Compact Brilliance
Finally, if all you want from life (at least in terms of cameras) is
a no-frills simple-to-use digital camera that takes sharp, nicely
exposed photos and weighs less than a hamburger, there are legions of
compacts waiting to win your heart. While many of these cameras were
trapped in the 2-megapixel zone at the outset, today five megapixel
cameras are considered an entry point and I'm guessing that by the end
of 2007 the entry point will be eight megapixels and even 10 will be
pretty common. You'll be making 20 x 40-inch prints from a 10 MP
point-and-shoot camera!
The
beauty of compact (OK, we can call them point-and-shoot) cameras is
that you can take them anywhere--and that is a real advantage. You
can't take any pictures if your camera is home in a shoulder bag or
back in the hotel room while your shoudler recovers from carrying too
much gear. I love having a pocket-sized camera with me when I travel
because I take it into restaurants, museums, friends apartments--places
that I would probably not haul an SLR.
Probably the first big when you start to shop for point-and-shoots is just how much these small wonders
have in common with cameras costing (and weighing) several times as much. All
compacts, for example, have excellent auto focus, good quality light
meters, both optical and LCD viewfinders, built-in flash, have macro
settings and most offer at least minimal white balance control. And
because their sensors are so small and their lenses so short they
provide extraordinary depth of field and super-close focusing ability. And I mean REALLY good close-up ability--like an inch or less away!
You will, of course, have to brave the world with considerably less
control over metering and exposure: while you might get a choice of a
few subject modes, you will rarely have no user-selectable options,
such as aperture or shutter priority modes or exposure bracketing. That
said, I will probably have to eat those words fairly soon: advanced
metering options have been drifting down and quickly to less expensive
cameras.
Also, in terms of flash, most compacts will not have a hot shoe, which eliminates the possibility of
adding an accessory flash.
And so...
I
hope that this look at camera types and styles has helped you identify
the type of camera you're after. Price is, of course, a major factor
for most people and you'll love the camera more if you have enough
money left over to do fun things like eat or put gas in the car after
you've bought it--so keep price in mind, too. The one final bit of
advice I will offer though is that you should buy as much camera as you
can afford--it's easy to turn features off or ignore them if you don't
need them right away, but you can't glue them back on later if you buy
a lesser camera.
Where
to buy? Local shops (if you're lucky enough to have one nearby) are
great because you'll get personal service and have someone to talk to
face-to-face if you have questions. You can, however, save substantial
bucks by shopping online and you get to avoid lines. I have a new
personalized online shop Jeff's Digital Camera Shop on Amazon
that will provide the latest prices and info on virtually all brands of
digital camera. If you click "add to cart" for any item you'll get the
latest discount prices (and no, it doesn't mean you have to buy the
camera!).
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