Greeting fellow travelers�.

If you are reading this post, you are more than likely looking at purchasing a digital camera. However, you have some questions or confusions about those darn digital cameras. Well, I�m going to try to shed some light on choosing a digital camera. I have answered some of these points in different post but a few of you asked if I could summarize them into 1 post so it is easy to read. I will try to explain basic features, pros and cons, handling images and needed equipment.

At first, I will try to focus on the following issues. If you want/need other issues addressed, post a note and I will see what I can come up with.

Subjects I will touch on:
#1 Digital Camera vs. Digital Camcorders
#2 Choosing a Digital Camera
a) Picture Quality
b) Image Storage
c) Lenses
d) Zooming
e) Batteries
#3 Printing Pictures
#4 Emailing Pictures

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But before I begin, I�m sure you are thinking, �Who is this guy? What kind of background does he have? I wonder what camera company he works for?� All legitimate questions. First, my real name is Scott but you will see me post under the name �IrishBuddha� (yes, if you knew me, that would make sense). I�ve been lurking and responding lightly to post for about a year. As for my background, I do not work for any camera company, or any company that builds, designs, markets or sales cameras or camera accessories. I was formally trained as an Elementary School Teacher. However, through some twist of fate, I was allowed to teach people about one of my favorite toys � computers. So I formally became a Certified Computer Trainer teaching people everything they need to know about computers. (Yes, I�m one of those geeks who have more letters after his name than are in the English alphabet.) As for why am I posting this, I have some experience in dealing with camera (both SLR and digital) and because people seem to be thoroughly confused on the issue of digital cameras. Hopefully I can shed some light on the subject.

irishBuddha (Scott)

First, Issue #1 - Digital Camecorders vs. Digital Cameras

So, do you buy a Digital Camcorder or a Digital Camera? This first thing to consider is cost. Digital cameras can be found for a low as $50.00 and up to $3000+. Digital Camcorder can be found from $200 - $3000+. So first of all, which can you afford? Digital �whatever� is going to cost you a fair amount of money (Trust me, I hear about it every time I buy a new electronic device � or as my wife calls them �Toys�). The more features and �Advanced Options� the device has, the more the price increases. Let�s assume you can afford either choice. Then the next thing to consider is � Do you want something mainly to make home movies with an occasional still picture or do you want something mainly to take still pictures with an occasional movie? Simple question but you have to answer it. Most digital camcorders are excellent at taking home movies. Given the right equipment and software, you can take those home movies, splice them together and transfer them to VHS or CD�s so the entire family can share them. But when they come to taking still images, let�s just say most of the ones you will find today are not in forefront of digital still images. From the digital camcorders I have played with, the still image you get have the quality of a low end digital camera. In other words, the pictures are good to email but bad to print out. Digital cameras are just the opposite. Digital cameras are at the forefront of digital still images (expected since that is their main job) so depending on the camera, you could expect to print out pictures that look as good as pictures you developed at you local photo-lab. Since digital cameras main focus is still images, those cameras that offer �movie capabilities� are not designed to be use to film the next Matrix movie. Often time, these �movie capable� cameras lack the extra features to steady the picture or provide a high enough �frames-per-second� to provide smooth movies. So you have to decide� Do you want something mainly to make home movies with an occasional still picture or do you want something mainly to take still pictures with an occasional movie? The choice is yours. From this point forward, I am assuming that you have chosen a digital camera rather than a digital camcorder.

Scott,

Thanks for all of the useful information.....

Gloria

Scott

Thanks for the info and time you gave me on the other thread and for starting this thread. The subjects that you will touch on cover all my questions but I have a particular interest over optical/digital zoom.

Sales staff have not adequately answered my questions on this, or perhaps I have not understood. In terms of digital camcorders it seems that the optical zoom is now only 10X whereas previously they were 25X. A feature I considered important. So a simple question, though not a simple answer, is: would a 10X optical/700X digital bring images closer than a 25X optical?

In terms of still cameras, I have seen combinations like 2X optical/3X digital and 3X optical/2X digital.

Hello Glasgow,

Image sizing is definitely one of the major issues people have to overcome. So important in fact, I will do a post specifically talking about dealing with resizing and printing later. For the average user, when they take a digital picture it is at the best possible resolution. Exactly what they should do if they are looking to outstanding prints. But that also means these pictures are quite large, both file size and print size. My camera will take pictures that are equivalent to 22x33� prints. A bit to big me to print. Places like Ritz Camera�s have a special program that allows you just to point to the files and POOF, they are the right size. Now for most people, they will need some type of software to do this. People have tried programs like Paint (part of the Windows OS) with no success (Paint will crop the image to the specified size, not actually resize it). That�s because you need a Photo Editing program. But before you buy one, make sure you don�t already have one. Some programs suites, like certain versions of Microsoft Office, come with a photo editing program. There are just too many to list all of the possible names, you will have to do some looking on your own computer.

Assuming you did not find anything, you will need to now find a program. You can try searching places like http://www.downloads.com or http://www.tucows.com for a Free Photo Editor. There are tons of them out there. You�ll have to find one that you like. Personally, I use a program called Adobe PhotoShop. This is more of a commercial application than a home user application. Now I don�t expect, nor suggest, that you purchase this program � the cost is way too high. It is just what I use. For home users, I really like a program called PaintShop Pro. Fairly inexpensive when it comes to photo editors ($30.00 US at http://www.jasc.com) and has many of the feature of the more expensive PhotoShop. Basically you can open your photos in this program, change the size to whatever you need (3x5, 5x7, etc.) then save the smaller sized photo. You will have to play with the settings in the program as every time you reduce the size of the picture, you will lose some of the quality. This can be kept to a minimum if you are willing manipulate the settings. Once the picture is resized to the right size, you can import them into any program that accepts pictures (Word, WordPerfect, Paint, PowerPoint, etc) and print them out. I�ll talk more lately about printing � paper, printer types, etc � at a later date.

Another possible way is to simply import the photos into any program that will allow you to resize them (Word, WordPerfect, Paint, PowerPoint, etc). The problem with this is that you will lose more quality in the picture this way. However, it is the easiest way. I know, not much in specifics, but when you get a program, I can be of better assistance. If need be, I can post my email so you can send messages directly to me or continue posting.

Hello SirFog,

Ah, yet another important issue to discuss (ah� good students, always 1 step ahead of the instructor :-) ). I will go into more detail later, but I will try to summarize it now. When it comes to Optical versus Digital Zoom, Optical wins hands down! Basically, when you use Digital Zoom, it will deteriorate the image. What happens is the cameras �brain� uses software and mathematical algorithms to interpret what should be there. When it does this, you tend to get pictures that are �pixilated� � the images look kind of chunky and blocky rather than nice and smooth (In other words, it looks like the picture was made using bricks rather than tiny dots). Now, if quality is not a concern and you really want the far away shot, then use the Digital Zoom. You�ll be hard pressed to find a camcorder that has a 700X Optical Zoom � but wouldn�t that be so nice :-). As far as cameras are concerned, higher end camera can do up to about 10X Optical and 10-20X Digital. But remember, better options usually mean higher costs. So the higher Optical Zooms are preferred, but maybe not affordable.

I hope this helps both of you. Let me know if I can be of any other assistance.

IrishBuddha (Scott)

Irishbuddha:

Photoshop is telling you that your prints are 22X33 because your camera tells it that the printing specs are 72 dots per inch. My guess is that your printer will report an error if you try to print at that definition. Usually 150 dpi is what you want to print at.

There is a great shareware program out there called Qimage that reads your print driver to find out what the printer wants for dpi and "downsizes" the file to that spec. Once you set the print size, it makes a further adjustment.

Most photo paper is sold in 4X6 or 81/2x11 (and similar "A" sizes). What if you want 5X7 or or wallets? Qimage lays them out on 81/2X11 paper or whatever paper size your using. I pay about 55 cents (US) per sheet, so 5X7s cost me 28 cents and 3 4X6 19 cents each.

If you are going to print photos at home, you should have the software ($39.95/no charge upgrades).

Photoshop Elements is a good alternative to Photoshop for about US$80. I use Corel PhotoPaint because that's what I started with but most of the world seems to use some form of Photoshop.

Glenn

We recently bought a digital camera for our trip in March. Having a dickens of a time trying to decide if a 512 compact flash card will be enough memory to take along. Not sure what resolution to use to get great 5x7 size prints. Bought the 5050 Olympus digital and has been a huge learning curve for us.
Are there places in Europe to download these cards to a CD at a reasonable price?

I highly recommend that you practice shooting with your new camera as quick as possible. You may find that batteries are more limiting than storage. With 64 Meg storage cards, I shot a 10 day trip in Italy in sufficient quality that I could have printed any of them. I made CDs and sent them to all the people on our tour. I used 5 cards with about 84 pictures on each. It was nice to look and delete bad pictures instead of wasting storage space. I have a portable hard drive I could use to store more pictures than I could ever take, but don't plan to take it with me. I would plan on 800k or so per picture to get decent quality when you are done. For my next trip, I plan to buy a couple of 128 Meg cards in addition to the 5 64s I already have. Hope this helps some.

Thank you for your post on digital cameras.
What setting would produce a 800k picture? I have about 8 options, settings. I think 800k is going to be in the SHQ setting range.
Will study more today.
Thanks again,

I figured out the size of my photo files by trial and error. It also gives you a chance to see if you like the quality you are getting on a different setting. That's the nice thing about digitals. You can sit down and shoot the same object on multiple settings. Download them to your computer, look at them and see what you like best then decide. I have a portable hard drive specifically for photos but probably won't take it on our trip as luggage space is a premium.

Another factor for playing with the camera, is you want to be familiar when you get to your first big sight. You don't want to be learning and possibly miss what you wanted to save. Happy traveling and happy memories.