- In this report
- Overview
- Don't buy too big or too small
- Don't overspend on megapixels
- Weigh zoom range trade-offs
- Consider reliability
- Choose your time and place
- Brands
- Face detection
ELECTRONICS FORUMS  Get real-world advice from others about choosing a new TV, digital camera, computer or cell phone. |
November 2007
Digital cameras
More fun and features for less
CR BEST BUY The Samsung L77, $250, offers 7-megapixel resolution, an electronic image stabilizer, and a nonprotruding 7x optical zoom—rare
in a camera less than an inch thick.
This season, you'll see small cameras not only in sober black and silver but also in hues such as Wasabi Green and Sunset
Orange.
You'll also find even modestly priced models with features such as image stabilization, which can compensate for camera shake and minimize blurring, and face detection, which aids in portrait shots. The touch-screen technology found on the iPhone and other smart phones is showing up on the LCD screens of more digital cameras, and those screens are getting bigger.
Prices have dropped, too, especially for compacts and SLRs. Two compacts priced at or near $200 are among the CR Best Buys in our Ratings (available to subscribers). And you can now find respectable compacts with familiar brand names for less than $200. There are also more digital SLRs (available to subscribers) priced under $1,000, including two head-to-head competitors that cost $600.
You can't always depend on salespeople to help you choose the right camera. Readers indicate that the quality of in-store help is all over the map. Indeed, when our reporter shopped at mass merchandisers, as many consumers do, one salesperson told him that there is no difference between digital and optical zoom (optical is far more useful). Another couldn't explain the differences among mechanical, optical, and simulated image stabilization (optical and mechanical are superior). A third suggested that our reporter go to a competing electronics chain for answers to his questions.
You'll also find even modestly priced models with features such as image stabilization, which can compensate for camera shake and minimize blurring, and face detection, which aids in portrait shots. The touch-screen technology found on the iPhone and other smart phones is showing up on the LCD screens of more digital cameras, and those screens are getting bigger.
Prices have dropped, too, especially for compacts and SLRs. Two compacts priced at or near $200 are among the CR Best Buys in our Ratings (available to subscribers). And you can now find respectable compacts with familiar brand names for less than $200. There are also more digital SLRs (available to subscribers) priced under $1,000, including two head-to-head competitors that cost $600.
You can't always depend on salespeople to help you choose the right camera. Readers indicate that the quality of in-store help is all over the map. Indeed, when our reporter shopped at mass merchandisers, as many consumers do, one salesperson told him that there is no difference between digital and optical zoom (optical is far more useful). Another couldn't explain the differences among mechanical, optical, and simulated image stabilization (optical and mechanical are superior). A third suggested that our reporter go to a competing electronics chain for answers to his questions.
