Picture the Best Camera for Your Budget?

Answer 1

Digital cameras aren't as expensive as they used to be, but there are more options available than ever before. The key to finding the right unit on a budget is to take a hard look at why you need it. A lot of hobbyists love their DSLR cameras, but they aren't exactly affordable. If you carefully match the feature set of a camera to your actual needs, you should be able to come away with a unit that will satisfy your desire to take impressive pictures without ruining your budget.

Point-and-Shoot

The most affordable digital cameras are basic point-and-shoot units. These cameras don't have a lot of fancy options or settings, but they get the job done. You should look for a unit that has a 10 megapixel sensor, but be wary of cameras that seem too good to be true. If you find an especially cheap camera that has a suspiciously high megapixel count, that should serve as a warning. The sensor will typically be too small for the number of megapixels, which can cause inferior image quality.

Additional features are typically associated with higher prices, but you should be able to find a reasonably priced point-and-shoot unit that includes optical image stabilization, red eye reduction and the ability to record videos. A quality point-and-shoot camera should also have at least a 5x optical zoom feature.

Advanced Point-and-Shoot

If your budget has a little more room, you might want to consider an upgrade. Even if a DSLR is out of reach, an advanced point-and-shoot can be a perfect compromise between cost and functionality. These cameras are more expensive than basic point-and-shoot units, but they offer a greater deal of control. If that's what you're looking for, then you should try to find a unit with a wide angle lens that offers manual aperture, shutter and ISO controls.

Megazoom

Pocket megazoom cameras are another somewhat affordable option. These units are less expensive than megazoom and DSLR cameras, but most of them represent a significant step up from point-and-shoot models. They typically have narrower apertures than advanced point-and-shoot cameras, but a lot of them are still fairly versatile.