Point and Shoot/Compact Camera Specs Explained

Compact Camera Specs Explained

I have had a number of friends and family members ask me what they should get for a point and shoot camera over the last few years. The answer is, of course, that it depends on what they will be using it for. While there isn't a clear cut answer for everyone, hopefully I'll be able to clear a few things up that I think are important when considering a new point and shoot.

This is a pretty lengthy article, so for those that don't want every detail, the first seven specs are the specs that I think are the most important factors in deciding which compact camera is for you and why. For those of you that may be wondering what certain specs are, or just want to know everything about compact cameras, I have compiled a comprehensive list in an attempt to answer any questions you may have regarding camera specifications, listed in alphabetical order. Also, let me know if you can't find something and I'll update the article.

1. Focal Length

Focal length is probably the biggest consideration for purchasing a point and shoot camera. Focal length is based on varying factors and often times the actual focal length will not allow a direct comparison to another camera you may be considering. Fortunately, the industry standard in comparing focal length is how a focal length compares to traditional 35mm film, so most, if not all camera manufacturers will give you a 35mm equivalent focal length. A very traditional focal length range for 35mm film cameras is 28-70mm. So if you want something that can capture group shots well, or you can hold out and take a picture of yourself and a friend, you probably want something that has a minimum equivalent of around 28mm or less. If you are more concerned about being able to capture far away objects, make sure your maximum focal length is somewhere in the 200mm or higher range. My point and shoot has a minimum focal length of 35mm and I could definitely use a wider angle a lot of times.

What to look for: 35mm equivalent focal length of 28mm or less for taking shots of yourself and your surroundings, larger groups, or anything else requiring a wider angle lens. For shots of distant objects, you want something probably in the 200mm or higher range.

In depth: Optical zoom is calculated by the focal length range. a camera with a 35mm equivalent range of 35-105mm would give you a 3x zoom. Interestingly, if you want a wider angle to be able to take pictures of bigger groups or to be able to hold the camera and get a good photo of yourself and your surroundings, you may compromise in your focal length range. The 3x zoom of 35-105mm is a range of 70mm. However, a 3x zoom range of 24-72mm is a range of only 48mm. Obviously the zoom multiplication factor is relative, so if you understand focal lengths, you don't need to worry about the zoom factor.

2. Image Stabilization

Most manufacturers offer a form of image stabilization; Canon calls it Optical Image Stabilizer System, Nikon calls it Optical Vibration Reduction. This is a very useful feature if you can afford it because it will help you take sharp pictures in low light that normally would turn out blurry. Keep in mind that image stabilization will help minimize any camera shake from the photographer, but it won't help you "freeze" a moving subject in a room with low light.

What to look for: The more zoom you have, the more you'll want to have Image Stabilization. Make sure it is a true optical image stabilization system and not a digital gimmick. All those will do is give you a noisy image by turning up the ISO (More on ISO later)

3. Face Detection

Most new digital cameras offer a feature that will detect faces in your photo and make sure that the faces in the photo are in focus. The screen will show you the faces it detects so you can confirm the camera is getting it right before you take the picture.

What you need to know: This is a handy feature to have. You may have to enable it through a menu if it isn't turned on by default.

4. Zoom - Optical and Digital

This tells you how far you can zoom into a scene using your camera. To me, I don't even look at digital zoom because I don't recommend using it. Digital Zoom is how much the camera will "fake" the zoom by digitally blowing up the picture. You can easily get better results using the crop function in the software that comes with the camera, without degrading the image. Sometimes more optical zoom can come at the expense of distortion of the image, where straight lines in real life may appear to have a significant curve in your photo, or at the expense of picture quality, and usually at the expense of f/stop (explained later)

What to look for: Most point and shoots have at least 3x optical zoom, and some have 10x to 12x, but the amount of zoom isn't the most important factor. See the focal length discussion for more.

5. Movie recording

Point and Shoot cameras can work as video cameras as well. They typically won't give you as good of quality as a camcorder, but certainly will work in a pinch. In fact, we don't even use a camcorder because it is so easy just to take video with our point and shoot. Although the quality isn't top notch, since the files are right on our computer, we actually watch the videos sometimes unlike the camcorder videos that are sitting in a box in our closet. Some Point and Shoot cameras even shoot in 720p high definition (1280x720), which is starting to get real close to as good as a camcorder option (typically worse autofocusing if any, but good video quality)

What to look for: Look for a video speed of at least 24 frames per second (fps), which is what most movies are taken with. Anything less and the video will look choppy. More common is probably 30 fps in point and shoots. Also, it wouldn't hurt to check some reviews to make sure there aren't autofocus or other weird noises the camera picks up during video recording.

6. Storage Media

This tells you what kind of memory cards the camera takes and if the camera has any built in memory. By far the most common format is SD/SDHC (Secure Digital/Secure Digital High Capacity) cards, and they are pretty cheap. A couple of major manufacturers use different cards, so don't assume everything uses SD/SDHC, although other options work just fine as well - it just may cost more for memory.

7. Dimensions and Weight

You can get very small point and shoot cameras that work very well, but not without compromises. If you have a zoom camera with a lens that doesn't extend, the time it takes your camera to focus will suffer. If your camera is tiny, you may have to settle for a smaller display and/or a smaller battery that will let you take less pictures. On the other hand, if the camera is too big, then it may be too much of a hassle to carry with you, so you definitely want something that will allow you to bring it with you when you want to.

What to look for: Try to get your hands on the camera you are interested in so you can get a feel for how it will work for you. Since they are available in a huge variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, there is sure to be something that fits your needs.

The rest (in alphabetical order):

Continuous Shooting

When the camera is set to continuous shooting, you can hold the shutter button down and it will take photos as fast as it can without having to lift your finger off the shutter button. How fast that is depends on the camera.

Erase Modes

Camera typically have different options for erasing photos off the memory card. If you want to be able to erase photos a particular way (by date, by category, etc.) make sure the camera you buy does it.

Exposure Compensation

If you take a photo and it is too dark or too light, you can change the exposure compensation to tell the camera that you want your pictures to be lighter or darker. This is a quick and easy way to get the shot you want without having to get into the light metering and exposure control features.

What to look for: Almost all cameras will have some control here, and usually it is around +/- 2 stops (referring to f/stops of light) and the specs will tell you what increments you have to work with (usually 1/3 or 1/2 stop increments).

Exposure Control Method

Often you have different options that work in conjunction with the light metering method to set up your exposures. The options for this aren't typically used much in everyday point and shoot use, but it gives you the ability to set how bright the picture is based on a particular object in the shot, and then locking the exposure while you move the camera to change the composition of the photo.

What to look for: If you want options here, make sure the camera you get has them.

File Format

This isn't really anything to worry about as pretty much every point and shoot saves the photos in the common jpeg format.

Flash

You will usually have different flash modes to choose from.

Auto: The camera sets the flash power according to what the camera feels is necessary.

Red-eye Reduction: The flash will flicker before the shot is taken, and this minimizes red-eye.

Automatic Red-eye Correction: While Red-eye Reduction tries to eliminate red-eye from happening as the picture is being taken, Automatic Red-eye Correction will automatically detect if a photo ends up with red-eye and will correct it. Use a little caution with this because if you have something that looks like red-eye, but is actually something else, it may want to try to "correct" it and mess up your photo. This is probably unlikely to happen, but something to be aware of.

Flash On/Flash Off: allows you to manually force the flash to fire or not fire

FE Lock (Flash Exposure Lock): Lets you tell the camera that you want the flash power to be based on a certain part of the scene. This can be useful if your subject is off to the side of the photo and the flash is too bright or dim to light what you want lit.

Slow Synchro: If you are taking a picture of a person in a dimly lit room with flash, the person may be properly exposed, but the background can sometimes be very dark or black. Slow Synchro allows you to use the flash but also allows for a slower shutter speed so that the background can be seen in the photo as well.

Flash Exposure Compensation

This allows you to force your flash to be brighter or darker depending on which direction you choose. Similar to Exposure Compensation, but for your flash. They both function independently of each other, and while Exposure Compensation is a common feature, Flash Exposure Compensation is less common.

Flash Range

Tells you how close and/or far away the object you are trying to light with your flash can be. The distance will depend on the ISO you are set to (the higher the ISO, the farther away your flash can reach). Since many of the point and shoots have an Auto ISO mode, the ratings are based on the assumption that you will be shooting in Auto ISO.

Flash Recycle Time

Tells you how fast your flash will recharge for the next photo. Usually given as a worst case scenario (ie. 10 seconds or less) and at a minimum battery voltage (ie. battery voltage = 3.7V).

Focus Modes

Along with Face Detection, there are other options for how a compact camera will focus. You can usually choose for the camera to focus on only whatever is in the very center of the screen. Most cameras will have a general automatic mode that has the camera decide on what you think it wants it to focus on. Other cameras may have other proprietary focus modes that may work well for you.

What you need to know: If you don't like the idea of having the camera pick what to focus on, you can set it to focus on the center of the screen and use a technique called "focus and recompose". The idea is that you center the object or person you want to focus on in the middle of the screen, press the shutter button halfway to focus on that object (or person). While holding the shutter button halfway down to maintain the focus on the object, you can move the camera to "compose" the photo how you'd like while keeping the focus on what you want to. As long as you keep the shutter button held halfway down, it will maintain focus on the object you had in the center when you initially focused.

Focusing Range

You may find a camera will have a couple of different focus ranges. The normal range, which almost all of your photos will be, will be specified from a minimum distance (probably around 12 inches - the closest something can be to the camera and still be able to focus on it) to a maximum distance of infinity, which is what most of your landscape/scenery photos would be focused to. It may also have a macro focus range, which is for being able to focus on really small objects that the camera can get really close to. This typically requires switching to a specific macro setting, and can open up a whole new world of macro photography.

What to look for: Really depends what you will use the camera for, but typical is probably around 12-18 inches in the normal range.

Interfaces

The cameras will connect to your computer using a USB cable that typically is supplied with the camera. Often times the cameras use a common plug into that camera that you may find is compatible with some of your other devices (cell phone, GPS, etc.), and other times the manufacturers will use their own special plug. This same cable can connect to some printers and you can print directly from the camera.

What to look for: Since the cable comes with the camera, it usually isn't the end of the world if the camera doesn't use a common plug. If this is an issue for you, there are plenty of options that use the common mini usb plug.

ISO Sensitivity

ISO sensitivity along with your aperture will dictate how fast your shutter speed is. The faster the object you are trying to take a picture of is moving, the faster your shutter speed needs to be. What you need to know about ISO is that your camera will want to raise the ISO in darker situations. As the ISO increases, your picture quality will decrease. Typically, the highest ISO setting is all but unusable, but knowing that, a camera that has ISO setting available up to ISO 3200 will have a more usable range than one that tops out at ISO 1600. This isn't always the case, so you may want to search for some image samples online for the camera you are thinking about.

What to look for: This really comes into play more for people who can't or don't want to use their flash in certain low light situations. If that's the case, you want to find sample images at the different ISO ranges to make sure your camera will be suitable for your needs.

LCD Monitor/Viewfinder

Pretty much all point and shoot cameras will display the image you are trying to take on the LCD screen on the back of the camera. Some will have an additional viewfinder near the top of the camera that you actually look through as an additional option (this can be good for really bright days where it may be difficult to see the LCD screen). As far as the LCD screen, the bigger the better, and the more pixels, the better the quality of the image.

What to look for: 2.5 inches is pretty much becoming the minimum size, and sometimes LCD size is constrained by camera size, but bigger is obviously easier to see. As far as pixels are concerned, 115,000 seems to be on the lower end and 230,000 is most common.

Light Metering Method

A camera's metering system determines how bright or dark your picture is going to be. Most will include an option that evaluate a whole scene and determine brightness from the average of the entire picture (Canon calls it Evaluative Metering), and some will have options that put more importance on the center area of the photo (Center-weighted average), and some will allow you to have it meter only on the center area of the scene (Spot).

What to look for: Most cameras will have similar options that may go by different names but do pretty much the same thing.

Maximum Aperture

The aperture, also commonly known as the f-stop, is how much light the lens lets through. The lower the number, the more light the lens will let through, meaning that you can take better pictures in lower light situations. For larger cameras you need to worry about things like depth of field when using a lower aperture number, but on campact cameras the depth of field is pretty large no matter the aperture. You may notice that the maximum aperture changes throughout the zoom - it is very common for the maximum aperture to be a higher number when you are zoomed in more. This helps keep size and cost down on the end product.

What to look for: It is good to have something in the f/2.8 or better at the wide end of the focal length, but with image stabilization you can probably get away with a little higher number (f/3.5ish) and be ok.

In depth: You may notice that the maximum aperture refers to the lowest number f-stop, which seems confusing, since you are looking for the lowest number. The confusion lies in the fact that the aperture refers to a fraction. When you see a maximum aperture of f/2.8, it means that it is 1/2.8 = 0.357, which is a larger number than, say, a lens that is f/3.5, which is a smaller number (1/3.5 = 0.286). Discussions of aperture often lead to confusion because everyone seems to refer to it a little differently.

Megapixels

This isn't really much of a consideration anymore. All the cameras available from manufacturers offer sufficient megapixels, so I wouldn't worry too much about it (unless you are looking at replacing your dedicated camera with your camera phone). More megapixels will generally allow you to print a larger photo, but there are other factors involved in print size, such as how big the sensor is in the camera and what camera settings you used.

What to look for: Most point and shoots are in the 8 to 12 megapixel range. Anything that has 6 megapixels or more should give you a good image size, but if it is 6 megapixels, it probably means that it is an older camera and you may be giving up some technological advances.

In depth: The sensors in compact cameras are very small compared to sensors in digital SLR cameras, and the result will generally be that a 10 megapixel digital SLR (dSLR) will produce a better image than a 10 megapixel compact camera. The reason is that the much larger sensor on the dSLR allows those 10 megapixels to be larger and spaced out more. This allows each pixel to receive more light from the scene which results in a less noisy/grainy picture at every comparable ISO setting. In fact, too many megapixels can actually be a bad thing since the smaller the pixels, the less light able to be collected, and therefore photos taken in low light situations may be more noisy/grainy then a camera with less megapixels.

Motion Detection Technology

Some cameras can detect whether the scene has moving objects or not, and will adjust the settings accordingly. If there are moving objects, the camera will turn up the ISO so the shutter speed will be faster in hopes that the subject won't be blurry (at the expense of increased noise/graininess in the photo). On a scene with no movement detected, the ISO will be lower for the best picture quality.

What to know: A good feature to have - most newer cameras probably have some form of this so look for it.

Number of recorded pixels and number of recordable images

Most cameras allow you to pick how large of pictures you want to take. The larger the picture, the larger the files size, and the less pictures you can fit on a memory card. Since 4GB memory cards are cheap, and even with 10 megapixels I can fit over 1000 photos on one card using the largest picture setting, I always keep the setting on the largest since I download my photos well before I fill up my card. I'd hate to lose hundreds of photos because my memory card failed. Some people may not want to deal with the large files either because they slow down their computer too much or some other reason, and that is totally up to the user and what works best for them.

Photo Effects

Often times the camera gives you options for more vivid colors, black and white, and other effects. I prefer to do these tasks in the computer after I download the photo, but if you know what you want you may like to use these in the camera.

Playback Modes

Many cameras have the ability to not only display the photos you just took, but actually do some simple editing right in the camera (trimming/cropping, red-eye correction, etc.). You can zoom in on photos and even watch slideshows on the camera (Nikon recently announced a point and shoot that has a built in projector to show your photos on the wall). Anyway, most cameras have many options to play with and if you are looking to be able to do something particular in the camera, there is probably a camera out there that does what your looking for.

Power Supply

The camera should come with a rechargeable battery and battery charger. Often times you can buy a kit that allows you to plug your camera directly into the wall, but I've never found that useful since then you can only take pictures from close to an outlet.

Processor

You may notice the camera box advertise something like "Digic IV" or whatever they call the electronics responsible for processing the images in the camera.

What you need to know: The camera manufacturers generally do a good job making sure the camera can do what it says it can, so whatever processor is in a particular camera will probably be good enough for that camera.

Self-Timer

This lets you set the camera to take a photo usually 10 seconds after you press the button. This works great for group shots where the photographer wants to be in the shot, as well as for long exposure night shots where any shaking of the camera from pressing the button will be gone by the time the timer expires and the picture is taken.

Shooting Capacity

This is an estimate of how many photos you can take on a fully charged battery. The more the better, but using the camera in extreme cold and extreme heat can reduce the amount of pictures you can take on a single charge.

What to look for: Since you'll probably run out of battery before you run out of memory, this can be an important spec to look for. A pretty common amount of photos per charge is probably around 220-250. You can also look into getting spare batteries if that isn't enough.

Shooting Modes

Most cameras will offer different shooting mode options. Most do a fine job using Auto, but these allow you to choose an option based on what you are trying to shoot. These are usually pretty self explanatory, although if the camera only has icons on it without words, you may need to familiarize yourself with what they mean in the manual if you plan on using these modes. Some of the shooting modes are also purely creative modes, and the manufactures vary on what they offer (and what they call them). I'm not going to get into detail with them, but they can be fun - I discovered that my point and shoot does time lapses. We've had a lot of fun with that.

White balance

While your eyes automatically adjust to different light sources, the reality is that tungsten light bulbs put out a different color light than the sun does, which is different from fluorescent light, etc. You can let your camera automatically determine the light source, or you can set it manual. You will typically get better results (especially in tungsten lighting) setting it manually, however it is easy to forget and not change it when the lighting changes, which may cause you to miss a shot because the white balance was off and the shot looks terrible. This can sometimes be corrected in photo editing software, but it is best if it is correct in the first place. For more advanced users, you can set it to a custom white balance setting for really tricky lighting or if you just prefer to have the most control over your white balance.

What to look for: This one's pretty standard - auto works pretty well in most situations, and most cameras have the common options: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and custom, while some may have even more options.