With many types of digital cameras already available and manufacturers flood the market with newer versions with ‘exclusive features’ and claim their products belong to altogether new class; all these make a beginner in photography rather confused.
Types of Digital Cameras
Let us compare the most common types of digital cameras in the market today and see what are their pluses and minuses.
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| Types of Digital Cameras |
Cameras are classified into different types; based on several features like what size of sensor it has, whether it has interchangeable lenses, and also what type of viewing system it has. One marked feature is the size of the Sensor. Let us deal with it first.
Sensor Size
Cameras have different size sensors built into them, some have what is called the full frame sensors, yet others have slightly smaller sized sensors called the APS, and some others have really tiny sensors, details furnished at a later session.
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| Digital camera sensor sizes |
Interchangeable Lenses
Some digital cameras have interchangeable lenses and some have fixed lenses. The interchangeability of lenses is yet another criterion for classifying cameras.
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| Camera and lenses |
Viewing System
Cameras are classified based on the type of the viewing system it has; currently the following viewing systems are in use, namely,
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| Digital cameras with different types of viewing systems |
Optical Viewfinder - Reflex Penta- prism, Reflex Penta- mirror, Rangefinder
Electronic Viewfinder - LCD Viewfinder, Hybrid Rangefinder
Viewing- system being an important factor; consider the following factors before choosing one type of camera over the other;
- What type of a viewing system does it have;
- How you want to hold the camera;
- How to view the scene while shooting.
There are no uniform rules regarding how cameras are to be classified but for the sake of better understanding; we can classify them in to three popular types.
Point and Shoot Cameras
Mirror less Cameras and
Single Lens Reflex (SLR) Cameras