What type of Digital Camera is the best to buy? and a list of my Tips

So you want to buy a digital camera.
First I will only recommend cameras that have a solid reputation, if I don’t mention a camera it means I didn’t mention it, that’s all. Its my article and my opinion and my opinions are tainted by my own experience. I listed places to buy cameras at the bottom of this article, I have purchased more than a few things from each and will recommend them, I would gladly pay a few dollars more to the people below than some company I’ve never done business with before ( we’re talking about $200+ here, which is a lot of money to me)

I always say buy a camera from a camera company, The glass is the most important part of the camera so a Leica point-n-shoot camera is going to take better pictures than a DSLR with a Chinese lens every time. That said limit your selections to Nikon, Leica, Pentax, Canon, Fijifilm, sony, etc. (my opinion)


1. Do you need a shirt pocket sized camera?
There are lots of tiny cameras with big features. I personally prefer the cameras that don’t “grow” when you turn them on (the lens motors out) but that’s me.
2. Do you frequently find yourself too far away from the photo?
You probably need at LEAST 4x OPTICAL zoom (NOT digital zoom) 10x-12x should be considered if you’re looking at zoom at all.
3. Do you shoot indoors, in low light, or moving targets?
You need ASA 800 or faster and/or image stabilization. (better cameras shoot low light better, look at the pentax and the soney and Leica.)
4. Do you want to be able to print big 16x20 sized photos?
Or crop the photo later? Take the picture size in pixels and divide by 150 to get a good idea. a good lab can go even bigger. (you probably want six megapixel or bigger, if you will probably never print bigger than 8x10 and don’t often edit your photos you can get by with a 3.5-5 mega pixel camera. (I wouldn’t recommend less than 3.5 and 5 is much better overall if you can afford it)
5. Do you need water/shock proof?
There are several cameras made water/shock proof (bushnell sells a couple) but I would recommend one of the Nikon Coolpix models with a waterproof diver case. (see www.cameta.com) make sure you buy a camera capable of low light if you plan to take it under water.

The places I buy cameras and camera parts from are
www.SuperiorCamera.com Lee Hwy (Pentax dealer, tripods, cases, reflectors, etc)

www.DigitalFotoClub.com probably the best prices on the things they sell.

www.cameta.com best place for used equipment (good place for new and dealer demos from Nikon)

www.bhphotovideo.com B&H is the NUMBER ONE place to find anything, sometimes the other guys have a slightly better price, but B&H will have it in stock, always.

Related Resource: moving company