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Digital Cameras Explained - Page 1 of 2

 

Every day i read so much rubish about Digital Cameras . Customers come into our shops telling us what they have been advised to buy from shops such as Currys , Jessops , & other national based retail shops ... for the most part they are advised to buy cameras that are far too advanced or much to highly specified for the requirements of the customer . Many of the decent quality 7 or 8 million pixel cameras now available will give superb results at up to 14x11 size & above - we can show pictures taken by us to prove this . What all this means is that you are often bieng advised to buy a far more expensive camera than you need .

In order to buy a Digital Camera we believe it is right for our customers to have some basic understanding of them which is why we produce our " GUIDE TO DIGITAL IMAGING " 16 page mini booklet . The first 5 pages of this booklet give you all the facts & a basic understanding of what Digital Cameras do ... these pages are shown below & on the next page - click on the black buttons to the right to go to them .  If you would like a mini booklet which also contains my own personal tests on many current cameras ( over 25 ) then please iether call into any of our shops or go to the "ASK US INFORMATION " page on this web site .
 
BASIC GUIDE OF WHAT TO BUY ...
  • If you are looking for a camera for a child or very basic home use please have a look at our first Recomended Camera - click here to go directly to the page . You may not need an optical zoom & just need a basic little camera to take pictures to around 7x5 size - easy to use etc . Beware though - there are tons of cameras available at £70 or less - most of them give very poor quality .
  • If you want a good camera for home & holiday use then we recomend a camera with an optical zoom & good sized screen . 7 or 8 million pixels . Easy to use . Great for general snap shots . Click here to see the camera we recomend . Expect to pay around £100 .
  • Ok - so you not only want a good home / holiday camera - you also want a camera that has style but still gives razor sharp pictures ( most of the cameras that look great do not take great pictures so beware ) . Click here to see the camera that will suit you but expect to pay £140 & more for it .
  • If you want a top quality compact that takes superb pictures but also has the features to let you expand in photography then click here to see the camera we recomend . This camera will cost you up to £170 but will give incredible picture quality yet still be small in size & easy to use in its fully automatic mode .
  • Many people seem to think they need a digital SLR to get the best results - this is true for pro photographers but for amateur photographers we would recomend you go for a Hybrid camera . This is a camera type that has all the features of an SLR except that you cant put normal lenses on it - but it does have a huge built in zoom of over 10x & can have teleconverter lenses added later . For general home use we recomend you buy a compact camera instead because hybrids are much larger in size so you tend to use them less . Click here to see a Hybrid we recomend but also have a look at our recomended cameras page to see the other & also to go to the page that shows our test between a hybrid camera & a top selling digital SLR .A good hybrid camera will cost around the £200 mark .



WHAT IS A DIGITAL CAMERA ? ...

A digital camera is very much like a 35mm camera with 3 main differences . First you can see the pictures you have taken ( with most digi. cam's over £60 ) on a small TFT monitor on the back of the camera - if you like the photo you keep it - if you do not then delete the picture by simply pressing a button on the camera . Secondly you print the picture yourself via your computer on your printer or you can get the pictures developed by us like a normal 35mm film - costs 4p per print based on 150 pictures or more . Thirdly you don't have a film but a re-useable mini card - called a Memory Card . Most features on digital cam's are like 35mm cameras … self timer , auto flash , anti red eye , auto focus , etc . Many are easy to use & similar in size to 35mm cameras . How good a Digital Camera is depends on the following ... Pixels used by the camera , The Cameras Lens quality , Compression used to store the picture , The Noise generated by the Cameras Pixel Chip & the Printer you use ( we use Epson ) . More about all this later .

PICTURE STORAGE - WHAT IS A MEMORY CARD - WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TYPES TO CHOOSE FROM ?

35mm cameras use a film to take pictures - with Digi. Cam's you use a re-useable Memory Card (it lasts approx. 5 years). How many pictures you can take on each card before downloading ( transferring ) the pictures to your computer depends on the megabytes ( mb ) of memory the card has - a 4 gigabyte card will hold 4 times the pictures that a 1 gigabyte card will hold . There are 7 main types of disk available - described on this page . Some of the new Mobile Phones & PDAs ( mini hand held computers) also use Cards for extra memory … SD Cards are the most popular for these devices . I have taken a picture of Sydney Harbour Bridge on New Years Eve 5 years ago - put the memory card from the camera into my O2XDA Mobile Phone - & emailed the picture to our shop in Wrexham so they viewed the picture 10 min's after I had taken it .

THE MAIN TYPES OF MEMORY CARDS

SD MEMORY CARDS … are the most popular memory cards with most cameras now using them . Used in many MP3 players & Sat Nav systems. Very reliable & much cheaper than other cards . Available up to 16 gigabytes but some cameras will only take up to 2 gig

xD CARDS … are the mini card for Fuji & Olympus cameras . They are more expensive than to SD & very hard to find . Soon they will be phased out - to be replaced by SD cards .

COMPACTFLASH CARDS … are like a mini hard drive . Larger than other cards . Many pros use them . Slowly being phased out to be replaced by SD cards even for pro use in Digital SLRs

MEMORY STICK DUO … For most Sony cameras & some Sony Ericson mobile phones & for PSP game consoles & MP3 players.

MEMORY STICK MICRO M2 … latest Sony mobile phones . Available up to 8 gigabytes at present . Also for some Sony MP3 players . Will also fit some future Sony digital cameras

MINI SD CARDS … for some mobile phones .

TRANSFLASH / MICRO SD CARDS … Up to 8 gig for many mobile phones including Nokia & Samsung & LG & many of the Olympus cameras launched in September 08 will now take these cards

DO YOU NEED A COMPUTER IF YOU BUY A DIGITAL CAMERA ? ...

The short answer is NO . If you get a Digital Camera that has a screen on the back for you to view your pictures … & the camera uses any of the main Memory Cards then you do not need a Computer . All you have to do is go away & take your pictures - delete the ones you do not want to keep by looking at the screen on the back of the camera & pressing the Delete button - take out the Memory Card - bring in your Memory Card like you would a normal 35mm or APS film - put the card into our new CD maker machine ( we can do this for you ) - hand in your CD for normal Film Processing ( it costs 99p for the CD & 4p for each 6x4 quality print. if you have over 150 done at the same time  ) - you take your Memory Card away with you so you can use it again - next or same day you pick up your set of 6x4 prints & your CD with your pictures stored on it ( like a negative in 35mm terms ) - that's it - just like a normal 35mm film but better because you decide on the pictures you want without having to hope they are ok ( you have seen them on your cameras screen ) & you do not have to buy another Film - you can use your Memory Card again & again & again . If you want re-prints or enlargements then no problem - just bring in your CD & tell us the picture you want done . The other way of doing it without having a Computer is to do direct printing to a Printer . With the Epson 7400 Printer all you do is put your Memory Card into the slot in the Printer - then just key in the size of the picture you want printed ( e.g. 6x4 , 7x5 , 10x8 ) - a few min's later you have a quality picture . To store your pictures for future use you can still come into us & make a CD from your Memory Card without having the pictures printed by us . The Epson SX-200 is top quality photo printer for home / office !

BEWARE … there are Digital Cameras being sold with Mini Printers where you connect your camera to the Printer by a lead or by just putting it on top of the Printer - a few min's later you get 6x4 prints . Sounds great … until you find out how expensive it is to use . Kodak have the Docking Station Printer that gives you 6x4 prints but the prints work out to cost you around 45p per 6x4 picture - a lot of money & most definitely not worth it . Canon do a similar package & so do Olympus . The prints are ok but at that price they should be gold plated - we strongly advise you not to buy a camera with a free direct printer because it will cost you a fortune to use it .

If you do have a Computer then obviously it is better because you can still bring in your Memory Card - have a CD made - get 6x4 prints from us … but you do not have to do this because with a Computer you can transfer your pictures from your Memory Card to your Computer & then view them on your Computer & print out any pictures you want to on your own Printer

DOWNLOADING IMAGES TO YOUR COMPUTER ...

All digital cameras come with leads & software & instructions to help you download your pictures to you computer . There are 2 main types of downloading systems . The most popular is by USB port . You plug the supplied lead into a USB port that can be found on the back of your PC ( some like our Computers also have USB ports on the front ) . Plug the other end into you camera . Turn on the camera to its Computer setting or to its picture playback mode . If you use Windows XP then many of the latest cameras do not even need software … you just plug the supplied lead into your PCs USB port … plug the other end into your camera … your PC then installs the correct built in software automatically … seconds later all your pictures can be viewed on your PC … by going to Windows Explorer on your PC you can then drag the pictures to a folder ( such as My Pictures found in My Documents ) . If you do not have any spare USB ports on your computer then you can get a " 4 Port USB Hub " for just £7.99 from us … this small & very useful device plugs into one of your existing USB ports & turns it into 4 … no AC mains leads are needed & it will work most other USB devices … no software needed either . The other way of downloading is by Docking station . This is like the USB way in terms of set up ( it also is plugged into a USB port on your computer ) but once set up you just place the camera on the Docking station to automatically download the pictures . A Docking station does require a plug socket as well . Cameras that can use a Docking station can also be used via a normal lead USB connection . The only slight benefit to a Docking station is that it looks nicer next to your Computer (instead of just a lead ) . Docking stations cost approx... £40 as an extra or you pay a higher price than you should for cameras that come with a Docking station . We recommend the normal USB lead connection - its cheaper & easy to use .

WHAT IS A CARD READER ?

If you do have a problem downloading or do not want to install all the software that comes with a camera then there are alternative ways of downloading your pictures . The most popular is by CARD READER . This is a device that you can permanently attach to your computer via a USB port . Once attached to your computer you put the disk from your camera into a slot in the card reader … go to My Computer on your computers desktop … you will find an extra drive ( it may be called drive E or G ) … click on that to see a list of all the pictures on your mini disk . You can then highlight all or any of the pictures & drag them onto your desktop or a pre made folder . Downloading takes seconds . Once completed you can take the disk out of the reader , put it back in the camera & delete all the images as they are now safely on your computer . The Typhoon 21 in 1 Card Reader will take Compactflash , SD , Multimedia , Memory Stick , & Smartmedia & Xd … it costs just £10.99 & is very small in size & comes with the USB lead to attach to your Computer . For Win. XP most Card Readers do not require software - you just plug the Reader in. Card Readers are fast & reliable to use & mean you do not have to use the cameras software - you can use your own such as Adobe & Corel , or Image Viewer in Windows XP because Digital Camera pictures are stored as JPEG images ( 99.9% of cameras ) . You can also use a Card Reader for normal data transfer of files such as Office , Music , MPEG Video , etc - just transfer files to the Memory Card that you have put in the Card Reader by dragging & dropping the file in Windows Explorer on your Computer . If you want to transfer files / pictures to someone else's Computer then just plug in your Card Reader into that persons Computers USB port ( providing it is a Windows XP based Computer ) & drag & drop the files / pictures just like you would do on your own Computer . Many people now use Card Readers instead of old fashioned Floppy Disk drives . You can use a Memory Card to take pictures on your Digital Camera & then also use the same card - still with some pictures on it - to transfer other data files .

Now go to Page 2 of our Digital Cameras Explaine section by clicking here ... PAGE 2

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