Camera Specs Explained

Digital Camera Specs Explained: How to Know for Sure What Features Your Getting and Why!
So you want to buy a digital camera and you’re pulling your hair out trying to figure out what the heck everything means and whether or not you’re barking up the right tree at all.

Well, there’s good news and better news for you. The good news is that it’s not quite as complicated as it may seem …and the better news is that you’re going to learn exactly what all of it means right now.
What’s So Important about a Megapixel?

Honestly…not as much as you might think. It is an important number but it’s not the end all, be-all, of the digital camera world. Here’s what you need to know first…that the higher the number the better. Four is better than three, six is better than five, etc. The second thing that you should be aware of is that it directly affects the quality of your picture.

In order to understand what a megapixel is, it helps to know what a pixel is. A pixel (or picture element) is the smallest unit of a digital image. Basically it’s a very tiny dot. A megapixel then is equal to 1 million pixels. One million tiny dots in other words. Most standard point and shoot cameras these days are equipped with at least 5 megapixels which will basically create a clear and sharp 11 X 14 print.
Another term having to do with the quality of the image is resolution (not to be confused with your promise to lose 15 pounds this year). This is another piece of the puzzle where the higher the number the better it is. Technically, the resolution is the number of pixels within an image. So the higher the resolution then the higher quality your final product – or photo – will turn out. In essence, resolution is a factor of the number of megapixels.

Optical Zoom or Digital Zoom?

Most people get confused by this and rightly so. The fact is that when they advertise the zoom of a lens they usually combine the optical and digital zoom therefore making the number much higher. Here’s the deal with that. Optical Zoom is basically what you’ve always used on your cameras…the real ability to actually zoom in on something far away before snapping the shot. Digital zoom is basically the ability to zoom into an image after the shot been taken on your digital camera itself. In essence you’re enlarging the photo but cropping out everything that goes out of the frame.

You can do this on your photo software anyways so for the most part digital zoom is not all that important, and depending on your goals with the camera, optical zoom is more paramount.
What are Exposure Controls?
Exposure controls will likely mean much more to the serious photographer than to the person just wanting a simple point and click camera to send photos to the family and friends online. Still, it’s good to know what these features are.
Some camera’s have a mode where you can control aperture and shutter priority. Aperture is how large the lens becomes letting in more or less light, and shutter priority is basically how slowly or quickly the shutter opens and closes. If you don’t know why you would use those settings, then frankly you probably won’t need them. If you do know then you should know that many digital camera’s do provide these features, it just takes some stumbling around the LCD menu screen to get to them.
This brings up another important feature then, which is the LCD screen or sometimes the viewfinder. The LCD screen is the flat screen on your camera where you can see the picture after it’s been taken. Some come smaller 1.8 inches, and some larger at 3.5 inches. The larger LCD screen makes it easier to tell if you’ve gotten a good shot, as well as controlling the menu function which displays there much of the time as well.
One important feature to turning out good photos is the white-balance. This lets the camera know basically which elements of your photo shots should be white, which should be black, and then how everything in between should be adjusted.
Shaky Hands?
If you’re not a brain surgeon or engineer and don’t have the steadiest of hands then you may want to get a digital camera equipped with anti-shake or image stabilizer. This really comes in handy if you have a camera with a high optical zoom since images tend to be a bit shakier when zoomed in.
So of course there are other various features on digital cameras and new ones added all the time, but for the most part these are some of the most crucial for you to be aware of. You should now have a much clearer idea of what to look out for.