How to Compare Ultra Compact Digital Cameras

The digital camera industry offers three sub categories for digital cameras. These three categories are advanced models, point-and-shoot models and ultra-compact models. Ultra-compact models refer to digital cameras less than 1 inch thick, and these models are generally user friendly but don't offer a lot of additional features, so it's wise to compare different models before you buy.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Get the basics. A good digital camera should have a 6 to 8 mega pixel resolution for optimal photo quality. This will allow you to reproduce the image at a larger size without losing resolution, and also gives you the freedom to crop photos without having the cropped area appear fuzzy or pixilated.

2. Compare optical zoom capabilities. Digital zoom capacity is fairly useless in determining the zoom quality because digital zooming quickly kills the sharpness in a photo while a good optical zoom feature is vital to magnification. Choose one with no less than 3x zoom. More than 10x zoom capabilities really isn't necessary.

3. Pay a little extra for handy features, but avoid extra features that you won't use. Image stabilization is a wonderful feature that will improve the quality of every shot, but face recognition technology and wide-angle technology may not be worth the extra cost. Also look for video mode, a larger LCD display, low-light mode and outdoor mode as well as a longer battery life.

4. Look for an ultra-compact model that blends small size and convenience with point-and-shoot user-friendliness. Models range from $100 to over $1,000, but you can find a great camera for around $200 if you shop wisely.

Resources

• Compare ultra compact digital cameras at Consumer Search.