[Saint71]

I am currently looking to buy a digital camera so I can do things like post pictures of my computer builds. Also I am going to use it to take pictures of myself for myspace. I guess I will let my mom use it to for holiday pictures or something as well. I do understand the concept of Megapixels but I am a little confused on the zoom options. If I am going to get one I want it to be good and last for awhile. Does anyone have some opinions on what is good or where to buy.

[TimBlanchard]

with optical zoom the lens acually moves but digital zoom the camera blows it up and crops it thus reducing image quality
look for the higest OPTICAL zoom

4mp should be ok for you

[turtile]

Sony H2 - It has image stabilization & 12x optical zoom.

[wilson44512]

i use a
nikon L3 an it takes good pictuters.

link

[Mr. Switch]

Ok, TRUST ME on this one. If you can find a good camera with lower, yes lower megapixels that still offers a good zoom and close focusing distance than get it.

the reason i say lower MP and you think i'm crazy is becuase the size of the sensors in point-n'-shoot'ers are about the size of a small pinky fingernail. That means that if you got 8MP packed in there, you're going to get alot of heat and therefore you'll get images that are noisy as all {snipped} and coupled with the crappy lenses in all P&S cameras (for the exception of very few) you'll get horrible images that start to break up at anything larger than about a 5x7 print.

I'm not telling you to go out and buy an SLR (35mm or digital), but don't look at megapixels when you lok for cameras beucase that's the least of your worries. Lens quality and.....

oh forget it. I'm not fooling anyone with this. these are for junky myspace pics.

Just get the cheapest thing you can find beucase it won't matter. you'll still get junk images.

[turtile]

Originally posted by Sw1tCh[FX]
That means that if you got 8MP packed in there, you're going to get alot of heat and therefore you'll get images that are noisy as all {snipped}

Not heat but the fact that each pixel is smaller causes the noise as well as in camera noise reduction (hardware and software). The smaller the pixel, the less light each pixel can get.

[wilson44512]

a higher pixel camera is always better. its better for editing, printing an resizing. a good size for what you want to do is between 4 an 6 MP. any thing higher would be useless. for what you want to do. its best to re-size a copy of the pic you want to re-size. not the original. that way you can keep the original for editing. and for printing.
here is 2 pictures i took with a hp 3.2MP. an a Nikon 5.1 MP. i resized them to put in here. put you can see the quality difference of the 2

[turtile]

Originally posted by wilson44512
a higher pixel camera is always better.

Higher pixel quantity is not always better. A 6MP camera with large, higher quality pixels can print a 20x30 that looks perfect while a 10MP P&S will look like a pile of garbage.

[wilson44512]

Originally posted by wilson44512
a good size for what you want to do is between 4 an 6 MP. any thing higher would be useless.

[Mr. Switch]

Originally posted by turtile
Higher pixel quantity is not always better. A 6MP camera with large, higher quality pixels can print a 20x30 that looks perfect while a 10MP P&S will look like a pile of garbage.

Bingo. The test you did with the HP and the Nikon don't mean anything. They are completly different systems with different lenses and different size sensors. The difference in detail you see is not from the different sensors, it's a result from better optics on the Nikon. Notice how you see the color fringing on the tree branches? that's becuase the HP has a terrible lens attached to it that doesn't correct for that. That's also why the HP doesnt' have as contrasty of image in comparison.

My 6MP D70 will make better quality images than any 8mp point-n'-shooter simply because I have a larger sensor, and MUCH brighter and sharper lenses. I've seen 12x18 prints done by 3MP camera's that come out just as good as my D70 would - tack sharp.

Originally posted by turtile
Not heat but the fact that each pixel is smaller causes the noise as well as in camera noise reduction (hardware and software). The smaller the pixel, the less light each pixel can get.

That too. I said heat becuase the first digital camera had images that got noisier and noisier over time if you left it on beucase the sensor got hot.