A viewfinder is a device or mechanism used to see the subject being photographed. There are many types of viewfinders. For an in-depth look, see our viewfinders article.

EVF stands for Electronic View Finder. It is an eye-level miniature LCD which servers as a viewfinder. Its main advantages are that you can see the entire picture and that you can see an approximation to the camera's final exposure. For an in-depth look, see our viewfinders article.

OVF stands for Opical View Finder. This term is used to described the viewfinder of SLR cameras. In such cameras, light coming into the lens is directed to the OVF until the picture is taken. The main advantages of this are focus is easily recognisable and the subject is seen directly through the lens without delay. For an in-depth look, see our viewfinders article.

An SLR is a camera with an OVF (See previous question). A DSLR is a digital camera which is an SLR. The Digital SLR basic page explains the important differences between a DSLR camera and regular digital cameras.

Simply because there is nothing digital zoom can do that you can't do easily on your computer regardless of your digital camera Digital zoom is like cropping a picture, except you always crop evenly around the center and always chose between fixed crop factors. Software allows you to crop which ever part of the image you want and crop it to whichever size you want. This is much more flexible. In addition, software can filter your image while cropping to reduce the degradation of image quality when resizing the cropped image.

Most DSLR cameras only show you pictures on their LCD after the picture is taken. In other words, the LCD cannot be used as a viewfinder. The reason is that the sensor is blocked by the mirror which is used to reflect light into the optical viewfinders. A growing number of DSLRs now offer something called Live-View. The LCD of DSLR with Live-View can be used as a limited viewfinder. Nearly each such model has different limitations. At the time of writing, no DSLR provided a Live-View equivalent to the preview shown on fixed-lens cameras. The most common limitations are: extremely long focus-delay, lack of exposure-preview and poor image coverage.

There are only a few types but they are called by many names. The simplest ones are known as point-and-shoot cameras. Prosumer cameras are advanced cameras with a fixed-lens and full manual controls. The different types of digital cameras are described in Demystifying Digital Camera Types.

Compression if the two options reduce images by the same amount. The reasons for this are explained in Image Size vs Quality.

Depth-of-field is the set of distances from the camera for which things appear in focus. Depth-of-field is influenced by several factors. The hyper focal distance is the distance where depth-of-field is maximized. The Depth-of-field and the Hyper focal Distance article explains these concepts simply and precisely. There is even a hyper focal distance calculator.

In terms of resolution, digital cameras can offer comparable or better resolution than most camcorders. However, there are other factors which digital cameras don't do nearly as well. Camcorders are specialized at recording movies and generally will perform this task much better than digital cameras. Camcorders' biggest advantage is that they can record much longer movies with better sound. For more information, see Digital Camera Movies.

Exposure-compensation is a control that makes the camera take brighter or darker pictures, depending on its setting. It allows to influence the camera's automatic exposure system without using a fully-manual mode. For more details see Exposure Compensation.

The short answer is that it does not. Digital images have a resolution but that is not the same thing as a size. Most likely you are being confused by your software which is showing the images as huge. Read Image Size and Resolution to find out how it works and how to change the apparent size of your images.

There are many situations which require an SLR. Indoor action shot is probably the most common example. The flexibility of interchangeable lens is great but not every one needs it, so it depends on your needs. Using a DSLR is also quite different than using a prosumer digital camera as described in The Digital SLR Difference.

It depends on your camera because it has a speed-limit too. Above that speed-limit, faster cards won't make any difference. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to determine what that limit is.

No. The speed measurement on the card may is rarely accurate and usually represents memory reading under ideal conditions. Most importantly, a camera's performance is influenced by the write-speed of the card which can be very different from its read-speed. The performance of several memory cards can be found in our Memory Performance feature.

The most important things to consider are batteries, weight and memory. See Travel Tips for more details.

They are both the same. They are lenses which are zoomed (in the optical-zoom sense) by hand. This is nearly always done by rotating a ring around the lens barrel. Mechanical zoom lenses are very efficient because they move immediately, they have no zoom-steps and they do not require a zoom motor (meaning they don't use battery power).

This is not a coincidence. Every feature article was written to answer common questions to which we knew the answer.

A small camera with high-zoom cannot have an optical viewfinder. The reason is that a TTL viewfinder like an SLR takes space due to the pentaprism, pentamirror or porro-finder. Any one of these would not make the camera small. Since an optical tunnel viewfinder is a second tiny zoom-lens, it is difficult for such lens to have a long or wide zoom. Not only that, these lenses have to follow the camera lens as closely as possible. The larger the zoom range, the more difficult it would be. Even wide-angle compact cameras do not have optical viewfinders for the same reason.

There are some really good ones. But the best one for you depends on your needs. That is what our camera guide's choosing section is for. If you mean best in image quality, that would probably be the most current full-frame DSLR. As of 2006, that is the 16 megapixels Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II.

We were actually surprised how many times people ask this question, that supposes there is such a thing. Brands mean a lot and very little in the world of digital cameras. While all brands have good and poor models, some brands produce a greater percentage of great cameras. Canon really stands out accross all camera types, but not all there models are good or worth it. Nikon's reputation is based on the excellence of their high-end cameras, but their smaller cameras are generally weak. Several Fuji cameras lead their class in terms of image quality and optics. Sony, Olympus and Pentax have very mixed line ups. The champion of ergonomics and usability used to be Konica-Minolta which is no longer in the camera business, but it is now Pentax which frequently excels in this area. Olympus produces most weather-proof cameras, but Pentax and Nikon have some too.

Generally, no. To keep prices low, camera makers bundle very cheap optics with their cameras. These optics limit the results you will get from your DSLR camera. Kit-lenses are meant to get you to start using your camera right away but they are far from being all-purpose lenses. We cannot say those lenses are useless, but we suggest you do some research to see how well it fits your needs. Our lens selection article can help with that.