I am no professional photographer by any means, but I am someone who loves to use her digital camera on vacations, around family, friends…
And I don’t like fiddling with buttons or settings and I just want it to WORK.
If that sounds like your kind of review (I won’t be talking about fancy ISO or aperture settings), then proceed ahead!
These are all the things I look for in a digital camera, in the category of what they call “Point & Shoot”, meaning you point the camera at something and press the button to shoot the picture.
Here’s the rough rundown of what I am going to cover:
- Weight & Size of camera
- Memory Card format & compatibility with your laptop
- Scene Settings for getting the best picture
- Optical Zoom to really zoom in on an object
- Video capabilities
- Size of digital viewfinder to avoid squinting through the peephole
- Batteries used and its charging process
- Ease of use for zooming and adjusting settings
- Menu layout accesibility
How heavy and compact is it?
What you’re looking for is a Point & Shoot Camera.
Mine is a fair weight, and is pretty small. Enough to put in a pocket and go.
It is nowhere as slim as my old Fujifilm Finepix camera, but considering the other features and how easy it is to point and shoot.
Generally speaking, the more features a point and shoot camera has, the bigger and heavier it is likely to be.
This is where you have to bring in your own personal judgment and preferences.
Do you want a small, in your pocket compact camera that is light? Then you might want to look at 4X optical zooms or smaller, but you won’t be able to take beautiful pictures as with a heavier, bulkier camera.
For me, I like something that can fit in my hands, and isn’t SO thin that it looks like a card (those cameras have no zoom whatsoever worth speaking of), and can be held STEADY.
I have small girl hands, but even I have found that the smaller the camera for me, the shakier the picture gets. The heavier the camera, the easier it is to hold, point and shoot. It’s just my preference.
I’d rather have something substantial with features, than something super thin sleek and sexy (a lot of Sony cameras are like this — too sexy without any real features put into it for the price you are paying).
What kind of memory card does it take?
Don’t buy digital cameras with XD memory cards. Bla bla bla, it’s better… but let’s think along the line of practicality.
Almost every single laptop takes SD cards directly into the machine without any extra gadgets.
It’s incredibly handy to just be able to pop out the memory card and insert it into almost any new laptop on the market today to grab all the photos. Even my HP Mini 1000 netbook has a spot for SD cards.
In fact, it was a big selling point for me to get rid of my old Fujifilm Finepix camera because it had an XD card, and to pick up my now beloved Canon Elph 880 Powershot camera that has an SD card.
What size of memory card can the camera handle?
This may not be a big problem for you if you are buying a brand new digital camera. But if you are going to buy one used, I’d suggest Googling or asking the manufacturer what the camera can handle as its maximum.
The reason why I am saying this, is because BF’s HP Photosmart Camera that he bought 6 years ago, only takes up to a maximum of 2GB on his SD card.
In contrast, my Canon Elph 880 Powershot camera, takes up to 8GB and possibly more — I haven’t tried.
Having lots of memory, especially if you are a photographing hog like me, is crucial. I also like to take videos and multiple shots of the same thing.
Granted, I’ve never run out of space on an 8GB card yet, but if you are forgetful like me, you will forget to unload your pictures one night, and curse that your card is only 2GB.
Alternatively, you can just buy a second 8GB SD card as a backup, which is what I did.
How many scene settings are there and how easy are they to use?
I know I said I wasn’t going to get technical, but I had little to NO settings on my Fujifilm Finepix camera to allow me to switch between different scene settings like Beach, Aquarium, Indoor, Outdoor, Kids & Pets (fast action), etc.
You’d be surprised at what a big difference it makes to switch to a different setting based on where you’re taking pictures.
A Beach setting on a digital camera for example, will automatically account for super bright sun, high contrast colours, and do all the fancy technical work that old school photographers used to have to manually adjust.
And for Kids or Pets, the aperture speed will be much quicker, to allow you to capture a kid’s motions clearly rather than just seeing a blur.
Look for USEFUL scene settings that you are going to use. There’s no need to have 50 settings with options for Candlelight or Nighttime Landscape, if you only use maybe 5-10.
It is also important to be able to switch between the settings easily.
On my Canon Elph 880 Powershot camera, I am able to rotate between little icons of each of my settings VERY easily, click on the link to check out the review & see shots.
This saves me the time of having to press a button and then scroll through the 10 – 15 options of scenes, one by one, having to read the titles of each scene I could choose.
You’d be surprised how fast a minute or two goes by, and then the shot is finished — either the wildlife disappears into the forest, or the sun sets completely.
What is the OPTICAL zoom on the camera?
Ignore it when salespeople gush about digital zoom. That is just like going into Photoshop and increasing the size of the photo to “zoom” in. It turns out grainy, blurry, pixel-y and is not a REAL zoom feature to focus in on a part of a picture.
What you want to look for is the OPTICAL zoom. That’s when the camera has a little lens that physically sticks out, and zooms in on the object.
My Canon Elph 880 Powershot camera has an optical zoom of 4. And that’s pretty good for all the other features I got.
If you can get any higher, kudos, but more than likely, you’re going to pay more, or the camera will be heavier or bigger because it needs to have an extra retractable lens put in the camera to allow such a zoom.
The exception was BF’s HP Photosmart camera. It has an optical zoom of 8. It was UNBELIEVABLE. His camera is was really fantastic for close up shots from far away, but that was the only selling point of the camera.
It sucked for everything else.
How easy is it to zoom in and out?
On my Canon Elph 880 Powershot camera, I have a little wheel at the top that allows me to quickly zoom in and out with one finger instead of having to press buttons on the side.
I just put my finger on the little tip of the wheel, and if I pull the wheel to the left, it zooms in and when I switch the wheel to the right, it zooms out, all while looking through the viewfinder and not concentrating on another part of the camera. Very simple.
In contrast, my old Fujifilm Finepix camera and BF’s (now dead) HP Photosmart camera needed me to look at the back of camera and to adjust the zoom functions by pressing on a left or right button.
Kind of annoying, and not as quick as a wheel zoom.
Does it have video? Do you care?
This wasn’t a selling point for me. I don’t really care to take videos with cameras.. I mean, it’s interesting to do so, but when have I ever really shown videos to my family? Like never.
Still it’s a feature that seems to come with all modern digital cameras these days.
And if you want to do a hybrid two-in-one camcorder & digital camera, then this may be more important to you.
How big is the digital viewfinder?
The screen.
How big is the screen?
If it’s too small for you to see anything or the way you are positioning the camera, then you may want to think about buying one with a larger screen.
Mine has a 3″ screen which is GREAT. It’s big & clear enough to see what you’re taking.
Many people think that just looking through that little peephole is enough, but once you go with a picture viewfinder, you will NEVER want to squint through a little peephole and cause wrinkles ever again.
I love being able to hold out my camera, to see the picture before it’s being taken, and snap a shot.
In older or other cameras, a little peephole was necessary to see how the picture was being taken, but that has since become obsolete technology for me.
What batteries does it take?
Hopefully not AAA or AA batteries.
Ancient history!
Those can be handy in the sense that you just need to carry extra batteries to pop in new power, but for me it’s annoying to have to deal with 2 or 3 batteries just to charge your camera.
And it’s wasteful if you don’t use rechargeable AAA or AA batteries.
Enter the Li-ion batteries, or Lithium ion batteries. Fancy way of saying, it’s a battery pack that is rechargeable. You pop it into a charger, and into a wall… and it charges. Simple as that.
And I have 2 Li-ion batteries so that in case one dies, I have the other.
How does it charge?
This is a big deal.
I hate cameras that come with docking stations that not only let you unload the photos, but are NECESSARY to charging up a battery.
I mean, I couldn’t even pop out the battery in my old Fujifilm Finepix camera to put in a battery charger or charge in some other way. I had to literally dock the camera in the station and charge it that way. SO annoying.
On my Canon Elph 880 Powershot camera, I just take out the battery, put it into a separate battery charger and plug it into the wall. When the light turns green, it’s charged.
I also have an extra battery charged in case the power runs out (happens more often than you think, especially if you forget to charge it the night before).
FYI: If you are going to buy new Li-ion batteries, you MUST KNOW THE CODE of the battery.
Not all Li-ion batteries are made or work the same. They have different levels of voltage and you don’t want to buy something that won’t fit in your compact camera because it was made for a larger one.
My camera takes NB-5L Batteries. If I want to buy a third Li-ion rechargeable battery, I go out and look for that code.
Is the menu easy to navigate?
How easy is it to delete pictures? To change settings?
Do you feel comfortable with the buttons, moving from one area to another?
That pretty much does it. All you need to know about buying a camera.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
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I've got a Canon P&S (an Elph, 1200 something I think) and a Nikon dSLR.
Sowwie FB, I love love love my dSLR. 😉 I'm also the crazy nut who carries a tiny backpack with said dSLR, planning to take it everywhere and snap one picture a day for 2010. (11 days in and so far, so good.)
For most people, P&S is definitely good enough. I know my Canon does excellent macro photography, and you even get some of the blur I can easily achieve with my SLR; it was my first P&S that would do that. But, if you're crazy like me and can sacrifice or inconvenience yourself or just enjoy the heck outta photography, an SLR is the most fun toy ever. 😛
I think you just about covered everything – except the megapixels.
The max number of MPs required for a decent 8×10 enlargement (given the photo was taken on optical zoom and not digital) is 8MP. That's what one of my SLRs runs with.
Something else to consider when purchasing a camera are things like a timer and tripod screw. I would also suggest that the camera has a optical viewfinder; sometimes those digital screens take up a lot of battery power!
Final note, how durable is it? When considering the purchase price of a new camera, you've got to take into account the quality of the body. Plastic coverings on the card/battery slot? If they snap, it'll be easier for the camera to get dirty inside. Just a thought.
Great post though. Thanks for sharing!
I think it's imperative to have a good memory card and extra battery too! Great guide here!
oh my gosh this is fabulous!!!!
Great post! I just purchased a digicam for my mom and had to do some research for her since her needs and mine are completely different. One thing that I am going to suggest she do is read the manual. So many people don't read it and then wonder why their camera isn't doing what it said it would.
Just after I bought my camera, image stabalization became pretty popular. If I were to replace my P&S, I'd look for that as a feature (helps for those of us w/out a steady hand!)
Other than that, you covered it.
Good guide! I have an elph too and LOVE it. Best camera I've ever had, just wish I got a different colour than the plain blue I have, but ah well. The thing I like about it that is different from a lot of other cameras is the setting where you can pick out one colour in a scene and have everything else black and white! So it would only pick out the blues in the scene, or the greens, pinks, etc depending on what you chose, makes for some fancy pics. Although you can also do this on photoshop, it's way easier on the camera.
Otherwise, good points overall. I don't know much about digital cameras, but I'd avoid Sony anything. They really haven't done much good since their innovative days of the Walkman & Discman. Just check out reviews for their laptop, Vaio.
Canons are a safe bet for user-ability and quality. I haven't heard much or checked out Samsung, but they have a model with an extra-wide viewer because it's touchscreen, so no buttons to take space! And it apparently has a screen on the front so you can see yourself better for self-shots. That is a game-changer in my opinion folks. Expect Canon to match that in the next year or two.
As for a video function, it may not be too important, but could be useful in more intimate settings. *wink, wink* 😀
I'm so glad you didn't say anything about MegaPixels. People always want the BIGGEST MP camera out there. Guess what? They don't matter unless you plan on blowing the picture up to like ginormous – which most of us don't do.
Just from prior experience, I like to buy lots of 2G memory cards now rather than one big one. I was taking pictures with my giant card – and it corrupted – losing EVERYTHING. So I like to take some pics, switch it out for another day and take more pics so I don't lose anything.
Shutter lag time. I've had t on of great little digital camera with terrible shutter lag. Unfortunate.
FB, you did leave something out – actually critical in a non-critical way. That is MegaPixels because obviously it can be quite varied. It seems critical, but this is where the non-critical part comes in (in my opinion anyways). The average person, even if they are somewhere between novice and pro, doesn't really need more than 2 or 4 megapixels (I forget the number that produces 5×7). Anything above that is good if you're planning on blowing up prints, but be cautious of salespeople using that as a selling point, because new cameras these days are way beyond what the typical consumer will need for prints. Bigger is not always better. I'd rather take a 4 MP camera with a superfast processing chip, than a 10 MP with an average chip.
I luvs my camera 🙂 I have a Canon S5IS one of those they call "Prosumer" types, it looks like a full SLR but the lens doesnt actually detach. With an adapter you can add filters and wide angle, telephoto and other lenses to the end though but a fairly limited selection. The newer models do not have that capability so I'm sticking with mine.
I'll disagree with you there on the batteries. I went with Canon specifically because it takes AAs. We travel a lot and camp, hike, backpack, and other outdoorsy things in remote areas and if your special batteries run out thats it. But you can find AAs in just about any gas station or mini convenience store. I've done the special format batteries in other devices and been burned, not again. Also all batteries have come a long way, I prefer to use the Energizer Lithium Blue kind in my cameras, they last forever. I can get 5-600 pics with my giant behemouth camera out of them, more if spaced out over several days.
Also the lithiums dont short internally and hold a charge during non use much longer than the other kinds, so great for flashlights and such that you dont use very often. Oh did I mention weight? 4 of those vs 4 regulars makes my camera feel 1/2 lb lighter lol
The multiple preprogrammed settings all cameras have now are very nice and really make a difference. However, nobody's ever going to use most of them, so dont be swayed by which has more settings. I've taken 10's of 1000's of pictures the last two years over our travels and about all I ever used were stitch assist for panoramic shots, portrait, face detect, landscape and night which is awesome indoors and to not need a flash to conserve bat life, see above. The other settings come in handy in specific situations but I rarely use them, when you start getting that picky and into photography then you start just using the manual and custom settings anyway.
Completely ignore the digital zoom numbers, useless! My cell phone takes less grainy photos when you start getting into the digital zoom.
Digital stabilization, however, is a godsend. It'll allow you to take much clearer photos without a tripod, very important in a point and shoot. Turn it off and see how much blurry they come out and you'll see 🙂
I love that my camera has a regular view finder that I can use instead of the LCD screen, it uses much less power with that than powering a mini TV all the time. Also the screen flips over to protect it or can fold out to the side like a cam corder, very useful for timed self portrait or group shots. On the other hand, its just too big and bulky to carry around all the time and much of the time I end up just using my girlfriends $100 point and shoot Canon rather than digging mine out of its bag.
My camera: $500 list price when I got it (or mispriced at $325 on amazon for me) my girlfriends camera: $95. Hers has almost all the same features as mine without the zoom, viewfinder and lens. Hers has fewer buttons so getting to things takes more navigating menus to find but 90% of the scene settings are there if you need them, just saying 🙂 And its small enough to fit in your pocket or purse to take with you everywhere, mine requires a camera bag or backpack.
So for every day things get a small point and shoot, for most people its what you'll use most of the time anyway. If you get into this expensive hobby then get some beefier equipment but you'll still like having that small convenient point and shoot around. I cant tell you how many times I've said I wish I had my camera right now for some amazing sunset or classic car I see on the way home from work, but my big one is too bulky to carry all the time. If I had a small point and shoot I could have gotten the shot, not quite as good but better than nothing at all.