by Chris Campbell
So, what’s your budget for a digital camera? That’s one of the first questions a salesman will ask, when they catch you skulking around their shop trying to inconspicuously check out their lineup of digital cameras. It’s a hard question for many consumers to answer, when you’ve never priced digital cameras before. Digital camera prices vary widely, depending primarily on quality and functionality.
The first of course would be to just ignore the latest and greatest products and sales. That certainly is simple. And for those who are willing to settle for the best digital camera from last week, month or year, that’s fine. At the pace technology advances, your chances of getting a good camera are pretty good (no matter how old it is). The basics of what makes a good camera good, haven’t really changed that much over the years. Good lenses, and good image quality with minimal noise and distortion in your pictures are the most important attributes.
All camera manufacturers have been guilty of over hyping the latest and greatest technical features on their models for some time now. Some photography aficionados have even gone so far as to suggest that manufactures latest tech features have more to do with marketing timing, then true technical advancements.
Going for under $150, it comes with some advanced features like face recognition and image stabilization. For $20 or $30 dollars more, you could get the more compact Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph. Less image quality, but substantially smaller and portable.
I’ve always believed buying the top digital camera today was a mistake. You usually end up paying too much, and are far more likely to end up being a guinea pig for Canon, Nikon, Sony or whomever builds your favorite brand name camera.
You should check to see how many images you could take on one set of batteries. Make sure the camera has a good battery or can use rechargeable batteries.
When all is said and done, and your enjoying all the great pictures you’ve taken over the years, the top digital camera is just the one that’s captured all your favorite memories. Or, if it’s the artist in you that drives your camera purchase, then then same rule applies.
If your looking in the over $1000 price category, then to be quite honest you don’t need my help. The best digital camera prices for these cameras is really less of an issue. Anyone looking to spend this much money for a camera should let their own personal preferences be their guide. Camera functionality and image quality are far more important at this point.
