I am starting to look into buy a digital camera. I have very little knowledge of them. i have been doing some research on them. I did a search here for digital camera's. But i still have a few questions. My main purpose for the camera is: To take indoor shots of my layout, during construction phases, to completion. Take pictures outside of my weathered rolling stock.( better lighting, i guess). Main purpose will be on my layout. So i really don't want to spend a arm and a leg for it. Here are some of my questions. What is the most important thing to look for? Will it be, how many woo woo woo's it has? How many megapixel? How many Optical/Digital zoom? Or will a basic digital camera work for my purpose ? Thanks for all your help, CAS
CAS, What is the most important thing to look for? For the purpose you described, you'll need one with good macro capabilities. Look at Nikon's Coolpix line as they have the best macros around. Will it be, how many woo woo woo's it has? This is a moot question as you can buy as big of a memory card as you want. Memory cards are cheap these days. Stick with the more popular formats like SD or compactflash. How many megapixel? Now a days don't settle for anything less than 5 MP. Don't get pulled into the MP game as more may not necessarily mean better. More means more potential noise (e.g., dark areas not "clean") and bigger file size. You may have to end up upgrading your PC! How many Optical/Digital zoom? Definitely optical. Digital zoom is useless. Don't even use this feature. The more optical zoom the better. "Standard" with most manufacturer is 3x. Or will a basic digital camera work for my purpose ? Get something with manual controls in situations where your layout may have tricky lighting. Don't get one that has auto everything. From the description you wrote I don't suggest a DSLR even though they are the rage these days.
http://www.dpreview.com/ I'd start with DP Review. It's a photo website sponsored by Cnet. Some reviews depend on brand. 1) Price range is important. DP Review will give you an good picture, from the new Nikon/Canon DSLR or Kodak/Sony ZLR to a snapshooter. 2) MP is oversold. A 6MP with a great lens can produce good results. Depends on how pictures will be used/display. A 2MP could be fine for screen shots. Big prints will require more MP. Lens quality is more important then MP check out Nikon/Pentax DSLR's. 3) Optical zoom is more important than digital. Hand holding in dim light/high zoom gets harder. AF gets more difficult in low light. A tripod or flash helps with this. 4) Check out Kodak Z612 Z712IS "zoom" cameras. For $200-300. you get 6-7mp, a 12x zoom (34-400mm), and IS. Good cameras to grow with. You can get good photos out of the box, then learn which settings work best. Very popular for normal photos. Take a day off, shoot anything to see how the camera responds. 5) Be careful what your PC can run. There are many good free programs to try, or use older cheaper versions. It's your camera! 6) Along with memory cards, be careful what kind of battery & charger options you have. A nifty device is a card reader to transfer pictures from camera to computer without using the camera.
MK and Glenn have pretty much covered the important points. I'd re-emphasize: don't get caught up in the megapixel race. You can have 8 million bad ones or 6 million good ones, and the 6 million one will win every time. The quality of the lens is more important than anything else. dpreview is a very good research site--I'm there all the time.
