Cameras have been a part of our lives since 1685 when they were first invented. They have been used to record and store images and various changes have been made with technological advancements. The original film cameras used photographic film as a recording surface on which the images were projected. In 1975 digital cameras got invented and have become most popular electronic devices today. One can hardly find any film cameras in the market as the digital ones got cheaper and more affordable. The concept used is same in both types of cameras. A lens is used to focus the light passing through an aperture to fall on a pickup device.
There are a lot of plus points in buying a digital camera for your personal or professional use. The first and foremost reason is that you can view the captured image on a screen just after taking the shot. This allows one to decide whether another shot is required to be taken or not. Another important reason is that you can store hundreds of images in your camera by simply using a small memory device. It also allows you to delete insignificant images and free some memory space. Most of the digital cameras even allow you to record video but these videos may not be of very high quality. This is why dedicated video cameras are separately used for those purposes.
The technology is advancing at a great pace today and one likes to buy the latest camera with the newest features. As there is a pool of options out there, one should make up his mind and decide what one needs before investing the money. Some of the features that are offered may not be needed by you, while some might have been skipped in the device which you were about to buy. This is why; having knowledge about the technical specifications of a camera can help you make a better purchase.
If you want a professional camera, you should first learn the basics and figure out all that is needed in professional photography. But if you need a camera only for personal use than you can opt for a compact one, without getting into the detailed jargons. Even for a compact camera, you should be able to compare the fundamental specifications like pixel count. The pixel count decides the resolution of the captured image and the higher the pixel count, the higher is the resolution. The standard count used these days is about 10 mega-pixels. However, a larger pixel count does not always mean a better picture as excessive pixels can create image noise.
Another important factor is optical zoom which allows you to get a closer look at the object before capturing an image of it. There is a big difference between optical and digital zoom. In optical zoom, you can magnify the subject as the lenses extend with the help of an internal motor. The standard associated terms are “wide-angle” and “telephoto”(magnify) which are often inscribed as ‘W' and ‘T' on the camera button. However, a digital zoom simply crops the image that has already been captured and magnifies it with the help of interpolation. In the process of interpolation extra pixels are added up to make the cropped area bigger while it may not give you good results.
Other than this, one should also consider the battery backup and size of the digital display. The compactness of the camera would also matter if you are buying a point and shoot camera.
