5 points to buying your camera

Often, people while buying their cameras, are bogged down by analysis and confusion about what to buy. Truely so! I felt the photograph above is quite related to this topic. There are so many options in the market and they all look and claim to be the same. Wish it was as easy as peeling a banana off and moving on!
The market is loaded with options of all sorts.Where the SLR industry has been growing and touching new heights with technological advancements, the point and shoot,semi pro cameras segment have been overwhelmed. Not only the resolutions are getting better and better, but the features on-board are tempting. Ranging from complete photo editing onboard to making panorama photos with a pan can make taking photos a breeze. Full HD video recording with optical zoom could itself be the biggest game changer when you come across two choices.

So, here are my top five points for you while you decide to make a pick. Consider them as filters to apply on whatever set have you been considering:

1. Cost: The most important factor here would be cost. If i were to make a choice, i would set aside a budget first. You can not go shopping for a camera without anchoring around a certain budget else, you are entering a dark maze. So, first point to look at would be to formalize a budget. This would not only make your job easier when in market, but also ensure that you do not compare apple of oranges. Many folks would talk about comparing the features on-board on the likes of a canon 5d and a 40d when the price difference could be more than double. By most case, the companies too strategically position their products in pricing brackets and thats when comparisons would make the most sense.

2. SLR/Non-SLR: Well, this considering could even be done before costing aspect of it. Also for most of the folks, the point of inflexion between SLR and Non-SLR doesnt come during buying the camera. It happens after landing onto either side. In maximum cases, after you land into a SLR zone, seldom does one go back to the P&Ss, though there are exceptions. Think about this early if this a consideration for you. Comparisons should be much easier after you have chosen on this arena.

3. Usage/Application: This is where i believe most of the thinking needs to come into. What kind of photography does one want to get into. Ofcourse you can tackle that with the kind of lenses you would use later for an SLR, but if decided earlier, investing in a better body should go a long way. If you do a lot of night time photography, investing in a better body will provide much better light sensitivity. If you are into sports or bird photography, you should be looking at a body which has a better frames per second. Some might counter saying that they bought faster lenses to achieve similar results, but nothing can beat a combo when the body itself supports your goals. So, think about it!
4.Features: For lot of people, this does matter. For lot of situations, this does matter too. Where a simple requirement could be to get a camera to take some good photographs, having a small feature of doing basic edits to your photos on-board, can make you smile. Better ergonomics could come in handy during long shoots. advanced metering options to different photography modes to panorama builds...list is endless.Often while comparison cameras, you would land into this features battle. P&S cameras as loaded on that front. So, dont get bogged by whats on offer. First make a list of what requirements you have and then target the appropriate segment. See, what brands fulfill your needs and then get down to the bonuses you might be offered on top of those requirements. after your need is met, finding the best fit with lot of other features would be handy.
5. Future: Finally, as a word of advice, do buy your camera with a little bit of futuristic view. Though technology is changing on daily basis and there are better gadgets coming out everyday, you can beat that by buying something that should meet your needs for sometime to come. There would be no point buying something today and selling it for much lower price in 3 months period. the advancement of technology has made the resale value fall down drastically for lot of electronics, since there are better ones coming with similar or lower price tags. I would always recommend that if you can, choose a better body, buy extra memory cards or that camera bag with couple of extra spaces. These are good investments and if wisely made, should make the future and the present, a nicely captured time of your life.

Happy buying! do share what you thought about the article.