| What Kind of Camera Should I Get? |
| The type of camera that's best for you depends on your comfort level and ability to use the camera's settings. Point and shoot: These cameras are that simple. You point them at what you want to take a picture. The camera does everything internally. You can purchase a reusable camera and reload with film or with the easy cheesy route and get a one-use disposable camera. Manual cameras: The name manual camera can be a bit of a misnomer. Some manual cameras made these days have more bells and whistles than most people need. Nearly all of the manual 35mm film cameras made today can be set to either fully manual modes or fully automatic modes. I highly recommend learning how to use a manual camera properly... manually controlling the settings yourself. I compare to driving. If you learn to drive a manual transmission, you have a better understanding of how an automatic car works. Same with cameras. If you learn to focus, set shutter speed, set aperature speed and the like, you'll understand your camera more, and you'll be able to do some funky, neat artistic things. Digital: Lots of folks, private and professional, are making the leap to digital cameras. There's an immediacy and convenience to digital cameras that film bodies just don't have. You have your pictures back instantly, and can see what needs to be changed right there on the back of your camera. Digital cameras are far less sensitive to light than film bodies, and the images cannot be manipulated as easily. But for most folks, that's just not an issue. |