Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org.
QUESTION: My wife and I would like to treat ourselves to a small point-and -shoot digital camera. What should we look for?
PC CLUB: Let’s start off with the obvious – there’s no such thing as a perfect camera. Buying a camera is all about making sacrifices. You select a few important requirements and you sacrifice a few others. That’s not to say that there aren’t some great cameras available, there are. But what’s great to you may not be great to others. Here are several characteristics, not in any particular order that you may want to consider:
Zoom – normal zoom on many cameras is 3X or 3 times but it’s not uncommon to see a 10X zoom on many new cameras.
Wide angle zoom – a wide angle zoom of 24 to 28 mm (millimeters) is considered fairly wide and allows you to view a wider scene. This can come in handy for indoor group shots where you can’t back away from the subject and it also allows you to take in a broader panorama in landscape shots.
Aperture range – a wider aperture is called a faster lens and it lets in more light, especially at the wider setting of the lens. For example, the new Canon S95 has an aperture range of F2.0 to F4.6 while the new Nikon S8100 has a range of F3.5 to F5.6. A 2.0 aperture gathers three times the light as a F3.5 lens. A faster lens is great if you plan on using the camera in low light situations. It also helps in actions shots.
Number of pixels – remember, you only need 5 mega pixels to print an 8” by 10” picture.
Size – If you want a camera that will easily fit in your pocket look at the new Canon S95.
Cost – small point and shoot cameras have a print range of $150 to $400 with the new Canon S95 topping the list.
Shutter lag – this is the time it takes the shutter to fire after you press the shutter button. The best way to test this is to take a picture of someone walking or perhaps running to see if you can capture what you want. This is important for taking picture of small kids or any action shot. This is one of my most important criteria.
Quick Video button – some camera have a dedicated video button on the camera back instead of making you turn a dial or manipulate several menus. If you plan to use the video feature, this can be handy. This prevents you from accidentally taking a video when you wanted a still. My wife considers this a “must have”. This feature is on the new Nikon S8100 or on most Casio cameras.
Popup flash – some cameras have a popup flash. Sometimes it can be located where you place your fingers and you’ll have to retrain yourself.
Burst mode – this is handy for capturing that whale as is breaks through the surface of the water.
HD (High Definition) Video – some of the recent cameras have HD video and may even have an HDMI connection for directly playing video on your TV.
View Finder – it’s rare to find these on cameras today. This makes it necessary to both take and playback pictures on the LCD screen. Look for a brightness adjustment which many cameras have.
Mode switch – I don’t like to have to use a switch to change from the shooting more to the reviewing mode. The setup on the Casio FH100 has buttons rather than switches for this.
Image Quality – this is very important and difficult to judge in a camera store. Look at online reviews, especially those with sample images.
I have an old Canon SD400 that has a shutter lag of .15 seconds. This means that if a person is running by and I snap their picture, they will have moved 2 feet. You can measure your shutter lag by going to my web site at www.edwardns.com and clicking Courses, Digital Cameras.
You should spend some time on the Internet reviewing cameras. My favorite sites are the following:
DP Review at www.dpr,eview.com – click Buying guide, Cameras by manufacturer.
Photography Guide at www.photographyguide.com – just use the Search box at the upper right or use the menus at the top.
Google at www.google.com – type in a camera model to find reviews and prices.
My top choices at the moment are:
· Nikon S8100 at http://amzn.to/bovP70 – full 1080p HD video
· Canon S95 at http://amzn.to/dqL1TN – Great lens and pricey
· Panasonic DMC-ZS7 at http://amzn.to/asXNoC – highly popular and highly rated
Ed Schwartz is a member of the North Orange County Computer Club. To send in a question, go to edwardns.com and click the Contact Me menu. Archives of previous columns are also on the web site.