What to look when buying digital camera

If you are thinking of abandon old school film camera and want to find a digital camera or your present digital camera is not doing its best. Here are some simple tips for beginners.

The first thing is of course the pixels. Pixels are the number of dots of colours on your photo, the higher it is the higher the resolution. Most of the digital camera this day has pixels in term of mega or one million. If you have use one digital camera before I am sure you have heard someone asking how much is your camera pixels. If you are those who is just want to take a normal photo without enlarging it 2 megapixels and higher is good. If you want to enlarge the photo in the size of A4 you have to buy a digital camera with at least 3 megapixels. If you want a bigger size of photo you have to buy digital camera with at least 5 megapixels. Sometimes you seen a word call interpolation. It written 3 megapixels and 6 megapixels by interpolation. Interpolation is a method of increasing the number of pixel artificially. The quality is not best but enough for you to get a good photo. That technology are one of those used in CSI as seen in the movie. Interpolation has its limit so it depends on how the developers improve it. Different companies have different technology and you have to be an expert to know which one works the best but for most of us we just have to listen to what it claims.

Secondly, is the optical zoom of the digital camera. Most basic digital cameras have no optical zoom but they have a digital zoom. The difference between an optical zoom and digital zoom is the resolution or the quality. Optical zoom does not enlarge the photo but it makes lights from distant object to be concentrated or absorbing more light from the object. This makes the object can be seen in detail. Digital camera enlarge the photo and it seems like it was zoomed but it is not. The object you zoom with digital zoom can be seen large but not as detailed. Typical optical zoom for a digital camera is 3x while digital zoom is 2x and 4x when playback. For beginner optical zoom of 3x is good but if you want to do more then you may consider optical zoom of 8x and higher. No matter how high the digital zoom is, it cannot be compared to optical zoom.

Next is the type of battery that the digital camera uses. The most popular battery used in camera is AA type battery. But for heavy use of digital camera you need to use alkaline batteries. Some digital cameras would not work using carbon-zinc battery or the normal battery that you bought for $1 or RM1-4 such as Everyready Heavy Duty. The most popular brand of alkaline disposable battery are the Energizer and Duracell. If you want to use rechargeable battery, the build in lithium-ion battery is a popular choice or you can use rechargeable AA alkaline battery NiMH/NiCd but I will encourage the use of NiMH because it provides higher mAh. mAh of 1800 is the least and you will need higher mAh to provide longer use of digital camera.

The features of the digital camera are also important. The most crucial feature is the night scene mode. You will need that when shooting photo in dark places. Besides if the digital camera has manual shutter, exposure and aperture option I will encourage you to buy that camera as well. Manual shutter, exposure and aperture replace the roles of all the feature such as sports, slow and night scene. Learn how to use the manual shutter, exposure and aperture enable you to take brilliant photo. Build in flash are also important but you cannot determine how flash would work in different condition. Choose digital camera which has an optional external flash socket on it if you can. If you can't it is ok.

The types of memory storage is quite important. The most convenient type of memory storage is the sd or mmc cards. But sometimes different companies uses different type of memory storage for example most of Canon's digital camera uses CF card. There are companies which uses its own memory storage such as Sony's digital camera which uses memory stick. The memory size of the card must at least 256mb or common use and at least 1gb for heavy use.

Design and size are also important when choosing a digital camera. If you want a digital camera which can be fitted in your pocket you have to choose a compact digital camera. If you do not mind about the bulky lens and size of the camera you can choose the SLR type of digital camera. SLR has no movable part as in the compact digital camera which has a movable lens. The easies way to choose whether a design is good or not is to hold it your self if you are comfortable holding it then the design is ok if you feel heavy and tired while holding the camera then it does not suit you.

Other special features are not important as it depends on each individual needs. For example Nikon's digital cameras come with a wifi connection which is benificial for website or administration relating personels. Feature such as remote controlled shutter is good for night shooting.

Accessories is an option external tools. The most important accessory is the tripod. Tripod is used when you want to shoot night scene, panorama, scenery, and self timer. Secondly, straps and bags are also important because you don't want to loose or drop you camera.

Rechargeable battery

There are many brands and types of rechargeable battery in the market. It is an option for those who want to save their cash on something else rather than buying batteries which last for only a few couple of hours. One of the most common rechargeable battery types is the NiCd rechargeable battery. It is a good choice for general purposes such as the tv remote control and the battery for clocks. If you want to use rechargeable batteries on a camera the NiMH and the Li-ion rechargeable battery is an option. NiCd, NiMH and the Li-ion are all alkaline rechargeable battery which provide higher mAH at lower e.m.f/voltage.

No matter what brand that you buy the most important thing to observe on the battery is its mAH. The higher it is the longer it will last until you recharge it again. As I mention in the earlier post the most suitable mAH of battery used in cameras or any other high energy consumption device must at least has a mAH of 1800 and higher. NiMH and Li-ion rechargeable batteries are the common ones used in digital cameras. NiMH and NiCd oftenly built as rechargeable AAs while the Li-ion is built as a built-in rechargeable battery.

The brands of rechargeable battery that I will recommend are GP, Energizer, Sony and Panasonic. The built in battery is not really built-in but it is custom made so that only the device will use that battery. Built-in battery often costly so make sure that you don't spoil it.

(photo is sample only)

Web camera

Web camera or pc camera are one of the most popular gadget used in telecomunication or surveillance. Most of the instant messenger this day has the webcam feature which allows you to start a teleconferencing. There are many webcam manufacturers in the martket. So what can we do to choose the right webcam?

Depending on the type of webcam you buy the quality of the captured video and photo differs. Most of the webcam in the market has a video capture resolution up to 640x480 pixels which is adequate for teleconferencing. Webcam usually uses a VGA CMOS sensor. Some manufactures use high quality VGA sensor which provides clearer, brighter and more vivid video or photo. There are some webcam which is able to capture still photo of resolution up to 6 megapixels by or without interpolation. If you want a webcam which able to record smooth and fast video the minimum frames per second of the webcam must at least 30fps. For typical use 15fps is good for teleconferencing while the 30fps is the best but it depend very much on your internet connection speed. If your internet connection is slow you must set the frames per second to the minimum. The frames per second mean how many frames of photo is captured in a second to form a video. The higher the frames per second the faster and smoother the video. The typical format of video used in webcam is avi which is uncompressed type of video format. Some webcam uses mpeg4 format which makes video recording on webcam has a smaller size and higher quality. While photo capture uses jpeg or bmp format. Webcam works pretty similar to digital camera which you can set the quality of video, the sensitivity, the brightness, and so on.

The extra features offered in some webcam are light, microphone, and auto-swing. Lights is not necessary but if the light condition in the room is too dim you might consider to have a webcam with l.e.d light. Webcam with in-built microphone is a good choice as you do not need external microphone which you need to clip it on your ears or place your mouse to the microphone to talk. The auto-swing feature is for those who uses webcam as a surveillance camera at house or office. It is ideal for watching kids and culprits.

Recommended brands

1. Creative

2. Logitech

3. Microsoft

4. Apple

(photo are samples only)

Referer program

Affiliates is one of the ways of earning money by showing advertisements on your website or blog. But there are another kind of program which allow you earn money through referer. Referer is basically sending a link to your friends or someone else to visit sites . Instead of showing ads to the public they use people like you to promote their site. Every people you refer will be recorded in your account. The more people you refer the more money that you will get.

Agloco is an example of referer company. It provides view bar just like tools bar on your browser but the different is the Agloco view bar contain advertisement. So each time your the users that you refer sign up, download the view bar or click on the advertisement on the view bar you will earn you revenue. Companies advertise on Agloco have to pay Agloco for certain amount of money and some of it will be given to you as a commission.

Agloco is one of the website I found when surfing the net. Other referer are google, yahoo, forex-affiliates and so on.

Motorola SLVR L7

Looks alot similar to L6 the motorola SLVR L7 offers more features and entertaining apeal. The new features added in include brigther screen, better speaker, expandable memory and contol buttons for camera. It is slightly thicker compared to L6 with the volume of 59cc and the weight of 96. Not a big change to be seen clearly. Some of the feature from the L6 can still be seen in the L7 especially the design. Eventhough it is made a little bit thicker than L6 but there are no major make-over just a few buttons that was added on the side of the phone. This phone is available in three color which is black, silver, and pink. Special editions of this phone are offered in some country which come in different colors such as the Malaysian Celcom has offered special editions Motorola SLVR L7 in red. This phone uses TFT screen with 256K colors making photo and video viewing clearer and more fun. TFT LCD screen is widely used in digital camera display, so when this phone uses that type of screen it shows that it is made for photo and video shooting. Compared to the L6 which uses 65K colors CSTN LCD screen, this phone has almost 4 times more colors which produce vivid graphic.

If you like to listen to mp3 through the loud speaker, this phone is a suitable choice for you as it has a clear and loud speaker. When listen to mp3 the bass and treble can be listened clearly without the hissing noise. Look at the size of the speaker it is slightly thinner than most cellphones' speaker. There is a minor improvement from L6.

The major improvement is in its expandable memory. Compared to the L6 it has a slot for transflash/micro-SD card up to 1gb. The expandable memory allows you to store more songs, photos, and videos. Transflash is common among the motorola's cellphones but the problem with this type of card is that it is not as common as SD/mmc which you can buy anywhere. The transflash is convertible to SD. This type of card cost more than typical SD card it is about two times more expensive.

The buttons is similar to those found in L6. All the buttons are easily pressed but the toggle buttons are rather a little bit tricky as you can accidently pressed the centre button. And the toggle buttons are a little bit too small for people with big fat fingers or thumb. New buttons are added on the side of the phone which give you more control of the volume and camera. Taking photo is easier with those button where you can zoom and press the shutter without having to stretch your finger to press the centre button.

Transfering data in the L7 is through mini USB or direct transfer to the mini SD card. You can use those to transfer songs,photos, and videos from or to the computers.

(photo is sample only)