Digital Photography Contents
Remember though, the bigger the megapixel facility your camera has, the more space it will take up on your memory card - hence you will need more cards. Also bear in mind that when you download shots onto your computer, the more space they will take up too.
So don’t automatically go for the largest megapixel value unless you really want to produce large prints or want to sell your work. In fact for average home photography a four to five Megapixel camera will be excellent.
Lens
No matter how many Megapixels your camera has it will not perform well without a good quality lens made by a recognised manufacturer. Stick to one of the major marques and check the lens performance in a photo magazine before buying.
Zoom
You will need a zoom facility to allow you to get close in to subjects or move them further away. So a minimum of a 3 x zoom is recommended for most general work. Make sure this is an optical value rather than a digital one though.
An optical zoom magnifies the image before the image is captured. A digital zoom on the other hand simply cuts away the edge of the image and enlarges the section in the middle. This has the effect of magnifying the pixels at the same time, resulting in poorer image quality.
In fact it is best to completely disregard the digital zoom claims altogether and just go by the optical zoom facility only.