Point and Shoot Digital

NickCanCountTo13 · Outlaw Joined: 15 Jul 2003 Posts: 123 City: Westfield

I work at Best Buy and have started seriously looking at digital cameras. I really want a digital slr, but money for school is way more important so it is out of the question. How much optical zoom should I want and how many megapixels are need to get decent digital images.

garveyj · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 877 City: Savage, MN

you want as much optical zoom as you can get.....Optical zoom = good....Digital Zoom = bad.

As for megapixels...i would recommend anything 4 megapixels and up...That way you are pretty sure to get good quality!

NickCanCountTo13 · Outlaw Joined: 15 Jul 2003 Posts: 123 City: Westfield

would a 4mp with 10x op zoom be better than a 5 mp with 4x op zoom?

drifter136 · Posted: Nov 07, 2004 7:59 pm Post subject:

NickCanCountTo13, What are the cameras you're looking at? If it were me, I would much rather have the 10x opt zoom over the 5mp. Are you planning on printing many of your pics? If so, how large would you want to go?

The 4mp will still be fine if your going to be keeping your pics mostly for viewing on the computer or not printing much larger than an 8x10". Depending on the what cameras you are looking at I'd go with 10x optical.

NickCanCountTo13 · Outlaw Joined: 15 Jul 2003 Posts: 123 City: Westfield

I dont think ill print bigger than an 8x10 ever so im prolly gonna go with the 10x zoom

RD · Addict Joined: 22 Apr 2003 Posts: 626 City: Discovery Bay

The difference between 4 & 5 mp isn't as important as the quality of the lens, sensor and electronics. Check out the models you are interested in on dpreview.com. It will show you real life image examples and tell you how good the unit you're looking at really is. You need to look at everything the camera has to offer feature wise not just the resolution of the chip and then compare them tp other models. As in most things more $ get's you a better camera with better handling and speed. You won't even get a good 4X6 print if the unit won't handle fast enough to get the shot.

pyrocasto · Posted: Nov 08, 2004 10:10 am Post subject:

Also it depends on what you need it for. If you need a big zoom then there you go, since you're not looking for big prints.

Go to dpreview like RD said. Wink