Buying a Camera
Contents
1. e http www photocourse com e http www shortcourses com Extension Click to view a PDF document on how copyright law protects EDUCATORS photographers and other artists PhotoCourse and Short Courses books are used by hundreds of schools major camera companies police and military training programs If you are an instructor you should know that special Extension pricing is available for classroom use Click to view a PDF For details on using this and other texts in the classroom please document on how call us at 781 631 8520 Boston Massachusetts USA time copyright law protects photographers and other artists 2 FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM BUYING A CAMERA BUYING A CAMERA AND OTHER EQUIPMENT Buying a digital camera or other photographic equipment can be confusing at best Here are some of the rules of the game and places where you can do more homework right from your desktop Why drive from store to store or fight the crowds at photo shows when you can just click your way around the digital imaging world THINK ABOUT YOUR INTERESTS If you re buying a digital camera for the first time you can quickly get lost in the details there are lots of them However before looking at specifics you should think through how you want to use the camera and its photos e Will you be shooting indoors This will determine the quality of the flash you need2. An Extension t The Textbook of Digital Photography Buying a Camera DESETE GUUn Gama HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM HTTP www PHOTOCOURSE COM BUYING A CAMERA SHORTCOURSES AND PHOTOCOURSE PUBLISHING PROGRAMS Short publisher of digital photography books textbooks and guides to specific cameras Be sure to visit the Short Courses bookstore at http www shortcourses com bookstore book htm One of our specialities is high quality easy to follow camera guides so be sure to visit the store to see if there is a guide to your camera If you find any errors in this book would like to make suggestions for improvements or just want to let me know what you think I welcome your feedback even though I can t always respond person ally S Courses the parent site of PhotoCourse com is the leading ConTACT FEEDBACK INFORMATION ShortCourses com 16 Preston Beach Road Marblehead Massachusetts 01945 E mail denny shortcourses com COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 2007 by Dennis P Curtin All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976 no part of this publication or the resources to which it links may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher Wes SITES To learn more about digital photography visit our two Web sites
3. e Will you be photographing static scenes such as home interiors or action shots such as sports This will determine the best viewfinder and lens e Will you be photographing wide angle scenes such as landscapes and home interiors telephoto scenes such as portraits or close ups such as flowers stamps and coins This will determine the focal length of the lens you need and whether you need a zoom lens auxiliary lenses or macro mode e Are you a casual user or a serious amateur or professional photographer This will help you determine how many manual controls you ll want e Will you print the photos as snapshots enlargements or embed them in word processed or desktop published documents Or will you publish the images on a Web page e mail them to others or include them in a presenta tion This will determine the best resolution for your situation DECIDE ABOUT SIZE One way to think about cameras is to divide them into those that fit in your shirt pocket and those that don t This is really a key decision because those that don t fit in your pocket hang around your neck The larger cameras may offer more features but will you want to carry them with you There are a few cameras that fall somewhere between the extremes and will fit in a coat pocket or purse so you may want to consider one of those if you remain undecided DECIDE ABOUT LENS Most digital cameras come with a zoom lens that is built into the camera and can t
4. expensive to repair The cost of a repair can equal or exceed the original purchase price If you want peace of mind you may want the warranty even though it s almost certainly overpriced CHECK RETURN POLICIES RESTOCKING FEES When you buy a camera from a reputable dealer you expect to be able to re turn it if you aren t satisfied Some dealers try to discourage this by charging a restocking fee for returned merchandise This is always explained as a way to recover their costs of checking the merchandise and restoring the packag ing you may have opened If a dealer requires a restocking fee my advice is to find another dealer Buy No Extras Buy no extras without doing research A few dealers low ball camera prices and make their profit on the other higher margin things they include in the package I can assure you that the lens cleaner cheap camera bag and poorly made tripod won t be worth what you are asked to pay for them FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM
5. used camera but for new cameras stick with established dealers If you do buy on eBay always check the seller s rating One as high as 90 still means they leave a trail of 1 out of 10 custom ers unsatisfied When buying a used SLR also be aware of the possibility that it has dust on the sensor VISIT TRUSTWORTHY STORES When buying camera equipment it s usually a big mistake to go for the low est price This is where the scam artists operate They achieve exceptionally low prices only through deceptive or consumer unfriendly practices some of which are described in this section All reputable dealers offer prices grouped in a very narrow range perhaps within 10 of each others on a 400 camera This is because the margins are so low most are selling at just above cost to be competitive The two stores where I do 90 of my buying are e Amazon www amazon com isn t the best but I love the way they give user reviews and rank sales of all camera equipment I also love one click buying because I don t have to find my wallet Just be aware that Amazon lets other stores sell on their site and some of those are unbelievably bad e B amp H Photo and Video www bhphotovideo com is the store for profes sionals and they take their reputation very seriously In the small circle of professionals bad business practices will kill a company very quickly as word gets around It is in this discriminating market where B amp H thrives The B amp H
6. be changed The optical zoom ranges on these lenses are between 3x and 18x but ranges will increase over time Ignore digital zoom except for movies If these zoom ranges are great enough for what you plan to do a fixed lens camera might be perfect for you If you think you may have special needs or want the best possible optics an SLR with interchangeable lenses might be more appropriate DOWNLOAD THE MANUAL Nothing explains the features of a camera better than the user manual that comes with it Many camera companies also post these on their Web sites in the PDF format Look for the manual in the site s Support section or google FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 3 BUYING A CAMERA it If you can t understand the manual go to www shortcourses com to see if they have a guide to the camera They are much clearer CHECK NEW MODEL PLANS Digital cameras generally go through model changes or upgrades every 18 months or so being renamed sequentially something like 10D 20D 30D and so on It helps in two ways to know when the next upgrade is expected First prices on the current model usually drop just before a new models comes out as stores clear out inventory This is an opportunity to save some money especially since the industry is maturing and changes from model to model are not as great as they once were Second some dealers sell old models at full price right up to and past the date new mode
7. business is run by people whose religion dictates that they not do business on the Sabbath so the store won t even take orders from sundown Friday to sun down Saturday You have to respect this way of doing business and in some cases delay your order by a day They frequently make up for it by getting things to me long before I expect them and it s not just me it s everyone WATCH OUT FOR UNBUNDLING When you buy a digital camera the basic package almost always includes extras such as a battery charger lens cap batteries and software One of the more disreputable practices a dealer can engage in is called unbundling These dealers remove items from the package and sell them separately To FOR MORE ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW SHORTCOURSES COM 5 BUYING A CAMERA find out what should be included in the package visit the camera manufac turer s Web site and check their specifications page The included items are almost always listed The user s guide that comes with the camera may also list the items that should be included as part of the camera s price Avoip Gray Market PRODUCTS When camera companies introduce new cameras they frequently use dif ferent product numbers names and prices in different markets around the world Some dealers buy cameras in countries with the lowest prices and then sell them in another country Since these cameras are bought and sold out side of the manufacturer s normal distrib
8. ls are introduced It s helpful if you know the true facts when negotiating a purchase You can find infor mation about new models on camera company Web sites in their News and Press sections and on Web sites devoted to digital camera news and reviews CHECK CAMERA SITES Because digital cameras draw on two worlds photography and comput ing the old distinguished names in photography have been joined by a host of new competitors such as Sony and Hewlett Packard The result is a very crowded market The field of digital photography is now maturing and a shake out has started Some of the existing companies will leave the field as Konica Kyocera and Minolta have done unable to compete in such a fast paced market Until then we will all benefit from the battle between these companies because it leads to better and cheaper cameras It s also an enjoyable spectator sport once you have an understanding of what s going on However you may not want to buy a brand new camera from a company that is then bought by another company or just quits the business Check camera company Web site news sections That s where you will find press releases for new cameras that are not yet listed on their Web site e Canon www powershot com www canon com e Casio www casio com e Epson www epson com e Fuji home fujifilm com e Hewlett Packard www hp com e Kodak www kodak com e Leica www leica camera com e Minox www minox com e Nik
9. on www nikon com e Olympus www olympus com e Panasonic www panasonic com e Pentax www pentax com e Ricoh www ricoh co jp r_dc e Rollei www rollei de e Samsung www simplyamazing com e Sony www sony com e Vivitar Www vivitar com CHECK DISCUSSION FORUMS Discussion forums are where people post messages and get responses on a wide variety of topics e Photo net www photo net has been around for years and has gracefully FOR MORE ON TEXTBOOKS IN DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT HTTP WWW PHOTOCOURSE COM BUYING A CAMERA made the transition from film to digital e Digital Photography Review www dpreview com is a popular site with forums on a wide variety of topics CHECK CAMERA NEWS amp REVIEW SITES There are a number of very good news and reviews sites on the Internet Two that have been around for a long time include the following e Steve s DigiCams www steves digicams com run by Steve Sanders is an outstanding news and reviews site e Digital Review www digitalreview ca is a Web site we have worked with for a long time EXPLORE ON LINE AUCTIONS There are people who swear by Web auctions specifically eBay as a way to get the lowest possible price The problem is that sellers put together pack ages that benefit themselves more than you They toss in cheap bags lenses filters tripods and what all to drive up the price If you can isolate out a pri vate party you might get a good deal on a
10. ution channels prices may be lower but you almost always lose warranty coverage and technical support CHECK Postage RATES AND SALES TAXES When purchasing a camera you have three components of the price to consid er the camera price postage and handling and taxes When you purchase over the Web or by mail order from an out of state company you and not the dealer are responsible for paying state and local sales taxes Most people aren t aware of this responsibility or choose to ignore it When it comes to the price and postage and handling however the dealer is in control Many dealers lower the price to make the camera more attractive then increase the postage and handling charge to boost their profits With the popularity of Internet sites and low margins the temptation to do this is even stronger Be sure you check and compare these additional costs and take them into account when comparing prices Most companies have deals with firms such as Federal Express so their costs are 10 15 or so for second day shipments Anything over and above that is pure profit to the dealer Avoip EXTENDED WARRANTIES Hesitate before accepting extended warranties Every knowledgeable con sumer expert I ve ever read says it s better to gamble Most of a company s profit is in the sale of these warranties so they press and press hard Your job is to resist and resist hard The only thing to keep in mind is that digital cameras can be horribly
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