Camera Model/Type Research.


Looking to find what cameras may be right for you but don't know where to start?
Look no further.

As an amateur photographer my primary goal was to find a camera which would be suitable for my needs. However it was so hard to find material which would help an amateur such as myself out. By material I mean something that speaks plain English and doesn't get into all the fancy yaber jabber to start off. I'm more of a picture girl, I like to take the camera and take a few photos to see how well I like it. Mind you I'm not really testing out its full capabilities but that's ok. That will all come with knowledge later on.

As stated before I'm not nor do I pretend to know all about photography. I just simply like to take photos, with time i've slowly acclimated myself to some basic terminology one should know when starting out. I'll get into that a little later on and will probably use another journal entry dedicated solely to that information.
Now back to the topic at hand Digital cameras. Well there are two types that a person can choose from. Perhaps the most popular one right now would have to be the Digital SLR and the other is a Digital Range finder.

Digital SLR.

Ever wonder what in the heck SLR really means. I remember hearing that for the first time and I thought "hmm very fancy". Still didn't have a clue what it meant. And to all the car fans out there no it doesn't mean the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster. The acronym SLR stands for (Single-Lens Reflex). Still not ringing a bell eh? It didn't for me either. Again I thought "hmm very fancy". Through research I found that the SLR is so 'fancy' because of how it works internally minus the nice big lenses you see. The main thing you need to know as a beginner is that this camera gives you some pretty crisp details and more ability to make the photo the way you the artist sees the scene. There are two types of Digital SLR's there is the fixed lens this kind is where the lens is in most terms there to stay. If you go online you'll notice that there are separate lenses for sale those lenses are designed for the Interchangeable lens SLR.
Below is a breakdown of what happens when you look through the camera to the shot actually being taken and what processes the image goes through. This picture Adapted from: Digital SLR Cameras and Photography for Dummies.




I know what you're thinking. What are all of these components. Well as I said I'll get into them a bit later on.
As you can see to capture the actual picture it goes through a pretty complex array of components.
There are many kinds of SLR's out there. A personal favorite of mine, well it's really my only favorite since it's the only one I've tried is the Nikon D80.

First let's start off with the different brand names available to users.

Nikon
Cannon
Olympus
Pentax
Sony

Best Entry Level Cameras (List provided by whichdigitalslrcamera.com)

· Nikon D80
· Canon XSi
· Canon EOS XTi
· Pentax K200D
· Pentax K10D
· Sony Alpha A100K
· Nikon D60
· Nikon D40x

Most beginners have had enough with their regular point and shoot models and are ready to switch over to SLR's. If you are looking to really get serious into photography I must strongly suggest getting one of these cameras. That is when and if you have the money available otherwise if you look below you'll find a few point and shoot models that will suffice until you are able to afford the cameras. I must say all my photos that are posted have all been done with an Point and shoot digital camera.

Digital Range Finder

The Digital Range finder might seem like a name most have never heard of before. To be honest I hadn't until I started my research. Well you'll be very happy to find that the Range Finder is just another fancy name for your point and shoot cameras. Point and shoot aren't as precise and you can't get as high resolution out of most to date cameras with some exceptions. I am currently using a point and shoot as stated before. I am using a Sony Cybershot DSC-H2, I have thoroughly enjoyed using this camera and will try to hold off on getting an SLR till I've really been able to pull everything out of my camera. I want to be able to know the point and shoot inside out and use it's full capabilities. I think Point and shoot cameras are really under rated because people just don't want to take the time to figure out how things really work. With a little bit of effort you can take some pretty high quality pictures.
Here are a few high rated point and shoot cameras that may be of interest.

- Epson R-D1
- Fuji FinePix S700
- Canon Powershot A650 IS
- Kodak EasyShare Z1285


All of the cameras listed above are within a reasonable price range between $100-$500.

That's all that I have time for right now. Next topic will focus on camera terminology.

Take care all