Digital Cameras - Frequently Asked Questions

Digital Photography can be a confusing business at first, and when it comes to buying a new digital camera many people feel bewildered by all the jargon and techno-babble. To make things a little easier, we’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions about digital cameras that will hopefully make the process of choosing your camera a little easier. If you have a question you can’t find answered here, feel free to email us and we’ll do our best to get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

MegaPixels: What are they and how many of them do I need?

Look closely at your computer screen. The image you see there is not one solid block of color, but a composite of many, many tiny dots of color called Pixels packed tightly together in a lattice. Because these dots are very small and very close together, and because each individual pixel can be almost any color imaginable, they combine on your screen to produce a single solid image, like the one you’re looking at now. Your TV, mobile phone screen and even your digital watch work the same way, having a larger or smaller number of pixels to use in creating the image. Virtually any modern electronic device that displays information or images on a screen does so using pixels.

Because pixels are so small, building an image requires lots of them. The term ‘Megapixel’ is one you’ll often hear thrown around when it comes to buying a digital camera – each megapixel is one million pixels, so a digital camera that is advertised as having two megapixels can cram two million tiny points of color together to create your photograph. This is especially important if you want to print large copies of your photos – the larger the prints you plan to make, the more pixels you want your digital camera to be capable of rendering, otherwise you might end up with ‘pixilated’ photographs – meaning that the image has been magnified to a point that you actually begin to be able to see individual pixels, resulting in jagged, blocky, grainy looking images. To print large photographs in high resolution, you want a camera with as many megapixels as you can afford. If you just want to print your holiday snaps onto standard sized photo-paper, you can get away with having less. To get the best from your printed photographs even on paper as small as 4x6”, we recommend a digital camera capable of rendering at least 3 Megapixels.

Memory Cards: Which kind should I have and how big do I need it do be?

If you’re at all familiar with traditional photography, you’ll know that cameras store images on film, and that any given film can only hold a certain number of photographs before it becomes full. Digital cameras work in much the same way, except that they store images digitally on memory cards. Unlike traditional film however, a memory card can be reused as many times as you like. When your memory card gets full, you can delete some of your pictures, or transfer them to a computer to make room for more photographs. Another similarity between digital memory cards and traditional film is that both come in a whole host of different types and sizes, which can make it tricky to know what kind you should be using.

Because there are several types of memory card available, it’s important to understand that any given digital camera will only be compatible with one or two kinds, so be sure you know what sort of cards are compatible with your new camera, and also with the card reader on your PC or printer (most modern card readers will be capable of reading most types of memory card, but it's allways worth checking before you buy to avoid disapointment.)

The amount of space it takes to store one photograph depends largely on your camera - You remember we were just talking about pixels and megapixels? Well, each pixel in your photograph has to be individually stored on your memory card, so the higher the megapixel rating on your camera the more space each photograph will take up on your memory card.

The table below should give you a rough idea of how many photographs you will be able to store on various sizes of memory card, depending on the image resolution of your camera

I’ve taken my first digital photographs….now what?

Once you’ve taken some pictures with your new digital camera, you’ll probably want to show them to people – photographs are best shared after all!
You have a few options when it comes to getting your photographs out into the real world.

The first is to buy a home photo printer and print your photographs yourself. Many modern photo printers have onboard card readers, allowing you to simply remove the memory card from your camera, plug it into your photo printer and print your pictures directly from the memory card without having to use a PC as an intermediary. The downside to this is that photo inks and paper can be very expensive. However using compatible photo ink cartridges instead of originals is a great way to reduce the cost of printing your digital photographs.

Alternatively you can take your memory card down you’re your local chemists and have them printed for you, just like you used to do with traditional film. Both these options have their own strengths and weaknesses. At home you get the convenience of printing whenever you like it, but with the cost of supplying your own paper and inks, while at the chemist you gain the benefit of several thousand pounds worth of professional machinery but you have to contend with opening hours, printing charges, queues and transport costs.

Your final option is not to print them at all – once you’ve moved a picture from your camera’s memory card onto your computer you can simply email it to your friends and family or even publish it by posting it on a website. Doing it this way gives your friends the option of printing their own copies of your photographs, or simply storing them digitally on their computer’s hard disk for as long as they like.    

What make and model of digital camera should I buy?

Tricky question this, as there’s not necessarily any right or wrong answer. The most important thing to remember is that, just as with buying a car, house or computer, you tend to get what you pay for. The range of available digital cameras is huge, with cameras ranging from below £100 for a basic model upto many thousands for an advanced, professional camera. Because of this it’s really important to know what you want your camera to do before you buy it. If you’re only going to take still photographs, why spend extra buying a camera that’s capable of recording video footage?

However, this shouldn’t be taken to mean that you should buy the cheapest model that does everything you want. Quite the opposite. I’d recommend that you do some research into digital cameras until you’ve got a good idea of what features you’re looking for, make a list of all the cameras that do what you want, compare prices, read reviews and make sure you’re getting the best camera you can for your budget.