Digital Cameras
Compact digital cameras are coat-pocket sized and
bar-of-soap shaped; their go-anywhere siblings, subcompacts,
are shirt-pocket or credit-card sized. Most
of these are point-and-shoot autofocus cameras that
also offer settings called scene modes—portrait,
night scene, sunny beach, and so on. Many of these
models take a step toward 35mm-style creative
control with aperture and shutter priority, exposure
bracketing, and white-balance settings. Pricey digital
SLRs stand alone for full manual control, interchangeable
lenses, and other expert features.
Similarly, many innovations mostly help with
consumer snapshots: Face-priority autofocus in some
Nikons detects and focuses on a human face. Several
models improve flash shots with red-eye fix—a sort
of automated color correction. Some features, such
as the Casio Exilim EX-S500’s or Konica Minolta
Dimage X1’s antishake technology, which helps stabilize
images, are welcomed by professionals as well.
Battery life remains the bane of digital cameras.
Newer models are much improved, managing a couple
hundred shots before needing a recharge or fresh
batteries. LCD screens, often used as viewfinders as
well as for image review, can still be hard to see in
bright sunlight. But cameras with these features have
earned a permanent place in any imaging toolkit, and
they’re getting better and more affordable every day.
SIDEBAR: Before you buy
1. The digital camera
spec that shoppers
obsess about most is
resolution in megapixels—
maximum
image size, which is
important but not synonymous
with image
quality. As costs have
come down, even
budget buyers can
choose among 4- or
5-megapixel models—
generally acceptable
for making 8 x 10-inch
prints. Then again,
if you’re shooting
images for use on the
web, even 1 megapixel
can be overkill.
2. Serious shutterbugs
can opt for 7-, 8-, or
even 16-megapixel
cameras, whose huge
image files mean you
will need to buy a
high-capacity flashmemory
card. (No
matter how much you
spend on a camera, it
won’t come with sufficient image storage as
standard equipment,
especially if it lets you
save images in TIFF or
RAW format—for later
processing—in addition
to the usual compressed
JPEG.)
3. The specification
that shoppers should
ignore is so-called
digital zoom, which
merely makes a fake,
pixelated enlargement
of the center of
an image. Insist on a
genuine optical zoom
lens—3X or 4X is typical,
with even some
compact cameras now
joining high-end digital
SLRs in offering
10X or 12X zoom.
• Read the Complete 2006 Digital Camera Buyers Guide
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