Researching buying a digital camera, I realized how convoluted and baffling the world of high-tech has become. It seemed like every digital camera review had something different to say, and every week there was some new feature that was a must-have on all new digital cameras. There were digital camera user reviews, written by people who understood the technology poorly and were either hopelessly over-impressed by standard features, or hopelessly un-thrilled because they didn't understand how to use the cameras that they had. There were digital camera pro reviews by professional photographers who had much different expectations than I did, and who were able to notice distinctions that I surely would have missed. In short, there was no way to get information from an expert writing for laymen. Either I would make a blind purchase, or I would have to find another source for my digital camera review information.
What I didn't realize was this: the reason that there were so many digital camera reviews was because there are so few features that are really crucial for digital cameras. You heard me right – I said so few features. Basically, digital cameras need about three qualities. They need to be well made, they need to have high resolution, and they need to have a variety of different lenses available. Everything else is just icing on the cake. Some of the digital camera review websites focus on features like digital zoom, but digital zoom is simply an advertising gimmick. A high-quality digital camera will have optical zoom. If it doesn't have optical zoom, it will have a lens available for it that does. You don't need to look through every digital camera lens review article. You simply have to choose a camera that has been made by a company that makes other high-quality photographic equipment. Usually, all the lenses will come in a standard format that can fit any of their products.
Basically, there is no need to look for digital camera review articles. What you do need to do is figure out what your needs are. If all you intend to do is to take 3 x 5 glossy photos of your family, practically any cheap digital camera on the market will do. If you want to be able to blow up and manipulate those photos, however, you should buy a high-resolution one from a respectable company. If you fancy yourself a serious photographer, you need to buy one that has fittings for new lenses. That's all there is to it!
