Useful Posts & Advice, Give it a read.

Covey wrote: »

How do you access the events calender, anyone?

ThOnda wrote: »

Why this question? To save time. To you and to all boards members.
There are many questions you can ask yourself and you won't need anybody's help. Those questions are for you to realise, what type of camera you want. And if you cannot decide, don't hesitate to ask. But most of the time you should be able to find the right answer.

And once you know what type of camera you want to buy, question What camera to buy is more than appropriate. So I won't mention any brand names or camera names.

The first and the most important question is not how much you want to spend. That would wrong. That would be like going to buy a car and the seller would ask you about your budget without asking whether you need four wheel drive to tow a horse box or just something small for commuting and shopping.

So the question is what would you like to do with your camera? I know, taking pictures could be the answer. But that answer won't help you in the decision making process. It is important, maybe even essential, to realise what will be the main purpose of purchasing and having camera.



To give you few hints, there are some typical user groups (and targeted products as well):

• Occasional snaps of friends, family and visual reminders of visited places.
• Camera to be carried all the time to produce pictures both for e-mails and prints.
• Requirements of good picture quality as well as variable focal lenghts.
• Interest in photography that requires full controll of the camera.
• High requirements on picture quality and very fast reaction times.
• And so on and so forth...

To make it easier (for me), I will type something about camera levels.

Mobile phones
I don't like it, however built-in cameras in mobile phones are getting better and better. Higher resolution, built-in lightning, bigger memory cards in phones.
Typical use: Making snaps of your friends, colleagues and some interesting places and things you see. Sharing pictures mostly by e-mail or smaller prints.
Advantages: Small, reliable, always with you and you don't have to buy any camera.
Disadvantages: Very slow reaction times, almost no control how the image is going to look, fixed focal length, very high level of noise especially in low light situations.

Basic level of digital compact cameras
Very small cameras, easy to carry them everywhere, also water proof versions. They have zoom (variable focal length), built-in flash and basic programs. They produce reasonable files for prints if you don't want to print posters.
Typical use: Walkabout camera allowing you to produce pictures of people, landscapes and details. User programs help even unskilled users to get nice pictures, so even the small ones could play with them.
Advantages: Small, cheap, acceptable picture quality, easy to use and easy to forget when you loose it.
Disadvantages: Picture quality is not acceptable to produce quality large prints (and I mean LARGE prints), shutter delay, limited control of exposure and a little poorer file compression

Sophisticated compact cameras
Small size, better image quality, bigger range of focal lengths, more control of the camera and therefore the picture, faster reactions and nicer design.
Typical use: Everything you would like to expect from camera. Allow more creative attempt to photography, image quality usually better than cheaper sisters but the design... Lots of shapes and colours.
Advantages: Very capable of good quality images, excellent for travel for their small size, some also use AA batteries. Good control of most of the camera functions, big range of focal lengths.
Disadvantages: Don't have RAW, usually expensive for their extravagant design or style. Small and easy to loose/forget. And it hurts for their prices. Don't have flash hot shoe.

Electronic Digital Single Lens Reflex Cameras - EDSLR
Bridge between compact cameras and Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras. They offer much better lenses (bigger is better, sometimes), full control of the camera and most of the time shake reduction that helps taking pictures with longer focal length or in low light situations.
Typical use: Advanced photographers for travelling, great for landscapes and multi-purpose use.
Advantages: Total control of the camera, hot shoe for external flash, lighter and smaller than SLRs, non-interchangeable lenses prevent dust from getting on the sensor, not to forget shake reduction. "Live view" as standard for all of them - you can see on the display exactly the picture you will take. Built-in flash.
Disadvantages: Small delay, non-interchangeable lenses, no battery grips and they are bigger than compacts.

Single Lens Cameras
Their users know why are they buying them. Absolute control of the camera, interchangeable lenses and lots of accessories including flash units.
Typical use: Everything you want to take pictures of. Changing lenses makes from the SLR completely different camera only in few seconds. The biggest range of lenses and focal lengths. Used for everything e.g. stills, landscapes, glamour, documentary and sports.
Advantages: As written above. Flexibility, lots of accessories (flash units, converters, macro tubes, battery grips, timers), bigger sensors provide better image quality and lower noise levels. Very very low reaction times for both shutter and focusing.
Disadvantages: Big, expensive, fragile, only few are weather proof (Pentax have those), image quality depends a lot on used lenses, image stabilisation built in only in few models (Pentax again), more models have image stabilisation built-in lenses, need more space for transport (body, lenses, flash. Live view only in the latest models. And the dust being collected on the sensor and decreasing the image quality.

Medium Format Cameras
Professional use only, prices astronomical. You wouldn't be reading this thread on this forum if you were looking for such camera.


Those types of cameras are not a law. Borders a fuzzy and lots of cameras have features from higher/lover level. It really depends on specification of precise camera.

So if you could spend some time thinking what pictures would you like to take with your new camera and what type of the camera should suit your needs, that would save a lot of questions and explanations on our forum. And that only means that you will get our responses much faster! :-)

We are happy to offer our help and opinions talking about details like what make, what model and where to buy it. Also with relevant links to comparisons and tests of cameras that should suit you and your photography.

And by the way, you could mention your budget as well ;-)