More thoughts on buying a camera

New "Camera"! , originally uploaded by Shermeee.

One of my coworkers, Rosanna is buying a new camera. Her current camera is many years old and the battery won't last more than a few photos. So she has been shopping around and we've talked about different cameras she could want.

I want to talk about buying a camera... again.

After talking with Rosanna, she started her buying decision based on budget. Most people do. She is buying the camera for a trip to Italy and wants something that is easy to travel with. More specifically she wants a lot of zoom.

She's been going through lots of different cameras trying to decide on the best one. She has some pretty general wants, nothing really specific like time lapse, just a better zoom.

After talking more with her today I realized what she really wants in her camera purchase. She could be happy with any one of 100 cameras. What she really wants is to feel confident that she got the right one. So here is my buying advice for Rosanna:

1. Make a list of things you trust about your future camera. This means pick a brand you know you'll be happy with. List some features that you really like and used from your old camera. I'm going to guess that most people like me use probably five to ten features about 99 percent of the time they shoot and use the other hundred features available on the camera one percent of the time. For me It would be: Canon, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, P Mode, Macro, Timer, Video, maybe zoom, it also need to have a time lapse feature or at least have a firmware mod to add it for kite photography, or maybe flash, I try to avoid using the flash. Those features make up 99 percent of my shooting. If I bought a camera that was missing one of those features, I'd be quite unhappy with that camera.

This will be the "meat" of your camera finding. Once you got your list made, and your budget set then...

2. You should be able to narrow down your list to just a few cameras. Use this fantastic tool to find all the cameras with your features. I love this tool on DPreview.com. Then you can pick based look and feel etc.

3. Pick one you like best.

4. Find the best deal on that camera. Stop second guessing, stop looking at the green grass on the other side of the fence. If you really went through your list from #1 you will be very happy with the camera you get.

How to buy a camera

My Aunt Liza just bought a camera. A Nikon D90. A great choice, for her, though not for everyone. The reason it was a good choice for her was that she had done her research and knew what she wanted. She sent me a list of cameras that she was thinking about at varying cost. It was obvious from our conversation that she really wanted the D90, it had everything she wanted and by looking at her other choices on the list. I knew that she was very interested in photography and moving up to a more deluxe model. She was however hesitant based on the price, but I know she'll love it.


photo credit: Miriam Lovell

My goal is not to pick out the best features for you and your camera but offer a decision making process.

Buying a camera can be daunting if you have a limited budget. Especially when there are probably more cameras on the market than there are dollars in your budget to buy one.

The biggest problem when buying a camera: not knowing what you want.

So here is my advice.

1. Decide on features first
Set aside the price, for a moment, then write down all the features you want. If you can't think of very many that's fine. If you need a zoom lens because you love to photograph wildlife, write it down. If you have kids and you want something that will do video as well as photos, write it down.

2. Make a list of cameras with those features
Find a camera and brand that you are satisfied has all the features you want. If you need help I like to use the the feature search from dpreview.com. The dpreview.com list is more technical in nature, and I recommend it for those reasons. If you can translate your needs into technical features, go there.

Make a list up to about four cameras, that have these features. Rank them based on how cool it looks or size that have all the features you want.

3. You should buy the camera at the top of your list
Plain and simple. But, this isn't always feasible. You may want a $4,000 camera, but only have $200. Point-and-shoot cameras still have shutters, sensors and lenses, you'll just have to scale back the quality until you can afford it that expensive dream camera.

4. Find the best deal on that camera
Shop around.

If you follow these steps you can take all that emotion out of trying to figure out if you are getting the best features for the best deal. Because you already know what you want.