| Which digital camera should I buy, is a pretty open | | | | f-stops,aperture settings, and white balance. She |
| ended question. It's the kind of question that begs the | | | | doesn't even know (or want to know), what those |
| asking of other questions. Questions like: "How much | | | | things are. Simplicity is still important here. |
| money to you want to spend?" . . . "What do you like | | | | For Paris, it's time to move into a more mainstream |
| to take pictures of?" . . . "How much do you know | | | | point and shoot digital camera. These digitals, often |
| about photography?" . . . "What kind of cameras have | | | | have better lenses (sometimes with zoom), better |
| you owned before?" . . . and so on, and so on. Since | | | | flashes, good viewfinders, and more menu options with |
| obviously, I don't know your answers to any of the | | | | features like face recognition, and image stabilization. |
| previous questions, I'm going to assume a few typical | | | | Nice digital features, that still fall under the heading of |
| answers. From those assumptions, I've come up with | | | | easy to use. Just point and click. Some great cameras |
| three typical buyer persona's. Just for the fun of it, let's | | | | in this category would be the Canon PowerShot |
| call those personas Britney, Paris, and Lindsay. Let's | | | | A570IS 7.1MP Digital Camera, the Canon PowerShot |
| see what would be the best cameras for each of | | | | SD850IS 8.0MP Digital Elph Camera, or even the |
| them to purchase. | | | | slightly more adventurous Canon PowerShot Pro |
| Let's start with Britney. Brit doesn't have a big budget, | | | | Series S5 IS 8.0MP with 12X optical image stabilized |
| but is looking to spend no more than $150, and takes | | | | zoom. The S5 is slightly more money, but still simple to |
| pictures mostly of family, friends, and pets. She's never | | | | use, has lots of features, and room to grow into. |
| owned a digital camera before, and the whole | | | | Speaking of growing into, lets take a look at our |
| prospect of spelunking through mountains of digital | | | | somewhat more mature Lindsay, with her matching |
| camera reviews and technical sales speak just sounds | | | | mature taste in the realm of digital cameras. Lindsay |
| boring. She'd like to have a camera that's fairly | | | | has had her fill of the ultra simple compact point and |
| portable, so it can slip into a pocket, purse, or | | | | shoots with their mediocre image quality and flaws. |
| backpack. Britney plans on loading the pictures up to | | | | Her interest in photography has been peaked when |
| her computer, iPod Touch, and maybe her FaceBook | | | | viewing some of the photo's of a professional |
| and MySpace accounts. Ease of use is important, as | | | | photographer friend, and would like to begin taking |
| she basically just wants to be able to pull the camera | | | | better pictures. She's heard of SLR cameras, and has |
| out of her pants pocket and take a few pics on the | | | | some inclination of what they can do, but still |
| spur of the moment. | | | | appreciates some of the simple joy of taking pictures |
| What Britney is looking for, and something that a lot of | | | | on the spur of the moment without a lot of fiddling. |
| younger YouTube generation types would like is | | | | Price is not a big concern, as she's willing to spend |
| termed an ultra-compact digital camera. A small low | | | | upwards of $1000. |
| profile camera that's easy to use, and can be tucked | | | | A great camera for someone ready to learn more |
| away into any small corner of your clothes or bag. | | | | about photography, but who still appreciates the |
| Something like a Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1MB | | | | graceful simplicity of the point and shoots would fall |
| Digital Elph, a Canon PowerShot SD750 7.1MB Digital | | | | into the entry level SLR category. These cameras are |
| Elph, or a Sony Cybershot DSCW55 7.2MP Digital | | | | kind of a comfortable easy bridge from the simple to |
| Camera would fit the bill here. Just enough functionality, | | | | the complex. It's also a very popular niche, as the |
| size, and cool factor for a card carrying member of | | | | plummeting price of digital cameras, has pushed |
| the YouTube crowd. | | | | manufacturers like Canon, Nikon, and Olympus to offer |
| As we move on to Paris, we also move up the ladder | | | | some very nice cameras at very attractive prices. A |
| in the digital camera food chain so to speak. Not only in | | | | great short list to choose from here are the Canon |
| size, buy also in functionality, image quality, and of | | | | Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S |
| course, the all important price tag. Paris, is not so | | | | 18-55mm lens, the Nikon D40x 10.2MP Digital SLR |
| concerned in size and portability, but more in the quality | | | | Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX |
| of pictures and features her camera can offer. She | | | | Zoom-Nikkor Lens, and the Olympus Evolt E510 10MP |
| doesn't plan to carry her camera just anywhere she | | | | Digital SLR Camera with CCD Shift Image Stabilization |
| goes, but will definitely bring it out for specific | | | | and 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 and 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 Zuiko |
| occasions . Birthdays, Christmas, vacations, and other | | | | Lenses. These are all amazing cameras, and even |
| holidays are all important events in the life of Paris, as | | | | more amazingly, they're all currently priced under $650 |
| her family grows. She wants to capture those | | | | brand new. That's a lot of camera for anyone like |
| moments on film (or disk these days) and be able to | | | | Lindsay with a bit of budget, and a desire to do some |
| look back on them for years to come. Being a busy | | | | serious photography work. |
| mom, Paris doesn't have time to fiddle with | | | | |