Information

This section provides information, considerations, and recommendations that may not be apparent or considered adequately in product comparison sites such as consumer reports.  Either scroll down the page to find information you're looking for, or click on one of the topic headings below.

Shutter Lag:  In the celloid film era of photography, we got used to pictures being taken the instant we clicked the shutter.  Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, digital cameras too often have a significant delay between pushing the button to take the picture and the electronics actually capturing the image.  This delay is often long enough that you don't capture the facial expression, the action, or you wanted.  Often the cheaper the camera, the longer the lag.  after a few missed shot, this annoyance can become significant.  I suggest choosing a camera with the shortest affordable lag.  If the techical specs don't list shutter lag, that can be a good indication that it's too long.  An indication of an acceptable short shutter lag is a camera that can take 3 or more pictures per second in "burst" mode.
 

startup delay:  Closely related to shutter lag is startup delay, which is the time it takes your camera to turn ON and be ready to capture the first picture.  Again, in the celloid era, we got used to cameras being ready to take a picture the moment we took the lens cap off or picked up our point-and-shoot camera.  So again, the longer it takes a camera to "boot up" the more likely you are to miss those important, spontaneous pictures.  So if taking spontaneous shots is important, look for a camera boots fast. 
 

battery life:  It seems one of the primary ways that camera companies save money is by using cheaper components that quite often are cheaper because they use lots of power, which means batteries don't last very long.  It's not unusual for a low end camera (i.e. one thats 1/2 the cost of what appears to be an identical top tier, name-brand camera) to go through a set of batteries four times faster than its brand name cousin.  If a better quality camera isn't an option, a good set of rechargable batteries and charger can reduce the total cost of owning the lower priced camera.
 

ease of use:  Ease of use includes: layout of controls and menus, their logical organization and intuitiveness, how comprehensive and readable the user manual is, backlighting of the viewscreen, if control knobs and buttons are lighted.  For example, if you take pictures outdoors at night, if controls aren't lighted, it can be very difficult to make changes (e.g. changing between auto mode, shutter priority or exposure priority modes) without using a flashlight,
 

RESOLUTION:  According to Jennifer Tanaka (Newsweek, Nov 5, 01, pag 40H) in "Pixel Envy" the following relationship exists between a CCD's pixel density and the how much you can enlarge the picture while still achieving the optimal 300 dots per inch of printed resolution.  This resolution, when printed on inkjet photo paper or a laser, will produce a digital enlargement that's as clear as a sharp photograph.

2 Mp CCD camera                         = 4-by-6   inch print
2 Mp CCD camera                         = 5-by-7   inch print
4 Mp CCD camera                         = 8-by-10 inch print

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