How to separate the best from the worst, and more specifically everything in between can be a daunting task for the average consumer. When your looking at items that we purchase on a daily basis, it's pretty easy. Buying groceries, gasoline, lunch, or magazines every week teaches us pretty quickly what is the best and what's the worst of any given product. But, whenever were faced with the task of buying something once every few years or so the rules change.
Now were forced to rely on the advice of so called experts. The first product that comes to mind like this for most people, is cars. It's a big ticket item, we only get one every few years so we're not always sure what to look for when making a purchase. Hence, entering the picture, we get consumer reports, product reviews, and salesman.
Another product that falls into this type of category, is digital cameras. Digital cameras, are something we all have, and something that we only shop for once in a blue moon. Compound this with the radical change in technology and features that digital cameras exhibit, it's no wonder the average consumer feels like a babe in the woods when shopping for a camera.
The good news, is there really isn't much too worry about. There has been so much money and interest thrown at the digital camera industry in the last few years the it really has evolved into almost a commodity market. What I mean by that, is that for the most part the quality and reliability of most digital cameras is pretty common across a give price range regardless of manufacturer. Still sound confusing? How about this explanation . . . no matter what camera you buy, your chances are pretty darn good of getting a great product.
The technology is pretty stable (at least for essential features), and the competition has been and continues to be fierce amongst manufacturers. That's great for consumers. Manufactures have had to continuously roll out more and better features while slashing prices at the same time. You should have now problem getting a great camera for your money.
Couple that, with the fact that comparison shopping is sooooo easy on the internet. There are numerous tools out there to compare prices and features, it really is a shoppers marketplace. Any camera you can possibly imagine is available for sale online. Prices are good, shipping is getting cheaper, and customer service is improving every day. All you need to know is make a decision, and start taking some great pictures.
There are many different models and types of digital cameras available just as there are lots of different styles and skill levels of photography. Which digital camera you choose will often depend on what your individual needs are. If you want near professional results and lots of creative control over the photos that you take, then a digital single lens reflex camera can be what you need. But for most people, the choice of a compact or subcompact digital camera would be just fine. Here are some guidelines for choosing digital cameras:
Compact digital cameras are the most popular and common of the camera types. It's still small enough to be very portable and is usually very easy to use with lots of automatic exposure features that produce great overall photos. Some can even have a few manual exposure controls too to help the photographer take charge of the image produced under certain circumstances.
The subcompact camera is even smaller than the compact and because of their small size can be put in a pocket or purse and taken almost anywhere, making them the most portable of all digital cameras. However, you also usually pay more for the smaller size, and will often have even less manual controls over exposure results than the compact cameras. You also have to be careful that the camera is not so small that it actually becomes hard to use.
The advanced digital camera is a step between the compact camera and a digital single lens reflex like that used by serious photography hobbyists and pros. It is larger in size and weight than the compacts and has a fixed lens, but also sports more advanced manual exposure controls and the ability to save in more and better file formats than just JPEG.
With that in mind, we have analyzed lots of independent reviews on digital cameras and have noticed a few models that seem to get universal acceptance and recommendation. Here are those models:
In the compact digital camera category the Fuji FinePix F10, the Canon PowerShot A510, the Kodak EasyShare Z700, and the Olympus Stylus 800 seem to consistently rank very well for their style, ease of use, price, and features. In the subcompact category the Kodak EasyShare V550, the Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital ELPH, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-L1, and the Pentax Optio SV were consistently rated at or near the top of most unbiased independant and consumer reviews.
It's also noteworthy to mention that many reviewers felt that the gap between the best and poorest performing models has narrowed considerably and most cameras that were tested produced acceptable snapshot results overall. But the models mentioned above were often regarded as the cream of the crop and so would make the smartest consumer choices as the best rated digital cameras.
Both Chris Campbell & Jim Johnson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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