First let’s understand what digital photography is and what is a digital camera? Digital photography is a type of photography where user uses a digital camera for capturing an image. Digital cameras look very much like ordinary camera but there is no film in them, in spite there is a piece of electronic equipment that captures the incoming light rays and turns them into electrical signals. Light from the thing you are photographing falls into the camera lens which in turns focus it on the image sensor(CCD or CMOS), which in turns breaks it up into millions of pixels. The image sensor measures the colour and brightness of each pixel and stores it as a number. These pixels create your digital photo.
Now a question may arise that, what are the types of digital cameras and how I can decide which one is suitable for me? So, let’s have a closer look and may be it will help you to find the best digital camera according to your needs.
Generally there are four categories of digital cameras which are available in the market:
Digital SLR Cameras (Single Lens Reflex Cameras or DSLRs):
If you are a professional photographer then this type will suits you. These types of cameras are among the most versatile and expensive cameras available in the market. Here the first point to be noticed which is; these type of cameras are bigger, heavier than most other types of camera and generally bulkier so if you think of putting it in your pocket then that is completely impossible. Now comes the second important point, the lens of these cameras can be removed and changed to fit different shooting situations. There is large variety of lenses available in the market from fixed focal length 28mm lenses for wide angle shots to 200mm fixed focal length telephoto lenses for closer shooting. The lenses for these cameras are generally of better quality than other cameras which in turns result in better image quality. The third important point about these cameras is that they have larger sensor size which means they can produce better quality photographs. Now comes the last important point which is, you can switch between modes which means you can take pictures in automatic mode or in full manual mode.
Compact Digital Cameras:
If you are not a professional photographer and wants a small or compact digital camera which can fit in your pocket and purse, then this type is best choice for you. These types of cameras are the basic cameras and are also known as point and shoot cameras. They comes in variety of size, style, price and have minimum of 3x zoom lens and 12 megapixels which means that they are able to produce good-quality photographs – approximately up to 16×20 inches in size. They comes in only automatic mode which means they are ideal for beginners and can click many photos quickly, hence the name point and shoot.
Bridge Compact Digital Cameras:
If you are not a professional photographer and also not a beginner and want some controls on your camera settings, then this type will be ideal for you. As the name suggests, these types of cameras falls between the Digital SLRs and Compact cameras. They are above the compact cameras and below the Digital SLRs. In these cameras you will have control on adjustments but up to some limit not like Digital SLRs which are fully adjustable. These cameras allow the user control over certain elements of exposure settings, with semi-automatic aperture, shutter, program modes and manual mode which allows full control over the exposure settings. They have longer zoom range than compact cameras, which generally come in range of three to five zoom. They can have 30 times higher zoom range. However, the lens on bridge cameras is fixed so it cannot be changed as in Digital SLRs. The image sensor size and the lens size is also smaller in these type of cameras as compare to Digital SLRs. Bridge cameras are larger in size than compacts and are designed to look like DSLRs, but are usually slightly lighter. Some models look more like large compacts.
Mirror less Interchangeable Lens Cameras Or Compact System Cameras:
If you are a photographer who wants a full control on the camera with good image quality but with smaller, lighter and more portable size, then this type is the best option for you. In these cameras you will get full control over automatic and manual modes in the same way as in DSLRs and as the name suggests, the lens is interchangeable in the same way as that of a DSLR but are much smaller than that of a DSLR. The image sensor is of similar size in comparison of a DSLR by which it is able to take photos of a similar quality. The main difference is that these are smaller and lighter than DSLRs. The main reason behind this is that DSLR use a system of mirrors that show the scene to be photographed but in mirror less camera it is replaced by either a LCD screen or an electronic viewfinder.