your digital pictures.

(1) Price. All the major players have priced their 4×6 size very competitively. The larger sizes though, like 5×7 or 8×10, are usually higher in cost than what you can do it for at home.

(2) Drop Off. Can you upload your digital pictures to them via the internet (very convenient) or do you have to deliver them on a floppy or CD?

(3) Delivery. Does your photo lab let you pick them up in the store, or do you have to wait for the post office or a courier? Picking them up at the store should be a no-cost option. If you can pick them up, is the location easy to get in and out of?

(4) Timing. How fast do they work? One photo lab has a reputation of having most orders ready in one business day. Another is a bit cheaper, but takes a week.

(5) Quality. You may have to talk to relatives, friends, and co-workers about this one. Find others who have already tried various printers. One photo lab’s web site states that they will not print a picture with too low a resolution (nothing under 150 DPI allowed). This can be inconvenient, but assures you of a quality print.

Speaking of resolution, a 4×6 printed at 200 DPI requires a digital print that is 800 by 1200 pixels. An older model 1.0 megapixel camera can do this easily. If you have a more modern 3.3 megapixel camera you can create a 200 DPI print that is 8×10. One of the advantages of a better camera, say a 5 mp, is that you can “crop” part of the picture away and still have the 3.3 megapixels required for an 8×10.

There is one more item you need to be concerned with.

(6) A standard “snapshot” for a photo album is 4×6 in size. That is a ratio of 1.5. Most new cameras have a photo ratio of 1.33! What happens if you send a 1.33 picture to a photo lab and ask for a 4×6? They cut off (”crop”) part of the picture you took, making it shorter on its longest side. You may not like the part they cut off! The best internet upload systems for photo labs allow you to indicate what can be cut off. Alternatively, use a program on your computer to make the digital picture the correct size and ratio before uploading.

Memory for digital cameras is getting cheaper all the time, so load up on memory, take lots of pictures, and proudly display the ones that turn out well.