The Best Digital Camera Deals For 2009

The way things are these days, it's not surprising that people are careful about the money they spend. Especially on tech gadgets like digital cameras. Well, I think we've established the importance of your money, even when looking for digital cameras. You can, of course apply this thinking to whatever your purchasing, but for this article, looks focus primarily on getting a good digital camera. If there is one thing constant with our world, it is that things are forever changing. Especially in the world of tech gadgets. For the gadget geeks, this is fascinating time to be living in.

The constant change, new features, and cool functionality is like a drug to them. I must admit to get caught up in it sometimes myself. Trying to keep pace for the average consumer, is not always as much fun.The typical digital camera consumer, however, doesn't really have time for all this cool stuff though. They're more interested in the practical side of cameras. What they want to know, is can the camera I'm buying do what I need it to do. All the technical speak can just be ignored. While camera manufacturers are more than thrilled to be introducing new models to their already bloated camera product lines, it's really unnecessary.

While digital technology has brought some nice features to the average photographer, what makes a good camera really hasn't changed much over the years. A good lens, solid construction, and buttons that are easy to use.They've never had so many reasons to release so many new models with so many new bells and whistles. Mind you, some of them are great, but some features are just plain useless. While the bad news, may be that technology is overwhelming for the average consumer, the good news, is that you can use that same advanced technology to make your buying decision easier.

I'm talking about all the wonderful shopping and comparison websites, that can make buying your next camera an easy experience.Not only will they compare prices, but you can query these tools by feature as well. You can ask for example for the top rated Canon SLR cameras with 10 megapixels, a wide angle lens, in the 600-900 dollar range. These kind of tools can significantly shorten your search time, and alert you to some really good bargains in one fell swoop.

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A Glimpse of Underwater PhotographyA Glimpse of Underwater Photography

Are you a diver? Have you ever thought of showing what you see underwater to your friends? How does underwater photography work anyway?It was said that underwater photography started around 1800 when William Thompson took an underwater photograph with a camera mounted on a pole. But it was not until 1957 that underwater photography started to bloom when the first waterproof camera was invented.

As good as a waterproof camera may sound, underwater photographers nowadays generally use a casing to protect their camera so that they don't need to have two cameras for land and underwater. Furthermore, these casings are usually made of plastic so they are light in weight and your wallet.

And to make underwater photography more enjoyable, compact digital camera manufacturers nowadays are looking into the possibility of water resistant camera. Very soon, you will see cameras that have stronger water resistant capability and good for diving even without any casing.

The next underwater photography equipment you will need is an underwater flash unit.

This is because as you dive deeper, you will start to see the loss of color in your surrounding hence the blue green color you often see underwater. A lobster will look dull and dark brown because the red and orange colors are absorbed by the water. So, an external light source is important to restore your subject color so that it will look more alive and real. One of the reasons for underwater photography is to amaze the viewer of the marvelous underwater world and you can't do that with a boring picture.

Then, do you know that underwater photography is more than just about marine life? You can take pictures of the amazing cave system and some divers even become experts in underwater landscape photography. Who says landscape photography is only limited on land?

A very important tip about underwater photography is that you will want to learn to be good in diving before you take up this hobby. Not just that your diving skill will affect the quality of your pictures, your safety is also dependent on your diving technique. After all, you are the stranger in the sea and if you look at this from the marine eye, you are invading their territories and they have all the right to attack you.

The last underwater photography tip for you is that you will want to get as close to your subject as possible. This is again caused by the fact that water will absorb light and make your subject loss its true color. That is why you need to be a good diver so that you can stay calm when you are approaching your subjects without provoking them.

Do you enjoy taking photos? Do you want more digital photography tips and techniques? Just visit

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The Best Zoom Digital Camera For 2009

Somewhere, someone decided that there was a gap between the fairly inexpensive point and shoot automatic digital cameras, and the somewhat more sophisticated digital SLR cameras used by many professional photographers. That biggest feature separating the two cameras was lens zoom. Hence, was born the ultra zoom, or extended zoom digital cameras. They're a little bigger to carry around, but usually sport significantly improved lenses over the compact and ultra compact point and shoots. In addition, they don't require lugging around a case of supporting gear around, like many of the SLR cameras do.

Featuring upwards of 20X optical zoom, these are impressive cameras, and can be the perfect camera for certain situations. Like when you show up late for the wedding, and get stuck in the back pews. With these cameras you'll be able to still get great shots of the bride and grooms big kiss, without being mistaken for the official wedding photographer. As a general note for all these cameras, image stabilization is a gotta-have, unless you happen to have the rock steady hands of a surgeon.

• Panasonic Lumix FZ28

This Panasonic model features an 18X zoom lens, and goes for around $350 or less. the IA (intelligent auto) setting works quite well. The auto settings are important for many photographers this camera targets as manual tweaking is generally not something a lot of casual photographers do. Of course, for those who like to make adjustments, the option is there. The LCD is a nice sized 2.7 inches. The zoom control seems to be opposite of what I would have expected, but after spending a little time with it, I'm sure most people get used to it.

• Canon Powershot SX10 IS

Canon is one of my personal favorite brands, and this camera is one of the reasons why. This Canon is comparable in price (around $350) to the previously reviewed Panasonic Lumix, but with 20X zoom, instead of just 18. Even a few die hard SLR owners I've hear from, swear from this camera. A lens range of 28-560mm is nothing to sneeze at. Especially with the clarity, and noise free pictures produced by this camera, even at higher ISO settings. You can of course, get better clarity and image sharpness with a good SLR, but your also going to spend at least double the price to get there. Not to mention haul a lot more gear around for a SLR. The other nice thing about this camera, is the ability to capture video files, even if they are in the somewhat more obscure .mov Apple format.

• Olympus SP-565 UZ

You should be able to find this Olympus for under $300 these days. Which is pretty good, when you consider the quality of the 20X zoom lens that comes with it. Some would argue, that is the successor to the somewhat botched Olympus SP565UZ. It's a much better camera, a little bit lighter, and includes both an auto zoom and auto focus feature. The zoom is a joy to work with, and the somewhat advance features of face recognition, and shadow adjustments work as advertised. It's got a cool feature call pre-capture, that I suppose, is the poor mans answer to burst mode offered by many high priced SLRs. It basically allows you to capture up to 10 photos in rapid succession, and then choose the ones you want to keep.

Getting the perfect zoom digital camera, is never an easy thing, due to the constantly changing technology. Fortunately, there are plenty of helpful websites online, that can narrow down your search and help you find the camera with all the features important to you

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