digital camera

In the past few years, digital cameras have really "evolved" a lot, with more powerful functions, clearer images, larger display screens and thinner volume. Therefore, perhaps while some people are still considering buying their first digital camera, many people are already considering upgrading their current digital cameras.

Now is really a good time. According to the investigation report of Olympus, in the past two years, the sales volume of digital cameras has increased by about 30%, but the sales volume has increased by less than 65,438+05%, which shows that the prices of such electronic products are declining and the technologies used are improving. In fact, in the past 65438+February, the price of digital cameras dropped by 30 dollars on average.

This article will introduce you to some basic knowledge of buying digital cameras. At the same time, it will also explain the new fancy functions of digital cameras, such as face recognition (when the lens captures a face, the camera can automatically recognize it, and automatically adjust the light, focus and flash accordingly. The target readers of this paper are not digital camera enthusiasts, but ordinary users who want to take high-quality photos but are unwilling to compete with puzzling product manuals and promotional advertisements.

Stupid camera? A stylish and exquisite camera?

When you start planning to buy a digital camera, determining your favorite model and "figure" will help narrow down your choices. Like iPod and mobile phones, fashionable and lightweight cameras are good accessories; The colors of some models are precious rose or noble blue. A key point of these exquisite model designs is that they are compact and easy to carry. Of course, their cameras are just as good: most models have 7 or 8 million pixels, more than 3 times the optical zoom lens and amazing display screens. Examples of this model are Cyber-shot DSC-T 100 made by Sony, and Coolpix S50 made by Nikon, which costs $300.

If you don't mind that the camera is "solid in your hand and solid in your bag", the fool camera should be more suitable for you. Generally speaking, the prices of these models are lower than those of their glamorous compatriots. However, their lenses are usually not completely retracted into the fuselage, and the buttons are relatively large. Fool cameras generally have optical viewfinders, which are almost extinct in those lightweight fashion cameras because of their limited size. Typical fool cameras equipped with viewfinder include Eastman Kodak's EasyShare C653 and Canon's PowerShot A460, both of which are the third kind of digital cameras, namely SLR cameras. At first, the marketing activities of these cameras have been aimed at enthusiastic photographers, and now they are also open to ordinary users. The price of SLR cameras has been reduced by hundreds of dollars in the past few years, but the starting price of many models is still around 800 dollars. They are usually equipped with detachable lenses and flashlights. Ordinary users don't have to consider this type of machine.

At present, most cameras have pixels between 6 million and 1 10 million, and cameras below 4 million are very rare. Although the higher the pixel, the higher the cost performance seems to be. For example, HP's PhotoSmart R967 has 65,438+0 million pixels, but the price is only $300. However, such a high resolution is really unnecessary unless you are prepared to make a lot of editing and huge printing of the photos.

Zoom confusion

Although the marketing strategies of most camera manufacturers are much clearer than before, some businesses still try to confuse consumers by listing only the total zoom factor of cameras (that is, the sum of optical zoom and digital zoom, which adds up to a larger and impressive zoom factor). In fact, optical zoom is the key, which is realized through the expansion and contraction of the lens system, while digital zoom only magnifies the photos through the digital system of the camera. This year, camera manufacturers also created a product category for cameras with optical zoom of 10x or 12x, which is generally called high zoom digital cameras. In fact, a camera with an optical zoom of about 4 times is enough for most people.

Cameras with this function may become more and more popular. Face recognition technology can make the camera recognize the face part in the scene and let it know that it needs to adjust the balance of color and light to capture. Sony's Cyber-shot G 1 can recognize up to eight faces in a scene; Canon's camera can take nine pictures. Anti-shake Anti-shake System (IS) was previously only seen in high-end SLR cameras. Now almost all major brands of consumer digital cameras have this function. Because if there is no optical viewfinder, the photographer must hold the camera and take pictures through the screen, which is easy to cause hand shaking, which requires an anti-shake system. Some camera manufacturers call this function anti-shake or vibration reduction. Image stabilization systems are divided into three categories: optical and mechanical image stabilization systems and digital image stabilization systems. The first two systems stabilize the image by stabilizing the camera itself when the photographer's hand shakes; The third one can improve the picture quality when the object is moving. Some cameras, such as the Olympus Stylus 760, which costs $250, have two types of IS, which means taking care of both. But if you use a camera to shoot moving objects, a digital stabilization system is enough.

Compared with last year, the price of memory cards has dropped by half. At present, the memory card with 1G capacity is only 30 dollars, and the memory card with 2G capacity of 50 dollars is even more popular, because many people like to record some video clips and upload them to the Internet to share with others. Users can easily transfer photos from the memory card to the computer through the adapter, memory card slot or U*** cable. At present, Kodak, Nikon and Sony have all introduced Wi-Fi cameras with wireless Internet access. In this way, the photographer can connect to the Wi-Fi hotspot immediately after taking the photo, upload the photo directly to the Internet, store it or share it with others, thus saving the step of transmitting the photo to the computer. Cameras with this function include: Kodak EasyShare One, priced at $200; Nikon Coolpix S50c, priced at $350; There is also Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G 1, which costs $600.

Although it is smart to add Wi-Fi function to digital cameras, it consumes a lot of camera batteries. Wi-Fi is not a necessary function, but some people may find it useful.

The battery life of digital cameras will be affected by various new functions, such as large LCD screen (especially for playing photo slides), built-in Wi-Fi, and even built-in editing system (which requires your camera and LCD screen to open for a longer time). If you seldom take photos indoors, your flash may not be used much, which helps to save battery power. It is useful to have a spare battery. For convenience, some cameras can also use ordinary batteries. The camera has a built-in editing system. The large and bright LCD screen on the digital camera makes ordinary photographers always want to share their masterpieces with others. In order to make their photos look better, camera manufacturers have prepared a built-in editing system for them, which can correct the defects of photos without using a computer. At present, big brand cameras have the function of preventing red-eye shooting, or repairing red-eye after taking pictures. Cameras from Kodak and other companies can focus, cut and panoramic mosaic, while HP cameras can also polish photos, such as removing stains and making the subject look slimmer. Nowadays, digital cameras are more and more exciting. With the built-in editing system, larger storage capacity and built-in Wi-Fi, it becomes more and more like a computer. But remember, no matter what function is added, the most important function of the camera is to take pictures.