Originally posted by ShowtimeX:
...but megapixels aren't everything, or so I've been told?
Comments, suggestions?
Depends on what you plan to do with your pics. If you're going to make prints, especially enlargements, the more MP the better. For example, I have a a 6MP camera (Canon Digital Rebel) and at the max resolution setting it produces excellent prints up to say 16X20 or so. You can go bigger but you'll see some degradation in quality.
Please note the part about max resolution since that's an important aspect of digital photography. A low-res pic looks fine on a computer monitor but you won't be able to print it larger than 4x6 or so. When you get your camera, be sure to set it to the highest resolution and buy a big memory card (at least 1 GB) so you'll be able to take plenty of pics.
I know someone who had a baby last year and has dozens of very cute pics of her. Sadly, they didn't know about resolution so their camera was on a low-res setting. Now none of those pics can be printed bigger than wallet-size.
Please read this twice:
Back up your pictures. I learned the hard way. When - not if - your hard drive dies, and it will one day, everything not backed up will be gone, never to be seen again. External drive, DVDs, however you want to do it...just do it, and often.
Don't leave anything on your hard drive that's not backed up unless you're prepared to lose it. Some software allows you to automatically back up pics as you download them off the card.
Getting a good camera is important, but a good eye for composition is most important to producing great pics. Here's a link with some good articles:
http://www.betterphoto.com/home.asp Also, take a look at
Picasa from Google. It's free and has some nice organizational and editing features.
BTW, photography makes for great gifts. Just did Mother's Day calendars using family pics for my daughter and mom at snapfish.com.
I'd be happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability. Just shoot me an e-mail or PM. Not an expert by any stretch but I've been shooting for a long time and enjoy sharing what I've learned.
If you're interested, go to my
photo blog to see some of my work. It desperately needs updating but there's some good stuff there.
Good luck!