Choosing a digital camera 3: What to look for

Reading the specifications of a digital camera is meaningless unless you understand what the terms stand for. Here are some basic facts to help you:

Megapixels
If quality images is what you want, focus on the megapixels. In digital photography, the amount of megapixels on the camera's sensor determine the sharpness and clarity of your photographs. The greater the number of megapixels, all things being equal, the closer the photograph will be to the original. The size of the camera's sensor is also important because a camera with less megapixels but a bigger sensor may give better results than one with more megapixels but a smaller sensor. For more on megapixels, click here.

Zoom
This feature determines how close you can get to your subject before clicking. For most purposes a 3x or 4x optical zoom is adequate, but if you want to be able to take pictures of objects at a distance, then you should look for more zoom. Be careful about the distinction between optical and digital zoom: optical zoom provides genuine magnification, while digital zoom just enlarges a portion of the captured image artificially, resulting in a loss of quality. For more on optical and digital zoom, click here.

Image stabilisation
Some compact cameras and some SLR lenses offer an automatic picture stabilisation feature that helps produce sharper and clearer pictures by reducing the effects of shaky hands. While this feature increases the cost of the camera, it is well worth it for the difference it makes to the quality of pictures you take.

Manual exposure
Some compact cameras allow you some control over exposure (the amount of light being allowed to enter the lens while shooting) in terms of aperture size and shutter speed. If you are keen on improving your skills as a photographer and maybe moving on to an SLR, this feature will be useful. It might also allow you to shoot better pictures in low light situations without the flash, even though the range of exposure possibilities in compact cameras is considerably less than in SLRs. If you're not really interested in photography as a hobby, the auto-exposure feature on most good quality compact cameras will do a more than adequate job.

Face detection
Some new compact cameras come equipped with face detection technology that automatically focuses on faces. This is very useful if most of your photographs are of friends and family. It is also useful when you are trying to capture a face surrounded by other distracting objects such as leaves and flowers. The camera will ignore the obstructions and automatically focus on the face. You must switch off this feature when aiming your camera at architectural or natural marvels.