by Chris Campbell
Which digital camera should I buy, is a pretty open ended question. It’s the kind of question that begs the asking of other questions. Questions like: “How much money to you want to spend?” . . . “What do you like to take pictures of?” . . . “How much do you know about photography?” . . . “What kind of cameras have you owned before?” . . . and so on, and so on. Since obviously, I don’t know your answers to any of the previous questions, I’m going to assume a few typical answers. From those assumptions, I’ve come up with three typical buyer persona’s. Just for the fun of it, let’s call those personas Britney, Paris, and Lindsay. Let’s see what would be the best cameras for each of them to purchase.
It’s kind of hard to believe, but there are third party companies, that manufacture underwater cases that allow for complete camera functionality up to 200 feet below the water surface. The engineering of the cases almost rivals that of the the camera itself. Imagine being able to operate all of the those tiny camera controls in a dive suit with your camera totally enclosed in a very durable but see through polycarbonate casing.
External controls protrude through the casing, and make physical contact with the camera controls inside the casing. While the other end of those same controls provide user buttons and dials that can be operated in a totally immersible marine environment. They’re not cheap mind you, quality products never are.
At first handling, the camera case seems heavy and unwieldy out of the water. Once they have a camera inside, and are submersed, they become quite neutrally buoyant. Which is of course what every diver knows is essential for a good dive.
The digital camera memory card will hold different amounts of images. For instance, the six megapixel camera with a one gigabyte memory card will hold approximately three hundred images before you have to transfer pictures. The higher the megapixels the less the memory card will hold. Beside the different companies that make the memory card there are six different types.
Speaking of growing into, lets take a look at our somewhat more mature Lindsay, with her matching mature taste in the realm of digital cameras. Lindsay has had her fill of the ultra simple compact point and shoots with their mediocre image quality and flaws. Her interest in photography has been peaked when viewing some of the photo’s of a professional photographer friend, and would like to begin taking better pictures. She’s heard of SLR cameras, and has some inclination of what they can do, but still appreciates some of the simple joy of taking pictures on the spur of the moment without a lot of fiddling. Price is not a big concern, as she’s willing to spend upwards of $1000.
Choosing the right memory card, doesn’t have to be a difficult decision. These days there are different choices, and it’s not just to do with memory size anymore. Speed and security are also factors in price for a memory card. The question is, what speed and security do you need in a card?
