Megapixels, Zooms and common points explained
The Digital Camera market has expanded vastly in recent years with cameras available with impressive features for less than £100. There are many makes and models available which can confuse people the main things to think about are listed below.
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How many Megapixels do you need?
As a general rule the more Megapixels the camera's sensor has, the more detailed image can be produced. For general everyday use including holiday pictures a camera with 2 Megapixels would be the minimum. This will produce good quality printouts of 4 x 6". For anything larger you should aim for a camera with 3-4 Megapixels for larger prints.
You shouldn't need to worry too much about pixel ratings as cameras have become more advanced and the lowest camera on retail now typically exceeds a resolution in excess of 3 Megapixels.
Zooms
Digital Cameras have two types of Zoom available the first is Optical Zoom which has a lens which physically moves and to view the image. These now feature on most cameras and come with 3x or higher as standard which gives you more magnification of your subject.
The second type is digital zoom which uses the software within the camera unit to zoom, in essence it crops to the centre of the picture. As a recommendation we would suggest considering a camera with an Optical Zoom as this provides greater magnification whilst retaining image quality.
Common Features
Digital cameras always feature pre-set picture modes for standard, portraits, and night shots. 'Macro' mode is used for close-up photography, usually this is selected by choosing the flower symbol opposed to the mountain symbol somewhere on the unit.
Movie modes are sometimes included and some also include audio these can be useful, although the quality is still poor compard against a basic camcorder. Iif you are looking choose the one offering the most frames per second (fps) as this will result in better image quality.
