The Right Digital Camera

When buying a digital camera, one has to carefully ponder over its utility factor. Is it going to be used for the occasional photosessions or are you going to document your whole family? Besides the product's build quality, shutter speed and easy-of-use qualities one has to bear in mind the following factors before taking a decision.

PRICE

The image quality of a digital camera is much superior to that of a conventional film based one. The photographs taken may be immediately retrieved. With a printer, you may take a print out with the camera's software. All you have to do is connect the camera to your PC.

There are two kinds of digital cameras: professional models costing Rs 60,000 upwards and consumer cameras starting at Rs 18,000.

RESOLUTION

The resolution you get in a digital camera is of the same quality as that of a PC monitor screen. This is dependent on the number of pixels that can be captured horizontally and vertically. By default the resolution is 640x480. Higher resolutions spell better quality and sharper images. Many cameras have mega pixel resolution which translates into one million pixels that can be captured by it. The JPEG standard followed has a default of 72 pixels and print quality of 300 pixels!

DISPLAY

The viewfinder, a small square window helps frame your shots. When the ordinary ones use an optical viewfinder, the more expensive ones use an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) viewfinder; the same technology seen in flat panel displays and digital watches. LCDs enables you to frame shots, they also allow you to have picture previews of images stored in the camera's memory.

FOCUS

Though most cameras have fixed focus, and some are auto-focus the more costly ones have digital zoom. Fixed-focus is highly recommended for landscape shots where a wide image needs to be captured. However, auto-focus is a safer bet for close-ups and wide range shots because it safely brings into sharper focus whatever is in the centre of the viewfinder.

STORAGE

When a conventional camera captures images, a reserve stock of film rolls is always handy. Once a roll is exhausted it needs to be replaced with another. Time consuming as it is, you also need to seek a dark place to change films to avoid mishaps.

The built-in memory of a digital camera varies between 1.5-8 MB. Once full, all you have to do is to transfer it to your PC and start afresh. Given the resolution and compression settings available, your camera may hold anywhere from 10-200 pictures.

A memory stick holding 4-64 MB of digital images is the creation of Sony whereas, IBM has come up with a high storage alternative the size of a credit card. 5MB to 1GB may be stored in this card devised specially for professional use. Sony Mavica camera can store images on its 3.5" floppy disk.

POWER

The power in most digital cameras, come from either disposable alkaline or rechargeable batteries. While the former exhausts with about 20 images (even lower for frequent flash users), rechargeable batteries are gentler on the purse.

COMPRESSION

Digital images consume vast memory space. The ability to compress pictures define the number of pictures that can be saved. By default, 2-3 compression settings prevail. The picture distortion is higher when the compression capability is more. High image quality demands CCD raw mode, which does away with compression altogether.

FILE FORMAT

A special proprietary format goes into many of these cameras. The camera converts downloaded images in your PC with the manufacturer's software, into industry standard ones like JPEG. EXIF, supported by Kodak and Fuji and CIFF, supported by Canon, Nikon and Pentax are the commonly available raw formats.

PREVIEWS

Kodak DC280 Zoom

The Kodak DC280 is a compact, stylish and easy to carry camera with a high resolution of 2 million pixels per image. Sharp and focused images are produced and with a 2X optical zoom distant objects may be captured. An intergrated 2" LCD allows you to preview images. Along with the flash it comes with an 8MB Compact Flash memory card that stores up to 97 standard and 12 high-resolution pictures. The USB connects your camera to your PC.

The image editing software that comes with DC280 are Adobe's PhotoDeluxe 3.1 and PageMill 3.0. this camera costs about Rs 44,000.

Kodak DC215

With a 2X optical zoom this camera comes at Rs 23,000. The 1.8" LCD permits you to have preview images on the fly. The USB enables the FlashCard reader to download images from the camera to the PC. Along with the camera comes the softwares- Adobe Page Mill and Photodeluxe plus Microsoft Photo Printer. Go and buy it online from PC Zone India (http://www.pczoneindia.com).

Sony Mavica MVC FD-90

Priced at Rs 65,000 this camera can be purchased in Mumbai and Delhi. With advantages like, longer battery life and adjustable flash, this camera claims resolutions of 1.6 mega pixels and an optical zoom of 8X. An ordinary 1.44 MB floppy disk stores images as JPEGs and a group of 5 as a short movie. Quicker image processing, recording and playback are possible due to the 4x HiSpeed floppy drive.

Available models are: The MVC-FD85, MVC-FD90 and MVC-FD95 with dual storage -- floppy and MSAC-FD2M Memory Stick, 44 times larger than the disk. This enables users to capture 1,000 still images or a 42-minute MPEG movie. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used and the Accupower meter denotes the battery life.

Epson Photo PC650

The Epson Photo PC650, which can be bought online from PC Zone India comes at Rs 28000. Specifically devised for home users, this camera has four resolution modes that rely on the level of compression. The resolution of uncompressed images (superfine or fine) is 1152x864 pixels whereas in high compressed images this is reduced to 640x480 pixels. The standard 37mmlens goes with it. Lithium, Ni-Cadand NiMH as well as 4 AA alkaline batteries can be used.

Mustek MDC-800

Available in Delhi and Mumbai, this still only camera costs Rs 21,000.It may also be used as a video camera through a TV and VCR; what's more with its USB connector and WINDOWS 98 it can be used for video conferencing.