DIGITAL CAMERA BUYING GUIDE

And so came the day the financial book read: "You may now buy a digital camera."

If you are reading this line from your financial book too and you are in the middle of the camera buying decision process, then our dSLR camera buying experience may help you.

Our Online Digital Camera Buying Guide
Relatively unacquainted with cameras and photography, we rolled up our sleeves to dig up valuable insight in choosing and buying a camera, including the "what", "where", "how" and "how much". These were our useful research materials:


1. In What Camera Should I Buy, Photo focus mentioned budget and your goals of why you are buying the digital camera as the first few things to consider. The website also pointed out the following considerations for a photography beginner in buying a digital camera:

Regardless of budget, you’ll need to start with some basics... I am assuming you are looking for a digital camera. Few film cameras are sold these days. And the focus of our show is digital photography, so I am not going to cover film...

Now if you are serious about producing quality photography, you’ll need to invest in a 35mm single-lens reflex camera with at least one lens. Commonly referred to as DSLRs, these cameras offer speed, choice, and control. The convenience of smaller format SLRs, combined with their ability to work with affordable lenses, make 35mm SLRs the a good starting point for most types of photography.

Point-and-shoot cameras USUALLY don’t deliver enough control or digital data to deliver professional quality photos. You can get some decent images with the higher-end digital point-and-shoot cameras, and as time goes by, you’ll see more published images come from these cameras, but generally, they don’t have sufficient focal length, response or image quality. Another problem with point-and-shoot cameras is that they are often too slow for some types of photography.

Therefore, I highly recommend 35mm format DSLR. Medium and large format cameras are also an option, but not a practical one. Digital 35mm cameras offer a wider range of lenses, are usually less expensive, easier to carry, easier and faster to operate, and provide the most flexibility to photograph a wide range of subjects.

2. Top dSLR Camera Picks under Php40,000 by Yuga, who was included in T3 Magazine’s list of influential people in the Philippine techbiz, lists the following dSLR digital cameras with their features and prices:

Canon EOS 450D
12.2 megapixel
3″ LCD screen with Live View
3.5fps continuous shooting
EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens
Kit Price: Php34,000

Olympus e-420
Zuiko 14-42mm ED lens
10 megapixel
2.7″ LCD screen with Live View
3.5fps continuous shooting
Kit Price: Php33,000

Update: the Olympus E520 kit w/ 14-42mm lens is Php 30,800 at jdGoneMad

Canon EOS 1000D
10.1 megapixel
2.5″ LCD
3fps continuous shooting
EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens
Kit Price: Php29,500

Nikon D60
10.2 megapixel
2.5″ LCD screen
3fps continuous shooting
18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens
Kit Price: Php26,500


As beginners with a limited budget and a not so telephotographic photography ambitions, we decided that the Nikon D60 would suit us. But the Canon EOS 1000D just would not keep quiet. So we tried to compare and contrast them by reading their reviews.

In my next post, I will lead you to helpful reviews of the Nikon D60 and Canon EOS 1000D and you can also check out how they look like.

But if you have not decided yet in choosing between a point-and-shoot digital camera and a digital SLR camera, in the succeeding posts, we will also compare and contrast their pros and cons.

Also coming up in later posts will include locating the best place(s) to buy digital cameras at cheaper, if not, the cheapest prices in the Philippines and, of course, learning the basics of digital SLR photography.

So please, check out shootandtelldslr.blogspot.com next week for more useful information on photography.