Digital Cameras

If you're encouraging readers to submit photos, your community reporters will need a digital camera to snap photos of local stories and events.

A good resource for digital camera buyers is Digital Photography Review, http://www.dpreview.com/. It has a useful side-by-side camera comparison feature. However, if you don't want to delve into the minutiae of digital photography statistics, we can recommend several cameras.

In general, Canon cameras have excellent color and contrast. And for less than $300 you can get one that shoots capable video and comes with image stablization (look for "IS" in the model name).

Any of the PowerShot point-and-shoot models will do the trick. The Canon PowerShot SD880 IS is a small model that offers good value for the price. It uses a non-standard rechargeable battery pack (Lithium-Ion), so buying an extra is essential. The Canon PowerShot A560 is a bit more bulky but runs on AAs, so you can always stop at a store and purchase new batteries in a pinch. You can also buy rechargeable AAs for it. Rechargeable batteries are environmentally friendly and, given digital cameras’ high power consumption, will save you money in the long run over repeatedly buying conventional AAs.

Other considerations

The essential factors to compare when camera shopping are megapixels, zoom and the type of storage card the camera uses.

When comparing zoom, only use the optical zoom rating. The digital zoom function simply crops the photo your are taking to make it look like you're getting a closer shot.

Digital cameras generally store images on removable memory cards, and cameras with lots of megapixels create larger images that take up more space on those memory cards. Most digital cameras come with low-capacity cards that can only store a handful of low-quality images. After you buy the camera, pick up a storage card of at least 2GB. That should be enough to store at least 500 high-quality images, even from an 8-megapixel camera. It's better to keep one high-capacity card in the camera at all times than to switch back and forth between two lower-capacity cards — you don't want to miss that shot while you're switching. (However, having two cards means you can be downloading from one while you're shooting with the other.)

Different brands of cameras use different types of memory cards. Matchbook-sized CompactFlash cards are the most popular, but many cameras now use fingernail-sized SD or XD chips. Sony’s cameras use the company’s keychain-sized MemoryStick technology. Ask a clerk at your local electronics store’s camera department which kind of memory will best fit your needs. SanDisk and Kingston are good brands, but let price be your guide.

The SD880 IS is a 10-megapixel device with a 4x zoom and accepts SD, SDHC or MMC cards. The A560, at 7 megapixels, has a 4x zoom and uses an SD card to store its images.

Currently, the most popular and affordable professional digital camera - or DSLR - is the 6-megapixel Nikon D60. Most consumer cameras have a single built-in lens, but the D60 and other professional cameras use interchangeable lenses for different depths of field, zoom options or lighting conditions. You can buy the D70 with or without a lens, since Nikon’s default lens provides excellent range and responsiveness.

Here's a comparison of the three cameras.

Keep in mind that if you’re publishing solely for the Web, you don’t need the detail that a 10-megapixel camera provides. Look for cameras that respond quickly and take clear images. If you miss the shot while waiting for the camera to snap a photo, megapixels won’t matter. However, higher-megapixel cameras are useful when the images you take for the Web will also be appearing in a print publication.

Other important purchases:

• Lens cleaner.
• A leather or plastic cover that stays attached to the camera.
• A camera bag that will protect your camera’s LCD screen.
• A battery recharger and extra batteries, depending on the camera.

Once you purchase your camera, check out our sections about photo software and image editing techniques.

Digital Video Cameras

In many cases, the camera you buy for pictures will capture good enough video to use online, especially a Canon with image stabilization technology (look for a model that ends in "IS"). Consolidating your needs into one camera will save you money and streamline the amount of equipment you have to juggle out in the field.

If you want to take the next step, however, and acquire a set-up specifically for shooting video, here are some suggestions to follow. Putting together a video kit needn't break the bank but you will need at least the following equipment:

• A camera.
• A tripod.
• A microphone or two (plus an audio mixing board if you plan to use more than one microphone).
• Headphones.
• Tapes, cables, power cords, batteries.

When choosing a camera, you need not only to consider the price, but also the features and formats.

There are many kinds of cameras on the market, but your best choice is a digital video camera — preferably a MiniDV camera. Digital video cameras record pictures electronically, and the picture quality of your images will be very high, even if you are using a consumer-level camera. Non-digital video cameras record onto video tape in an analog format, and that footage will need to be digitized, slowing the process and adding additional expense.

Because they are so popular, the light-weight MiniDV cameras come in a number of price ranges, so you should have quite a bit of choice. The most efficient method of connecting your camera to your computer is to use IEEE-1394 FireWire or USB. Apple computers have a FireWire connection built in, but many Windows-based computers do not. If you don't have FireWire, which is faster and results in a higher quality image, then you can use USB or S-Video connectors. 

When researching MiniDV cameras, look for one that:

• Is comfortable to use, with a good size and shape and buttons big enough for adult fingers.
• Has good picture quality.
• Fits your budget but isn't so low-end that you lose out on necessary features (see below).

You will find a range of prices from $150 to more than $5,000. The difference in prices has more to do with camera features than anything else. There are a few features you should pay special attention to:

• Resolution. For good image quality, look for high resolution cameras.
• Zoom. There are both optical and digital zoom features on most DV cameras. Optical zoom is the one to pay attention to — get a good one. Digital zoom enlarges the image but doesn't add more data, so your image can look fuzzy. It is best to avoid cameras with digital zoom.
• Connections. At a minimum, you need a camera with at least one microphone jack, one headphone jack and one FireWire jack. It doesn't hurt to have S-Video jacks or a USB port either.
• Battery life. You want a camera with a decent battery life — at least a few hours — so that you don't have to interrupt taping to replace the battery. Also, pay attention to where the battery slot is — if you have to disassemble your whole setup to get at the battery slot, the delay before you can start taping again will be significant.
• Tape or disk. Newer cameras record directly to a hard disk drive in the camera or use Flash-based memory to avoid the need for messing with tapes. If you choose a tapeless camera, you will want to have an external storage device that connects to your comuter so you can archive your video.
  
• Hi-Def. If you're buying a new camera, strongly consider spending the extra cash to get one that records in HD. Adoption of HD TVs and monitors continues to soar.
  

Some options to consider:

Under $200: Flip Video Mino. Compact and simple to use, the Flip cameras are a great option if you are on a budget. Direct USB-to-computer connection means no extra cords. But the video and sound quality are likely not much better than what you could get out of a new Canon point-and-shoot camera. But there is also a Flip model that records in HD.

Under $500: Canon HV20. HD quality with a 10x zoom and an accessory shoe for external lights or a shotgun mic. All with a compact size make this a great all-around camcorder.

Under $1,000: Sony Handycam HDR-SR7. A high-quality HD camcorder that records to a hard-drive.

The serious videographer should also give some thought to the Canon XH A1, which costs $3,500 and up. You can buy and switch out lenses for this camera, so don't forget to include lenses in your budget. It has S-Video, composite audio and video, FireWire, headphone and microphone jacks, and it uses Lithium ion batteries. This camera falls in the "prosumer" range and is suitable for nearly every situation in which you might want to include video. As the price suggests, it's a terrific camera.

For reviews and comparisons, visit CNET's buying guide.

Video Editors

You will need to use video-editing software in order to digitize your video and then edit it. Fortunately, there are options at all price levels. And don't be scared to try one of the lower-priced offerings; less can definitely be more when it comes to video editing since you won't need all the bells and whistles that a professional multimedia pro uses.

Free: iMovie HD for the Mac is a great tool that is easy to use. Windows Movie Maker for the PC will also get the job done.

Under $100: Sony's Vegas Movie Studio adds even more functionality than iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. Lots of bang for the buck.

Under $200: Final Cut and Adobe Premiere are the industry standard software platforms for professionals and are priced accordingly. But you can pick up the stripped down Final Cut Express for about $200 and Adobe Premiere Elements for even less.

Price doesn't matter:  Adobe's Premiere Pro and Final Cut Studio are the best video-editing software applications for both PC and Macintosh computers.

Whichever software package you choose, be sure to check the hardware requirements to make sure your computer can run it. For instance, you must be able to accept incoming video — probably via Firewire — and have sufficient hard drive space to hold the video files you digitize.

Hard drive space is like wealth — you can never have too much of it. Realistically, you probably need at least 200 GB of space free to do frequent video editing, and even then, you should be storing your old footage on an external hard drive, DVDs or DV tapes.

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