Buy a digital camera in 15 minutes

Posted on 10 Mar 2009 at 11:08

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Other features can be ignored simply because they are not important. Camera manufacturers and retailers obsess about how many megapixels a camera has, but the relationship between megapixels and image quality is loose at best and, in many cases, counter-intuitive. We suggest that you ignore megapixel ratings and go by our image-quality tests. The same goes for digital zoom. Unlike optical zoom, where the lens magnifies the picture hitting the camera's sensor, a digital zoom fabricates extra detail by guesswork. It's a complete waste of time, and we're amazed this feature is still included on cameras and talked up by deceitful or ignorant sales assistants.

Don't worry about which type of memory card a camera uses. All our recommendations use SDHC cards, except Sony's A200, which uses CompactFlash. However, it won't cost much to replace your old cards if they're incompatible with your new camera.

And finally...

Don't worry about cosmetic design when choosing your camera. While none of the recommended cameras is ugly, the truth is that there are no ultra-chic, touch-screen, ultra-compact cameras we'd currently recommend. For us, a simple, smart design and the ability to take great pictures makes for a cooler gadget.

Author: Ben Pitt

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