To start things off, this camera buying guide isn’t for everyone. People have different wants and needs, in photography. This buying guide is for people with similar usage to my own, which I will explain. If you are a person who has different wants and needs; please send an email to exclusiveview@gmail.com and tell me about your wants and needs. I am always willing to write a customized ReView.

Alright, what are my wants and usages for a camera. Well I want something small, the smaller the better. I do not like carrying around a big camera. If I still had a big camera it would sit at home like the ones I have had. I am much more inclined to use a small camera that I can just throw in my pocket.

Isn’t it true the smaller cameras don’t have as good of picture quality? Well that used to be the case. With all of our wonderful technology advancements, you can have ultracompact cameras that give an amazing picture. The biggest down side to the ultracompact cameras is that most have only 3x or 4x optical zoom.

Most of the time I am taking pictures of cars, random things that look cool, and friends at events. I would call myself a somewhat average user and I often do not need zoom. I am not a photography buff or expert, but the pictures I do take I want them to turn out good. Ultracompacts these days have really high mega pixel ratings.

Generally the higher the mega pixel rating is, the better the picture will be. However, this isn’t always the case. There are many other factors for having a good picture. The quality of the lens, the digital processor, and image sensor all play a role in picture quality. When you are spending a ton of money on a camera, you will find that the high end cameras are all very comparable. That is not true in the sub 300 dollar range, where I stay and recommend the average user to stay.

Every brand has their own names for their components, even if they do the same thing. For example, Canon uses DIGIC for the name of their image processors where Sony uses Real Imaging processor. They do the same thing, however they have a totally different name. Be sure to recognize that in your research.

Currently the price range of Best bang for your buck is probably between 200 and 300 dollars. As a general recommendation, the Canon PowerShot SD line of digital ELPH cameras is a great choice. The reason I say that, is because every single camera in that line is rated very good and they are very fast loading between shots. I am impatient, I hate waiting between pictures for the camera to load. There are some from Casio, Sony, Nikon, and Panasonic that rate very good as well but only specific models. I personally bought one of the Canon PowerShots as well as several people around me and everyone loves them. They take excellent pictures and they are very compact. Most less than an inch thick. So Canon PowerShot SD is a great way to go in the sub 300 dollar range. They have models to fit many budgets.

I am not endorsed by Canon at all, I just really like that camera line. I hope in this review I gave you some good information to help you decide on an ultracompact camera even if you do not choose the Canon. The first place I would look for information regarding cameras is Cnet Reviews, they have the most complete list of cameras with reviews out of anywhere I have seen. They also have excellent reviewers who give great unbiased opinions.

Picture thanks to Techfresh.net
For information on the cameras talked about click the links of the manufacture names above and check out Cnet Reviews.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 8th, 2007 at 11:11 am by Dustin and is filed under Dustin's View, Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.