4 Tips For Buying a Digital Camera
Filed under: Lists, Tech — Malcolm Owen @ 11:14 am
I’ve been fed up with how my digital camera performs for quite a while now, so last week I decided to buy a new photographic device: the Kodak EasyShare C330. It’s got 3x Optical Zoom, 5x Digital Zoom, 4 Megapixel pictures and a tilt sensor (so the camera can tell the difference between Portrait and Landscape images).
After getting the camera, I thought there’s some information you might actually want to know concerning buying a camera, especially if you don’t know that much about the subject.
Research before buying. Get some camera magazines and check out what’s available. You might need to buy multiple magazines since there are occasions where your price range is not focused upon in that specific issue. Check the websites of manufacturers to find out the specifications. Just find out as much as you can before you go out and buy a digital camera.
Go to the shops. It sounds obvious, but there are a few things that seeing the camera itself can tell you that magazines and websites cannot. Such as how the camera feels in your hands. Or how the menu is to navigate. Or how it actually takes photographs. Most shops will be happy for you to look at the merchandise and even test them out. However, shops will not allow you to check the quality of the final image, so you will have to rely on your research for that. Actually touching the camera and finding out how it works for yourself is a fantastic indicator as to whether it’s the one for you.
Once you have found your camera, find the cheapest price. Go around the shops or go online, and find the cheapest seller of that camera. If you would prefer to get it from the shops, there may be some leeway on the price if you can find it cheaper across the street. Online haggling is pretty much non-existent, but it’s usually cheaper than the shops anyway.
Do NOT buy a memory card from the same shop as the camera. Ok, it’s not going to happen when you’re shopping online, but when in a bricks and mortar shop, do not even look at what is available to buy there and then. Some shops rely on this as their way of making money, selling a camera and then telling the customer that they really should get a memory card, and then without thinking too much about it, the customer gets the nearest one from the shelves. What you might save on the camera through shop competition, you might lose on the memory card.
Example: Jessops sell their cheapest 1GB SD card for £39.99. Crucial (at the time of writing) had a 1GB SD card for £9.99 after tax, with the option of free delivery. Due to a screw-up with the local post office, I had to collect it from the depot, which cost about £10 in taxi fares. This is still half what Jessops are selling essentially the same card for in their stores. And for the price difference, I found I could get myself a fairly decent camera bag.
