Once you have decided on the budget and the usage look for potential cameras and build a table with the price and features of each. Making the table is not hard but understanding what the various features practically mean and how important they are is trickier. Following is a list of important features and some explanations of what they really mean to you from a practical point of view:

Megapixels: New cameras are packed with an ever increasing number of mega pixels. Is more mega pixels better? A quick answer would be yes ? but a better answer would be “it really depends”. More mega pixels is important if you are going to print photos (especially enlargements) or if you are going to zoom in and crop fine details out of big photos. If you plan to watch your photos on your computer screen and maybe just print a few 4X6 prints every now and then than 2 mega pixels is more than enough (yes? just 2). Most screen resolutions are about 1024X768 so even when viewing the photo in full screen mode you can only view 1024X768 which is less than 1 mega pixels. A 2 mega pixels 4X6 photo print will have a DPI higher than 300 which is more than enough for a high quality print.

If you plan to print photo enlargements than a rule of thumb is to be able to print at least 300DPI resolution. The following is a table for different print sizes and the needed mega pixels for such print quality:

page 4X6 2MP
page 5X7 3MP
page 8X10 7MP
page 11X14 14MP
page 16X20 28MP
page 20X30 54MP

Unless you budget is infinite when you buy a camera with more mega pixels you make a compromise between mega pixels and other features. For example is it better to spend money on more mega pixels or on better lenses? Or maybe on an external flash? It all depends on how you will use your camera. Evaluate your usage and decide what is more important to you.

Zoom: In some situations it is very useful to have a good zoom capability. For example when you take a portrait photo you want to make sure the object’s face fills the photo frame while when you take a group photo you want to make sure everybody is in the photo frame. There are two types of zoom ? optical and digital. Optical zoom works by physically moving the camera’s lenses and changing the focal length. By changing the focal length you can make objects appear bigger and fit the full photo frame. Digital zoom works by applying built-in software in the camera to define a portion of the photo which you are interested in. Once chosen the software crops the rest of the photo and enlarges the area you chose to fit the complete photo frame. The downside of this digital process is that the enlarged photo quality is lower than the original photo’s. The conclusion is that optical zoom is superior to digital zoom. In fact from a practical point of view digital zoom should not be considered zoom at all.
Some manufacturers state the camera’s zoom figure without specifying if it is optical or digital. This information is confusing as many consumers do not understand the difference between the two. For example if a camera supports a 5X optical zoom and 10X digital zoom advertising the camera as a “10X zoom camera” is confusing ? 10X digital zoom can be done with any camera using simple PC software.

When you compare different cameras zoom always compare their optical zoom capabilities. You can totally ignore the digital zoom figures.

Know your battery: As any portable electronic device digital cameras are powered by batteries. There are different battery technologies each with its cons and pros. Knowing your options can help you get a camera that better suits your needs. The first choice is disposable or rechargeable. Some cameras support both usually when using standard size batteries like AA, AAA.

Disposable batteries can only be used once. They usually have a standard size and shape such as AA, AAA. You can buy these batteries at most stores and once they are empty you can simply dispose of them

Rechargeable batteries can be used multiple times. Some rechargeable batteries have a standard size and shape such as AA or AAA. Such standard size batteries can be used anywhere that a disposable battery can. More often than not however rechargeable batteries have a proprietary shape and are compatible with just a few specific cameras. Once a rechargeable battery is empty you can place it in a special charger that will recharge it. The time it takes to recharge a battery, the number of times it can be charged and the life time of the battery are dependant on the technology used to build the battery.

There are pros and cons to using disposable or rechargeable batteries. The main advantage to using a disposable battery is that you can always buy a few to have with you to replace the ones that are empty and you can always get one in a store close-by in case you are stuck with empty batteries. The disadvantages to using disposable batteries are the cost of buying new batteries every time your batteries are empty and the capacity (in most cases a disposable battery will not last as long as a good rechargeable battery). On the other hand rechargeable batteries require only one purchase. When the battery is empty you can simply place it in its charger and after an hour or so you will have a fully recharged battery. The disadvantage is that if you run out of batteries during a photo shooting session or somewhere away from home or a power supply you can not just buy another battery. The solution to that problem is to buy one extra battery and to always carry it with you fully charged.

If you choose to use a rechargeable battery powered camera make sure that your camera uses the latest battery technologies. There are many type of rechargeable batteries usually named after the chemicals used to build them. Such technologies are: nickel cadium, nickel metal hybrid, lithium ion and lithium polymer. Without going to the details just remember that it is better to choose a battery that uses the latest technology which is a lithium polymer or lithium ion.

The real cost of ownership: the cost of owning a digital camera is not limited to the money paid to purchase the camera. In most cases you will find yourself spending more money on accessories and other additional products. Failing to budget for those extra expenses can result in buying a camera just to find out it is not operable without spending more.

When you calculate the real price of a camera and compare to your other options make sure that you take the following into account:

Memory card: Most cameras come with a basic low capacity memory card. Assess how much memory you will need and check the prices of such memory cards. Add that to the camera’s cost.

Batteries: Check what batteries the camera uses and what batteries are included. Also check what the estimated battery life is. For example you probably need to buy an extra battery if your photo sessions are longer than the battery life. Check for the prices of compatible batteries and add it to the camera’s cost.

PC connectivity: The most common methods of connectivity are USB and plugging the camera’s memory card directly to the PC. Check if the camera includes the necessary cables and software. If it does not check the prices of buying the needed accessories and add that to the camera’s cost.

Carrying case: Most cameras do not include a carrying case. If you will need a carrying case check for the prices of carrying cases that can fit your camera and add that cost to your camera’s cost.

Lenses: Some cameras allow you to change lenses. Other cameras actually come without lenses at all ? you just buy the camera’s body and get the lenses separately. Check what lenses are included with the camera and if you will need to buy lenses shop around for their prices. Lenses can be very expensive. Add the cost to the camera’s cost.

In conclusion there are many things to consider when purchasing your next digital camera. It is important to understand what the different camera features practically mean to you. It is very easy to be tempted to get something just because of the ease of comparison or the hype in the market. The Mega pixels feature is a good example it is easy to compare this number and see which camera has more pixels. But in terms of photo quality there are many other factors like the lenses, the type of sensor and more. Do your homework by checking for prices online and in stores. Build a table of prices and features. Make the table relevant to you. Don’t compare features that you do not care about they are just going to confuse you. Evaluate the true cost of owning the camera including all the accessories and addition costs.

Ziv Haparnas is a technology veteran and writes about practical technology and science issues. This article can be reprinted and used as long as the resource box including the backlink is included. You can find more information digital photo printing printing and photography in general on http://www.printrates.com – a site dedicated to photo prints

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/http://photographyexpert.articlealley.com/tips-for-buying-your-digital-camera-83043.html

Bokeh describes the rendition of out-of-focus points of light.Basically, bokeh is the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens.

So, how do you get a good bokeh in your images?

Do you know if your lens produces good bokeh? Try this: focus on an object from a very close distance (as close as the lens will allow, keeping the object in focus), making sure that there are no objects at least 5-6 feet behind it. Make sure to be on the same level as the object itself, so that you are not looking down on it. Do not use a plain wall as your background – try to find a colorful background, preferably with some lights on it. A Christmas tree is a perfect background for a bokeh test.

Remember, bokeh is rendered by the lens, not the camera. Different lenses render bokeh differently due to unique optical designs. Generally, portrait and telephoto lenses with large maximum apertures yield more pleasant-looking bokeh than cheaper consumer zoom lenses. For example, the Nikon 85mm f/1.4D lens produces exceptionally good-looking bokeh, while the Nikon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G DX lens produces poor bokeh at the same focal length and aperture – all due to differences in optical designs of both lenses.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Once you find a good test subject with a suitable background, set your camera to “Aperture Priority” mode and set your aperture to the lowest number. On most consumer zoom lenses, the lowest aperture is typically f/3.5, while on prime and professional zoom lenses, it can be between f/1.2 and f/2.8. Once the aperture is set to the lowest value, take a picture of your subject and take a look at the rear LCD of your camera. The subject should be in focus, while the background is blurred. If you have a good lens, the bokeh should be soft and fuzzy, looking pleasing to the eye as shown in the example above. The circular reflections should be round and soft, with no hard edges.

History of the Term “Bokeh”

So you may ask:  How did such an unusual word, “Bokeh” come to describe the quality of an image’s out of focus area. Well, good question! It turns out that bokeh is coined from the Japanese word “boke” and “boke-aji”, which roughly translate to “fuzzy”  and “flavor of blur”, respectively.  The term was adopted into the English photographic lexicon by Mike Johnston, who currently runs the Online Photographer blog and was previously editor-in-chief for “Photo Techniques” Magazine in the late 1990’s. To give credit where credit is due, Johnston first learned of the term “bo-ke” from Oren Grad, a guy who has multiple graduate degrees (MD’s, PhD’s, and several masters degrees…a genius of sorts) and purportedly learned Japanese just to be able to read Japanese photo magazines! Awesome! The term boke-aji had already been used for some time in Japanese magazines in describing an image’s out-of-focus qualities. In reality, the term bokeh does not translate literally into one meaning in English. In the Japanese literature, there are many shades of the meaning of bokeh, but all boil down to some version of “blur quality.” Johnston was ultimately responsible changing the spelling from “boke” to bokeh to address proper pronunciation, and he popularized the term through a series of 3 commissioned articles on the topic, which were published in March and April 1997 issues of “Photo Techniques”. It was stressed that pronunciation was “bo” as in bone and “ke” as in Kenneth. So that’s how you say it.

The common tools used for this purpose are available as software products that prove competent to scan a logically crashed storage media to restore the lost data intact.One of the main factors responsible for digital data loss is availability of high-speed and high-capacity storage media of all kinds that provide rigid support to store digital data. Such media allows you accessing stored information quickly, much earlier than you can expect and that’s the reason why data loss chances increase by a weight factor.Since media like flash cards are being actively used, the odds of their misuse are high on rankings. Experts say that users are often observed deleting their own data unintentionally, pulling the cards while the camera is actually performing read/write operation and using the same digital card with various card readers. Such events can result in corruption of card structure and data inaccessibility.The good thing about the deletion process that file system never deletes your photos, videos and audios, but only mark them deleted. So, there is always a fair chance that you can get your lost photos back to the original state. Even when the file system is severely damaged, seemingly inaccessible data can be restored back if no new data has been written to the same area of affected memory card.

Image Recovery Softwareare valuable products that help achieving data recovery of such lost digital files. These are easy to use and user-friendly recovery tools built with powerful technology to scan your logically crashed media meticulously. Image Recovery tools are handy applications that allow you to restore lost photographs with minimum of expenses and efforts. These utilities are designed to analyze the entire memory card structure and detect those segments that have been marked as corrupted or deleted. After the process is complete, these software restore these data at suitable and safe location.

Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery is an advanced and robust application to recover lost and deleted digital files. It is a comprehensive Image Recovery Software for all digital memory cards, cameras and hard drives. It can recover almost all digital media files. It is a read-only application with rich interface and is available for Windows (Windows Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000) and Mac (Leopard, Tiger and Panther).

It is extremely hard to take good pictures without a good understanding of how ISO works and what it does. Camera ISO is one of the three pillars of photography (the other two being Aperture and Shutter Speed) and every photographer should thoroughly understand it, to get the most out of their equipment.

What is ISO?

Your ISO allows you to take pictures in low light situations.

It is basically a measure of your digital sensor’s sensitivity to light. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light your sensor becomes.

ISO Speed & Noise

However, all this increase in sensitivity does not come free. There is a price to pay with your image appearing more noisy.

See, when you boost the sensitivity of your image sensor by selecting a higher ISO, the image sensor is now able to record a fainter light signal. However, it is also true now that it will record fainter noise, where noise is any signal that is not attributed to the light from your subject. Remember that an image sensor is still an analog device and it generates its own noise, too! The increased sensitivity allows the image sensor to record more light signal and more noise. The ratio of light signal to noise (S/N ratio) determines the “noise” in your resultant image.

An image sensor is usually calibrated so that it gives the best image quality (greatest S/N ratio) at its lowest possible ISO speed. For most consumer digital cameras, this value will be expressed as ISO 50, ISO 64 or ISO 100. A few digital cameras use ISO 200 as their lowest ISO speed.

http://photo.net

The lower the ISO the less noise you will see. As your ISO increases, the noise level does as well. This noise level most likely will not become significant until your ISO reaches numbers of 800 or higher (depending on your camera).

The aperture stop of a photographic lens can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the film or image sensor. In combination with variation of shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the film’s degree of exposure to light. Typically, a fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure sufficient light exposure, and a slow shutter speed will require a smaller aperture to avoid excessive exposure.

http://www.wikipedia.org

The basics

The pupil is the aperture of your eye and, like your pupil, the aperture of a camera lens can be varied in size to let more or less light in. The first basic concept of aperture to get your head around is that the smaller the number [f/1.4 for example] the bigger the aperture, or ‘hole’.

Diagram of decreasing aperture sizes (increasing f-numbers) for “full stop” increments (factor of two aperture area per stop)

A device called a diaphragm usually serves as the aperture stop, and controls the aperture. The diaphragm functions much like the iris of the eye – it controls the effective diameter of the lens opening. Reducing the aperture size increases the depth of field, which describes the extent to which subject matter lying closer than or farther from the actual plane of focus appears to be in focus. In general, the smaller the aperture (the larger the number), the greater the distance from the plane of focus the subject matter may be while still appearing in focus.

The lens aperture is usually specified as an f-number, the ratio of focal length to effective aperture diameter. A lens typically has a set of marked “f-stops” that the f-number can be set to. A lower f-number denotes a greater aperture opening which allows more light to reach the film or image sensor. The photography term “one f-stop” refers to a factor of √2 (approx. 1.41) change in f-number, which in turn corresponds to a factor of 2 change in light intensity.

In the old days, cameras had a ring on the lens to change aperture. That ring was marked off in ‘one stop’ gradations:

1.8 – 2 – 2.8 – 4 – 5.6 – 8 – 11 – 16 – 22 – 32 and so on, but usually not much past f/32 on even the best lenses.

Aperture priority is a semi-automatic shooting mode used in cameras. It allows the photographer to choose an aperture setting and allow the camera to decide the shutter speed and sometimes ISO sensitivity for the correct exposure. This is sometimes referred to as Aperture Priority Auto Exposure, A mode, Av mode, or semi-auto mode.4