Digital Camera Buyer's Guide

Introduction: A Fundamental Shift in the Market

In a July 2001 report, Andrew Johnson, an analyst at Gartner, said "more consumers are interested in viewing and sharing images online than getting the same output as film." This, he said, represented a fundamental shift in the market and necessitated a change in the business model for Kodak and other photo-finishing service providers. It didn't take a crystal ball to make this prediction.

By 1997, digital cameras were already outselling traditional single lend reflex cameras and the numbers were ramping up quickly. Sure enough, by 2002, digital cameras were outselling traditional film-based cameras and, by 2003, shipments of digital cameras dwarfed those of film based models, as manufacturers quickly pushed the technological envelope with ever-higher resolutions and often gimmicky features. In this report, we'll look at the trends and the technologies to help you pick the perfect digital camera.

Beyond Resolution - Visit any camera store (online or otherwise) and you'll probably notice a strong focus on the number of pixels offered by the digital cameras. While this is important, it certainly isn't the only factor to consider -- it's just the camera manufacturers' way of "dumbing down" a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo for consumers. Camera aficionados may appreciate F-stops and ISO ratings, but this stuff just sails right over the heads of average "point-and-shoot" photographers.

In fact, there are other, even more fundamental considerations that differentiate digital cameras from their film-based cousins. One of the most frequently overlooked is the "lag time" between powering up the camera and taking the first shot, and the lag time between shots. Depending on your use of the camera, these factors may be be less important to you than other considerations, but for family photo-shooting or event photography, it's frustrating to miss a great shot while the camera gets itself ready to go.

Digital cameras have recently started to take this matter to heart. The Casio QV-R40, for example, takes just .01 seconds from the time when the shutter release button is fully depressed (with the monitor screen and built-in flash turned off and focus locked) to be ready for the next shot. It starts up from a power-off state in one second flat. We think you shouldn't settle for anything much slower than that. Why let life's photo-ops pass you by? Read our special report on this topic for further details.

Digital Media - Another important factor to consider is the camera's storage technology. There are several competing formats. Here is a brief, non-technical summary of the leaders.

Compact Flash - readily adaptable to desktop and portable computers with USB-connected Card Readers or PCMCIA Card adapters, CF cards are fairly inexpensive (C$80 for 128MB or so) and likely to be among the first of the technologies listed here to be deemed obsolete. (See the xD section below for an explanation of why this isn't as bad as it sounds.)

In fact, when we surveyed the retail market in August 2003, CompactFlash cards were the only type of media listed below that were not readily found on store shelves. Capacities up to 3GB are available (although a hard drive delivers a much better cost per gigabyte!).

Note that, as is the case with other types of memory, not all cards transfer data at the same speed. "Fast Compact Flash" cards claim to offer superior performance, but don't waste your money -- you probably won't notice much of a performance difference unless you have a high-end digital SLR.

Memory Stick - This Sony-developed technology is found on most Sony cameras and VAIO PCs. Cards are not as expensive as some reports would have you suggest -- Sony brand Memory Sticks are indeed priced outrageously, but we saw 128-megabyte name-brand cards on sale for C$75 during our Aug. 2003 survey -- that's below the average price per megabyte of any of the media surveyed here. Floppy disk adapters are available, as are USB-connected card readers -- Sony even offers a combo mouse/card reader.

Memory Stick Pro - (May be) faster than Memory Stick, and capable of higher capacities. Note that some cameras, such as the Cybershot DSC-P52, support both Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro, but lack high-speed support for the latter's faster transfer rates. Capacities up to 1 GB are available.

MMC/Secure Digital - Increasingly popular on computers, PDAs and other devices. SD cards tend to be faster than MultiMedia cards and some devices, such as the Panasonic DMC-LC33, require SD media to attain claimed performance levels.

SSFDC (Solid State Floppy Disk Card) - Also known by its Toshiba brand name "SmartMedia," this technology (which, by the way, isn't that "smart" -- the cards have no onboard controller; they're just memory chips) seems to have fallen out of favor recently, but can be found in a number of products from Fuji, Toshiba, and others. See the SSFDC Forum for details.

xD - Fuji and Olympus pioneered this recent attempt at yet another "standard," which is currently among the most expensive per megabyte. The advantage? Fuji claims that cards up to 8GB in capacity are in the works. PCMCIA adapters and USB-connected card readers supporting both SSFDC and XD media are available. Even better, a CompactFlash adapter is available, allowing xD media to be used in any CompactFlash device.

Computer Connections Whether consumers are using digital cameras to capture multi-megapixel images and bring them directly into their computers, or scanning traditional prints or slides and using a computer to crop, retouch and colour-correct images, it is clear that computers are playing an increasing role in the photographic experience.

Windows PCs The latest operating systems from both Microsoft and Apple have specialized functions for digital photographers. When a compatible "USB Mass Storage" device is connected to a computer running Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, it displays a dialog box of software choices capable of handling the images on the device. One of these is Microsoft's Scanner and Camera Wizard.

It automatically grabs images from the camera and places them into a special "My Pictures" folder where they can be displayed as a slideshow, formatting for printing in a variety of formats, edited using the system's built-in Kodak imaging software, uploaded to the user's personal website or a free MSN storage area on the Internet, emailed to friends or sent out for processing as prints.

A good example of how this all works can be seen by connecting a camera such as the Fujifilm FinePix 4800 Zoom, which we tested with the final release of Windows XP. Connected via a USB cable, XP automatically recognized the camera and popped up a window asking us which software title on our computer we wished to use to transfer pictures from the camera. We selected the built-in Scanner and Camera Wizard, clicked OK and, a moment later, the images appeared in the desktop PC's "My Pictures" folder, ready for viewing, editing or the other tasks noted above.

Speaking of USB, what is it with camera manufacturers? The vast majority of cameras on the market today still don't support USB 2.0, which has been on the market for at least three years. It's on virtually every new computer released since mid-2002 and the potential benefits over USB 1.1, when it comes to transferring images, are significant. Kudos to Sony, which is ahead of the curve with its support of the newer 2.0 standard on its DSC-52, DSC-72 and DSC-92 models.

We predict that, within 12 months, every major camera manufacturer will be touting the benefits of USB 2.0 High Speed mode, and will be doing their best to convince consumers that the (non-upgradeable) 12Mbps transfer speed limit of USB 1.1 is a good reason to upgrade to a new camera. And, as is usually the case, the real story is a little more complicated to explain. For starters, most consumer-level cameras have onboard memory controllers that support only 4x or 8x transfer speeds, even when the customer buys more expensive "pro" memory cards, rated at higher speeds.

Thus, as the FAQ at The Philadelphia Inquirer observes, these faster "pro" cards do "consumer camera" users no good whatsoever, at least until they upgrade to a "pro" camera, with a faster memory controller. Memory sticks, USB flash drives such as the Crucial Gizmo!, and most other flash memory technologies used in today's consumer-oriented digital cameras write data at about 8 megabits (1 Megabyte) per second. And, although the read speed is higher, it still doesn't come close to the speed of USB 2.0's high speed data rate of 480Mbps (AKA 60MB/sec). Thus, it makes relatively little difference whether you access your flash media via USB 1.1, USB 2.0 or by means of a card reader or PCMCIA adapter. (We'll stand by our prediction, regardless.)

Software Most digital cameras also include additional photo-manipulation and/or photo management software. ACDSee, from Saanichton, BC-based ACD Systems, is a popular digital camera software and picture viewer bundled with many cameras. Our general advice is to get a camera directly supported by both Windows XP and the Mac (and, of course, whatever operating system you want to run). This maximizes your options.

Apple's Solution Mac OS X includes a feature uncannily similar to the Cameras Wizard in Microsoft's Windows XP. It automatically loads images from a connected camera (typically, interfaced to the computer via USB) and automatically copies them into the Pictures folder. From there, you can set a screensaver to immediately turn the collection into a slideshow of cross-dissolving, panning images. The company followed this up in 2002 with iPhoto, an easy-to-use utility, comprising some basic image correction tools (crop, remove red eye, etc.) a photo-book publishing utility and a photo collection management interface. It's free, but requires Apple's OS X 10.1.2 or newer.

Other Considerations There are a vast number of choices and issues to consider. It's clear there is no "best" choice. Some users demand manual controls; others want point-and-shoot simplicity. Some users will want 3-D photo gimmicks, such as those offered on many Pentax models; others may want extended exposure modes for night shots, sepia tone, in-camera cropping, TV output, audio memo modes, alarm clocks, etc., etc.

Our recommendations tend toward the practical: almost everyone is sure to want a camera that delivers the best possible image. This means paying a little more for superior quality optics and poring over as many technical reviews as you can bear. Our favorite sites for such reviews are dpreview.com and steves-digicams.com.

We look for low-noise electronics, which helps to minimize grain in low-light images, accurate colour, speedy shot-to-shot access times, a great lens preferably with autofocus assistance in low-light situations, and a good quality optical zoom.

You may or may not care about movie modes, audio recording, macro mode features and other, more esoteric features (the Pentax "slim filter" option that makes images appear fatter than usual gets our vote as goofiest feature ever), but rest assured: the features vary as widely as the cameras themselves.

You should also consider the human interface of the devices and be careful not to place too much faith in feature-comparison lists. The ergonomic design and layout of the camera are important considerations. The Sony DSC-52, for example, has a red-eye reduction mode, but it's hidden away in a menu that's far less convenient to access than the button found on many competing models. And there's no macro (close-up) mode on the unit at all, yet the camera's standard focus mode works at distances as close as 8cm -- the so-called "macro mode" options on some competing camera (or, indeed, even some of Sony's own models!) work only as close as 10 cm.

The Pentax Optio S, meanwhile, is a great looking, incredibly small camera, but almost every reviewer shares our main complaint with the unit: the four-way control pad on the back is so small, it's tricky to operate. Some models, such as the Sony DSC-V1, take things to the opposite extreme, with no less than 16 buttons on the back -- easy to press, but hard to remember.

Some cameras, such as the Pentax Optio 330L, have a Movie Mode that looks good on comparative checklists, until you realize they record movies at a low frame rate (usually 12 to 16 frames per second) with no sound. Other cams, such as some of those in the Sony DSC series, can record higher-res movies with sound up to 44 minutes long, but, when you get right down to it, are still producing motion-video output far inferior to that of even the lowest-quality digital videocam.

In short: be sure to think about how you will use the camera, when making your final decision. We're pumped about the built-in web page export option and the gimmicky but oh-so-cool background replacement feature in the Casio QV-R40, ourselves. These are gimmicks we might actually use.

Our short-list camera recommendations for Summer/Fall 2003 include: 3.2 Megapixel Sony DSC-52: Pros: USB 2.0, excellent movie mode. Cons: low-res LCD preview. Sony DSC-72: Pros: USB 2.0, excellent movie mode. Cons: grainy images in low light. Pentax Optio S:  Pros: super-small, fun features. Cons: Tiny, hard to control four-way rocker switch; expensive.

4 Megapixel Casio QV-R40: Pros: super-fast startup and image-to-image speeds. Fun image-compositing features; inexpensive. Cons: No TV out.