Expert: John Oliverio - 4/17/2006

Question
Hi There,

I am an Avid Trekker and I indulge in treks  in areas like Hills, mountains to sea sides.

Coming to my query I am planning to buy a good digital camera , which would give me best pictures in any climate/ senario.

Coyuld you advise me what should I look for while I buy the camera- like shall I go for Megapixels or shall I go for optical zoom?

and what do you think would be the best combination. Espcially for outdoors.

Thanks
Vinod

Answer
The number of pixels really has nothing to do with where you are taking pictures.  The pixels bear on how large you can print.  The amount of zoom you need depends on wether or not you need to shoot things from far away.  There is no reason you can't have a lot of pixels and a big optical zoom.  Canon makes a camera called the S3IS that has 6 million pixels and a 12X optical.  I know 6 mega-pixels doesn't sound like much when you are probably seeing 8 and 9 mega-pixel point and shoot cameras.  But consider this:  You must quadruple the number of pixels to double the resolution of an image.  So the difference between 6 and 8 isn't all that great.  Picture quality is really determined first by the quality of the lens, then the quality of the chip (pixels) and the AD converter (which processes the picture).  I don't know what your budget is, but I tell everyone they should at least consider a digital SLR.  The lens quality is much better than those on a point and shoot or bridge camera.  Nikon makes a camera called the D50 which can be had new for around $799.  And I've seen re-conditioned ones for as little as $599.  (U.S. dollars)  I've got a 6mp digital SLR (D70) that I routinely use to make 13x19 inch prints.

John