How To Pick The Perfect Digital Camera The Easy Way In Under 30 Minutes! – Part 2 of 3…

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

(Read part 1 first )

Ok. So if you followed step one you have now narrowed your choice of digital camera down to five.

Let’s say you are like most folk looking for a ‘quick’ camera solution. Odds are that you will be opting for a compact camera. (The process still applies to SLRs. But in practice if you are getting a digital slr you will love being knee deep in camera reviews anyway, and so shortening the decision process is probably more a curse then a pleasure!)

So, as of today we have those Five Point and Shoot‘ Cameras which we narrowed down in Step 1.

Here they are again:

1/ Nikon Coolpix L20 10MP Digital Camera with 3.6 Optical Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Deep Red)

2/ Canon PowerShot SD1200IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Dark Gray)

3/ Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Black)

4/ Canon PowerShot SD780IS12.1 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Black)

5/ Canon PowerShot SX20IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 20x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch Articulating LCD

The next thing to do is decide what factors are most important to you in a camera, and then prioritise them.

Typically these are going to be such factors as:

Price
Size
Make
Zoom
Color

Now, of those, probably only 2 or 3 at most really matter to you.

The first thing to do is to pick the one most important criteria (the 80-20 rule in action ).

For most people I suspect that is price.

So, simply look at the price of those 5. (Obviously these will change. But this is what they are at the moment)

1/ $79
2/ $149
3/ $263
4/ $199
5/ $369

So, if you want a camera for under $100 it is clear there is only one option out of the 5. The public are voting en-masse with their wallets for the Nikon Coolpix L20.

If you have more to spend then you have more choice. (Ferrari or Porsche??? Choices, Choices! I wish!)

You get my point. But doing this you can easily narrow the field down even further.

Size is another big consideration for lots of people. Here are the product dimensions and weights of those five cameras:

1/ Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 2.4 x 1.1 inches ; 4.8 ounces
2/ Product Dimensions: 3.5 x 0.9 x 2.2 inches ; 4.2 ounces
3/ Product Dimensions: 2.4 x 1.3 x 4.1 inches ; 7.2 ounces
4/ Product Dimensions: 3.4 x 0.7 x 2.1 inches ; 4.2 ounces
5/ Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 3.5 x 3.4 inches ; 1.2 pounds

When you look at that you quickly realise that Amazon may class the Canon PowerShot SX20IS as ‘Compact’, but really it is anything but! So if you want a small camera stay well clear.

Of the others the Lumix ZS3 is clearly heavier. But its not massive, and is still easily pocketable. But if the smallest size possible is a big consideration, then the other 3 cameras are clearly much lighter.

The make is pretty self explanatory. If you have a bee in your bonnet about a particular make. Or only ever buy a certain brand, then its easy to narrow down your list further.

If you are really itching to get ‘techy’ and into ‘Camera – In Depth Review Land’ I liked the fact that the Lumix had a Leica Lense for example.

The zoom was actually a big factor for me when I chose my latest compact digital.

I ended up opting for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 particularly because it had a 12x Optical zoom.

That has been a good choice for me. But your needs may be different.

The zooms on those five cameras are: (I am only looking at Optical Zoom here, not digital zoom as that is simply the camera guessing at what pixels to use, and not really based on what you are actually photographing)

1/ 3.6x Optical
2/ 3x Optical
3/ 12x Optical
4/ 3x Optical
5/ 20x Optical

Now, the Lumix and the Canon Powershot stand out here with their 12x and 20x optical zooms.

Obviously, if you had already discounted the Canon Powershot for being too large, then you could well already have decided (like me) that the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 was the winner

However, say you want it in a different colour to match your orange golf clubs!

Here are the colours that those five are available in:

1/ Silver, Red, Black, Blue
2/ Dark Gray, Pink/Red, Orange, Blue, Green, Light Gray
3/ Black, Red, Silver and Blue
4/ Silver, Black, Gold, Deep Red
5/ Black with Silver Highlighting

So, you would have to re-consider the joys of the Canon PowerShot SD1200IS, which is the only available camera in orange.

Ok. Right. So hopefully you have narrowed your choice down to a top one or two after thinking about those factors.

Now, in the final step three we are going to have a quick double check. Just to make sure you will be really happy with your new camera, and that it does everything you need it to

Click Here For Part 3 …

Tagged as: canon digital rebel xsi, canon eos rebel, canon powershot sd1200is, canon powershot sd780is, canon powershot sx20is, canon rebel xs, nikon coolpix L20, nikon d3000, nikon d90, panasonic lumix dmc-zs3