A Digital Compact System Camera

This is a good question and there are many factors to consider. In this age with the obsession for higher and higher pixel counts, manufacturers have lost sight of two important factors with regard to digital cameras.

The quality of a photograph is not measured by the number of pixels within the image but by the quality of the lens, the ability of a lens to be able to focus a three dimensional image onto a two dimensional plane, is of far greater importance than the number of megapixels a camera may be.

This does not mean that pixels are not important they are, but the more pixels that are squeezed onto a CCD means that less light is falling onto each one. Thus less of an electrical impulse can be generated by each pixel leading to a degradation of the image. Even with modern techniques of boosting the electrical signal is not as effective as using larger pixels within the CCD. So the most important question to ask ones self is. What will I be using my camera for and what is the largest size print that I want to produce? For most people an A3 print would be the maximum sized print they would want from their camera.

Since the terrorist bombing of the twin towers in New York it has become an issue as to how much luggage you can take on an airplane.

This then becomes the dilemma do I take a bulky DSLR or invest in a Compact Digital System camera which is much more compact and portable. The factors that we have discussed now come into play when choosing a Compact DSLR system. The quality of the lens should be of utmost importance, and then the size of the sensor. The number of pixels most people will need in a camera is around 10 to 12 megapixels which will produce a high quality A3 print.

A Digital Compact System Camera offers far superior picture quality over a Digital Compact Camera.
Because Compact Cameras in general have small sensors coupled with a large number of pixels causing them to suffer from poor image quality. This does not mean that they are not good cameras; it all comes down to what you want from a camera.