Choosing a camera

There is more to choosing a camera than meets the eye. Most people have cameras — cameras of all sorts. Increasingly their camera is on their phone. But if you want what I call a “real camera”, here are some things to consider.

When choosing a camera, you have to know first what you want to take pictures of. As you may know, you can get a camera for $100 and you can get a camera for several thousand dollars. If you want to take casual family pictures you can get by with spending less. If you want to become a professional photographer, you will need to spend more.

Here’s a rundown of some cameras from my perspective, which is by no means all encompassing.

Phone camera. About all cell phones today have cameras, and many people take pictures with their phones. The cameras on today’s smart phones can take good pictures. There are even some classes on smart phone photography that teach you how to take even better pictures.

Point and shoot. These little cameras are exceedingly popular and easy to use. Like the name implies, you point and shoot. Well, you do a little more than that. You have to decide on a few settings, but that’s not hard to learn. The pictures are generally pretty good. These point and shoot cameras can range from under $100 to $400 and higher. I have a small Canon point and shoot and when you want basic photos with ease, this is the way to go. Say you’re on vacation and you don’t want to carry around a heavy camera, these point and shoot versions fit easily in a pocket, are light weight and good for on-the-go photography.

Crop sensor DSLR cameras. DSLR stands for digital single lens reflex cameras. This means when you look through the viewfinder and center on a subject, what you see is what you get. Without single lens reflex, you may notice your actual photo is slightly off from what you see in the viewfinder. That’s because without this single lens, you are looking at a slightly different angle from what the camera is seeing. These cameras run into the hundreds of dollars and take very good photos. Plus you can change lenses on them, which means though that you will need to invest in additional lenses if you want to shoot with some variety. Crop sensor refers to the size of the sensor in the camera. It’s smaller than that of a full frame camera.

Full frame DSLR cameras. With these cameras, the sensor has the same dimensions as 35mm film. This sensor type is what most professional photographers use. You will get more of the scene being photographed in the full frame. These cameras are considered the best DSLR and with them comes a lot higher price tag, which can range into the several thousands of dollars.