Top 5 Cameras for Digital Photography Beginners

With all the choices available, shopping for digital cameras can be overwhelming. We've like to make it easier for you.

If you're in the market for a digital point-and-shoot camera for a beginner, here are 5 models we found which are highly recommended by the leading websites on digital photography.

These cameras are compact, easy for a beginner to use, yet has enough features for a budding digital photography enthusiast. They're also price reasonably for someone who's still exploring the world of digital photography.

Of course, the camera can only do so much; the quality of a picture still depends on the skill of the photographer. Make sure to claim your copy of "Shoot Digital Pics Like the Pros," to get professional photography tips and tricks. It's a totally f-ree report.

Here's our top 5 cameras for digital photography beginners:

1. Canon Powershot A1100 IS

A top choice in many digital photography sites. It takes 12.1-megapixel photos and includes all the features beginners will appreciate, such as shooting modes that automatically select the right settings, Face Detection Technology, and Intelligent Contrast Correction. Yet other modes will allow the shooter to select his own settings for exposure, shutter speed and other variables. And at only a little over $100, this is one affordable yet powerful camera.

2. Panasonic DMC-FS25

Another 12.1-megapixel camera that gets consistently high ratings from photography sites. Aside from face detection and intelligent ISO control, the Panasonic DMC-FS25 allows the user to lock focus on a moving subject. The shutter release is ultra-fast, with a time lag as little as 0.006 seconds. At the ISO 6400 setting, you can take pictures even in almost total darkness.

3. Casio EX-FC100

This 9.1-megapixel camera bosts of high-speed burst shooting, which lets the user take 30 shots per second - great for sports and other action-packed photography. It also records HD video and features fast uploading to YouTube.

4. Sony Cybershot DSC-W290

This camera's Intelligent Auto Mode, Intelligent Scene Recognition and Face Detection Technology make picture-taking foolproof even for the rank beginner. It even has Anti-Blink Function, which helps keep subjects from blinking, and warns the photographer when a subject has blinked. It has a range of other features, including 13 photo modes, image stabilization and a 9-point autofocus. This 12.1-megapixel camera also takes HD video.

5. Nikon Coolpix L100

This is a 10.0-megapixel camera with 15x optical zoom. The Smart Portrait System lets users take portraits without the dreaded red-eye, which the camera fixes automatically. It also has face-finding technology, so faces are always in focus, a Smile Mode, which shoots the picture when the subject smiles, and a Blink Warning, which lets the user know when the subject blinked. Other features include image stabilization, high-speed shooting, low-light shooting, and Sport Continuous Scene Mode of up to 13 frames per second.

Hopefully this list will help you find the perfect entry-level camera. Compare the features with your digital photography needs and, of course, your budget, to find the best point-and-shoot camera for you.

Even professional photographers use these compact cameras for situations when they cannot lug around a huge digital SLR camera. So don't think that using one of these makes you an "amateur."

The proof is in the picture. And if you'd like to take professional-looking pictures, then download your f-ree copy of the report, "Shoot Digital Pics Like the Pros."

The Photo Trinity

Wikipedia defines photography as:

"[...] the process, activity and art of creating still or moving pictures by recording radiation on a radiation-sensitive medium, such as a photographic film, or an electronic sensor."

So, what is this "radiation" mentioned here?

LIGHT.

That's why images captured by cameras are called "photographs", a word coined in 1839 by Sir John Herschel based on the Greek φῶς (photos) which means "light", and γραφή (graphé) which, in this case, means means "drawing".

Now, capturing a "correctly exposed" image is all about letting just the right amount of light to hit/reach the film (or sensor in digital cameras). And, there are three things that allow you to do that. They are the shutter speed, the aperture, and the ISO.

These three things always work together, in a sort of balancing act. Allow me try to illustrate to you what I mean.

Let's say a camera has already been set to take a correctly exposed picture of a scene. If you change the setting of one of those three things (the aperture, the shutter speed, or the ISO), you will need to also change the settings of either or both of the other two. Let me show that to you graphically...

The blue horizontal line in the image below represents our "correct exposure". I have lined up the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO on that line to represent that their combined settings produces a correctly exposed picture. This will serve as our "original" setting. (Note that this does not mean that they are set to the same values as they are measured in varying units).

If you reduce the aperture opening, you will either have to use a longer shutter speed or use a higher ISO to maintain the same exposure as the original setting (as shown below).



In some cases, like if you reduce the aperture opening even further, you MAY have to increase both the shutter speed and the ISO to achieve the same exposure as the original setting (as illustrated below).


So, like I said, it's a delicate balancing act.

Remember those three things--aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

Of course, the camera can only do so much; the quality of a picture still depends on the skill of the photographer. Make sure to claim your copy of "Shoot Digital Pics Like the Pros," to get professional photography tips and tricks. It's a totally f-ree report.

You're probably wondering now, if your camera has already been set to take the correct exposure, WHY ON EARTH would you want to change the settings?!

Aah... I'll be talking about that in some future posts.

'Til then.