Buying a bad digital camera is not on anyone’s To-Do list. The purpose of this article is to show you how to buy one that suits your needs. While consumer magazines are a good place to start when shopping for one, they are no substitute for your own testing of the camera. Reviews can give you an idea of price and features, but seeing how the camera performs is really what you’re interested in.

Since most people want to take photos at the beach and the indoor birthday party, it’s relatively easy to pick a decent general-purpose Digital Point-and-Shoot (I will refer to these as DPS cameras). Most DPS cameras perform well outdoors in the sunshine. As with any camera, the wheels fall off when you attempt to shoot in subdued light. Cameras need light in order to acquire an image. Therefore, you either have to artificially illuminate the subject (with a flash) or shoot without a flash with ambient light. So how do you test a camera under such lighting conditions before you buy it?

The trickiest things for a DPS camera to do are:

1. Power up quickly
2. Auto focus in dim light
3. Capture the image the instant you push the shutter release button
4. Shoot in dim light with a flash, but quickly and without washing out the subject
5. Shoot in dim light without a flash

Luckily for you, the standard retail store readily offers poor lighting conditions! Assuming their cameras are all powered up, take some pictures of the people and displays around you. Assume the camera should do everything automatically and start snapping. See what results you get. In my experience, these are the things by which most DPS cameras differ. Therefore, it’s my way of testing a camera’s ability to capture an image under the conditions most people would use it. So grab that camera and see:

1. Does it power up quickly? Most don’t, which can easily cause you to lose the opportunity to get the picture you want. Pretend you have to quickly snap a picture of the person in the next aisle. Some cameras are quicker than others. Find the quickest.
2. DPS cameras are notoriously bad at being able to focus in dim light. Find a camera that will focus quickly on a subject without hunting excessively.
3. You want to capture the image the instant you push the shutter release button. Many cameras have a delay between when you hit the button and the image is acquired. See if you can live with this delay.
4. If we choose to use flash, we simply want the camera to produce a well-lit image of the subject without being washed-out (too bright). Test this. I want a camera that allows me to activate the flash quickly in case I want to use it and deactivate it when I don’t. How long does it take the flash circuitry to charge up? Will an 8 second delay cause you to miss the moment?
5. Shooting without a flash under ambient light, you might want your camera to automatically set its ISO (light sensitivity) at the highest setting possible. This allows you to snap a picture without a flash. Good at sporting events and the ballet. However, that brings up two important issues: image quality and zooms.

   Image Quality – Under low light conditions, the image sensor of a DPS camera produces grainy, noisy images (kind of like shooting fast ISO 800 film in a film camera). This has relatively little to do with the number of megapixels (MP). No need to be a pixel counter! Anything over 5 MP in a DPS camera is just fine. The main determinants of image quality in a DPS camera are its lens and image sensor.

   Zooms – Anything over a X3 zoom requires image stabilization, a tripod, or both. Don’t be tempted by the X12 zoom—it may be virtually useless when holding the camera by hand!

While consumer magazines are a good place to start when shopping for a digital camera, they are no substitute for your own testing of the camera. These can give you an idea of price and features, but seeing how the camera performs under low light conditions is really what you’re interested in. Go to a store, find some cameras you like, see how long they take to turn on, focus, and charge the flash. Test a camera under the conditions which you intend to use it. If it balks, it’s not the one for you!