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>> Ms. del Conte: Hi. I'm Natali del
Conte with cnet. And today I'm here to help
you make a good decision about buying a digital
camera this holiday season. There are so many
to choose from. And you don't want to just
choose by the cheapest there are a lot of
variables. So we have Lori Grunin with us here
today. Thank you for coming.
>> Ms. Grunin: My pleasure.
>> Ms. del Conte: And she's going to tell
us: What are the best ways to choose a digital
camera. First off, what are the different
types of cameras that you review?
>> Ms. Grunin: Well, still cameras like
you see here and camcorders or video cameras.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay. And what are the
different needs for different types of cameras?
I know there's just the regular point and shoot
but then you also review the big mamas in the
digital SLR.
>> Ms. Grunin: Right. Point and shoots
or -- tend to be very small ultracompact and
they're good if want to have something always
around. They tend to overlap with the
capabilities of your cell phone or your camera
phone. So it depends, if you have a really
good camera phone, you may not want a point and
shoot. You may not want to get somebody a
point and shoot. If you want something that's
fast and can photograph kids and pets and
things like that, then you really want an SLR.
Point and shoots even the mega zooms really
can't handle that type of speed shooting. Or
alternatively to shoot your kids and pets you
can always go with a video camera because they
are designed to capture motion. And they come
in all sorts of types from the budget flip
camcorder type products to regular you know big
HD camcorders.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay. So let's start
with the little point and shoots then. What
are the price range for those these day?
>> Ms. Grunin: Well, the prices actually
range up as high as say $600 depending upon the
sort of all the nifty features they include.
But really you know if you want to get somebody
a nice gift of a point and shoot, $200 to $250
is usually a good price range.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay. And some things
that we should look for? I know a lot of them
have smile technology.
>> Ms. Grunin: Yeah. Frankly, I tend
ignore all those gimmicks. And you want
something that just has really good image
quality and decent performance which
unfortunately are things you can only get by
reading reviews you can't just look at the
specs.
>> Ms. del Conte: Right.
>> Ms. Grunin: And it always has to be
easy to use which is something you really want
bring the person you're buying the gift for
into the store and have them touch the camera.
If you want to make it a surprise, you can
still do it under false pretenses and whatever
but.
>> Ms. del Conte: Right.
>> Ms. Grunin: You really want to see how
the camera feels to them.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay. And what about
mega pixels? Do we need to compromise?
>> Ms. Grunin: Don't worry about that.
Frankly, anything that you'd buy these days has
enough resolution to handle anybody's needs.
>> Ms. del Conte: All right. And optical
zoom versus digital zoom?
>> Ms. Grunin: Digital zoom? Forget it.
Ignore it. Pretend it doesn't exist.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay.
>> Ms. Grunin: Optical zoom remember that
on one hand more is better because it provides
for flexibility. On the other hand, you can't really
make a good lens that covers a really
broad range. So if you want something
mainstream about 5x to 8x is a good range.
>> Ms. del Conte: And then let's move on
then to the SLRs. What is a good acceptable
price range for a good SLR.
>> Ms. Grunin: Well, depends upon your
user. You can get a really good kit that's a
digital SLR body with a lens for about $700
these days. And that's a really nice gift to
give someone. However once again, especially
with SLRs, you really want to know what they
like and what it feels like to them.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay. And then you can go
crazy switching out the lens, right?
>> Ms. Grunin: Yes.
>> Ms. del Conte: Probably if you're
giving someone a gift like this you're going to
let them choose the lenses?
>> Ms. Grunin: Yes. And that's actually
a very good idea too. And frankly the if
you're looking for a gift for somebody who
already has an SLR, there's lots of accessories
that you can buy that make really nice gifts
like another lens or a flash or a tripod.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay.
>> Ms. Grunin: Or faster memory, bigger
memory, or lots of stuff.
>> Ms. del Conte: Right. And now digital
cameras are taking video. Is that video worth
having? And how is the audio?
>> Ms. Grunin: Yeah. It can be -- for a
combination device that can be pretty good
video. The audio you have to watch out
sometimes it's only mono but a lot of times
it's stereo. And you can get pretty good
useable clips from something like that. If
you're looking for a gift for someone who is
just looking to upload videos to YouTube
something in the $200 range those candy bar
style camcorders are a really goods idea.
>> Ms. del Conte: But if you wanted more
feature and better quality you'd get a real
camcorder right?
>> Ms. Grunin: Yeah. For that you'd pay
more.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay. Well, let's go
take a look at those. So these are the higher
end camcorders, right?
>> Ms. Grunin: Yes. Something like this
they have better zoom lenses. They cost more.
For a good one you really want to spend about
$500 to $700. And they have more features like
control over exposure, and they can take better
stills.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay. And most of
these are high definition now, right?
>> Ms. Grunin: Yeah. The standard
definition models boast these really huge zoom
lenses that you really don't need unless you're
planning to do astronomy work.
>> Ms. del Conte: And I know when you
review these cameras you talk a lot about how
comfortable they are in your hand.
>> Ms. Grunin: Yeah. Because if you
can't hold it and you can't hold it still and
you can't see the LCD especially in bright
sunlight, then it's really -- you're not going
to use it.
>> Ms. del Conte: Right. If you can't
reach the buttons, that's a big deal. So you
want to try it out in your hand and maybe have
your gift recipient try it too.
>> Ms. Grunin: Plus a lot of them these
days have these touch screens which some people
are comfortable with and others aren't.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay. What are the
other things we need to consider when you get
someone a camera? Do you want to get them a
case? Do you want to get them a memory card?
>> Ms. Grunin: Everything needs a memory
card. Even if the camera or camcorder ships
with it, it's probably too small to use. So a
nice big 8 gigabytes is a good size for an sd
card.
>> Ms. del Conte: So this is one of your
picks for a camcorder. Why?
>> Ms. Grunin: Because it's very well
priced. It's only about $180. It takes flash
memory and has good HD video and it's portable.
>> Ms. del Conte: What about a budget
still? Do you have a pick for that?
>> Ms. Grunin: Yeah. It's over here.
>> Ms. del Conte: Okay. Let's go see.
Here's one of your picks for a digital still
camera? Why?
>> Ms. Grunin: Because it's very well
priced. It's an older model but it still
delivers very good image quality. It's small.
It's well designed. And it's just a nice
overall gift.
>> Ms. del Conte: Great. And let's take
a look at your pick for a digital SLR then.
>> Ms. Grunin: Okay.
>> Ms. del Conte: And finally here's your
pick for a digital SLR. Why is that one of
your favorites?
>> Ms. Grunin: Because it's very well
priced. You can get a kit for about $900 and
it's one of the best entry-level SLRs of 2009.
It has an articulated LCD and really good image
quality and good performance and it's just a
very well-rounded camera with a nice kit lens.
>> Ms. del Conte: Great. Well you can
see all of Lori's picks on cnet.com. Remember
to do your homework before you go shopping this
holiday season because you want get to the
store and know what you're looking for. For
more about that again go to cnet.com. Have a
great holiday shopping season. I'm Natali del
Conte here in New York.
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