Undoubtedly What camera should I buy? is one of the most recurring questions, and send us the most, when someone asks for advice on topics of photography. A question, difficult answer, even more so, a priori, we know the concerns of those who posed photo.
So today we do, again, an effort to try to steer the difficult decision that any fan will come at some point in their lives gadgetera.
Try to make a structure, feature by feature , with emphasis on what we look for in terms of what ye like, you find your ideal camera.
1. Megapixels
See, I’ve said many times, the megapixel is not the most important feature of a camera , therefore, ignored, relatively, this feature. Nearly all cameras on the market currently exceed the 10 megapixels , more than enough for any normal user.
Megapixels, the final analysis, the only thing we provide is the final size of the photo, so you should only have it in mind if you plan to make enlargements of your photos. And when I say big enlargements, I do not mean photos 20 × 30, but really large prints (poster size, and up).
The only benefit we can bring extra megapixels to spare have the opportunity to reframe the photos to post our favorite editing program, which again is a consequence of size.
What we look for when buying?
Well, when buying a camera, the megapixels we just take them into account. If we seek a compact or bridge, 8-10 megapixels are more than enough and probably the sensor provides a better response than if we opt for more.
In an SLR is different, but not much, 10-12 megapixels is also sufficient for 95% of users, unless you pretend papering our room with the photos, but I think that is the case.
2. The objective
The goal, however, if it is a very important point to consider and we need to look at several things:
The focal range is, which is the lowest position and maximum zoom position, which will give us the coverage we have with the camera. If we cover a lot of field of view look low numbers (the lower, more field of view) and if we take pictures at a distance, look for high numbers. Always have to look at the 35mm equivalent focal range , to compare the different cameras.
For example, a camera with 24-120mm focal range covering more field of view that a 36-180mm, if however, the latter, will go further when we focus on a distant object.
The optical zoom , which is given by the focal length of which we spoke before the zoom is sold to us by manufacturers. If we continue with the examples above, the 24-120 mm lens will have a 5X zoom (24 × 5 = 120), as well as the 36-180 mm (36 × 5 = 180), however, has more angular (more coverage) and a more telephoto (we can frame distant objects).
For all that is important to know that our goal has focal range, so being able to choose, what your interest, a good angle, a good TV or a consolidation of the two.
On the other hand, always set at the focal lengths and optical zoom, digital zoom ever , it is useless (if you stretch professional is how to post the picture on the PC and recortáis).
The brightness is the third point to consider in order, especially if we like to take photos in poor light conditions, or do not like using the flash.
And as we know the brightness of the lens? because through the f number, which you can also see in front of the lens and the camera features. The lower the f number, the greater the amount of light entering the sensor and therefore less light you need. And against greater numbers f, less light will be.
In this feature no doubt, the lighter the better, although it is a feature that is often enough to affect the price of the camera.
Finally we also need to know the quality of the lens , which is ultimately the most influential features in picture quality, but this is a tricky point. The most reliable, is perhaps, first check out the photos at full size online, in flickr for example, or in the pages that perform in-depth analysis, and other trust mark of outstanding quality, as Leica or any of the big names in photography.
What we look for when buying?
For once we know the characteristics of the objectives seem clear, but for that we need to know what type of photography we like it or intend to do.
If you like landscape photography, for example, look very wide angle lenses. If we use a lot of the camera in low light (indoors, night shots, etc..) Seek a fast lens (low F values). If you want a versatile camera, look for a camera with optical zoom focal range covering much, etc …