With the holiday season around the corner, you might be in the market for a new digital camera to produce family memories for years to come.
Luckily, now is the right time to buy a new digital camera.
After years of stagnation in camera technology development, we finally see exciting innovations again from all major camera brands (Sony, Canon, Nikon) which will make your user experience better and your photos more compelling.
The megapixel race is over
Suppose you have ever bought a digital camera before you will have heard the term ‘megapixel’ which defines a camera’s digital resolution.
Most of our pictures are shared and viewed on mobile devices at no more than two megapixels.
A camera with 50 megapixels has therefore very little added value to the average consumer.
Thankfully, the number of megapixels is not a synonym for quality anymore. Now it’s about how ‘smart’ the camera is.
Intelligent autofocus
One improvement every customer will most certainly notice is how good the autofocus on new digital cameras is.
All major camera brands now use intelligent subject recognition and tracking algorithms. If you’d like to shoot your kids running through the garden, keeping them in focus is now easier than ever before.
Also, professionals benefit from ultrafast and ultra-accurate autofocus.
Corporate headshot photographers often shoot thousands of shots in a single day – getting them all in focus drastically speeds up the workflow and eliminates inefficiencies.
Cinematic Video Capabilities
Whether you are a professional videographer or a parent who wants to film their kids’ soccer games, you might be surprised by how good the videos are that you can produce with your new digital camera.
All major brands offer cameras with at least 4k resolution which look gorgeous on your large living room TV.
Also, they can record in slow motion, so your kids’ action moves will look even more impressive. However, the biggest advancement – and this might sound a bit technical – is in colour and bitrate.
The latest cameras record in such a high image quality that often the image already looks straight out of a movie camera. This is amazing for parents and families and also for professional photographers.
More and more wedding photographers now offer hybrid photo/video wedding packages.
Internet connectivity
A lot of parents enjoy taking photos with their phones simply because it’s easy and convenient to edit and send the photos afterwards.
A phone is an all-in-one solution: you take the photo, edit and even post it all from the same device.
The latest generation of digital cameras either connect to the internet directly or have a convenient way to push photos directly to a connected phone.
This means you shoot your photos with your ‘proper’ digital camera and receive these images instantly on your camera roll.
Now you can edit these images in your usual workflow (crop, add a filter, add a caption etc) and post them as if you have taken them with your phone.
AI-supported image editing
The probably most exciting development in digital photography has only just begun: AI in image editing. Modern image editing suits – both on your computer and your mobile device – are able to intelligently select the best shots and edit them in your own signature style.
All you have to do is to teach the system what your finished shots normally look like and it will mimic your style.
What comes next?
If you invest in a new digital camera now you will witness first-hand how clever software will help you shoot and edit better photographs of your loved ones.
As cameras are getting smarter and more connected it will feel like having your own professional assistant with you at all times.
Whether you are a parent or starting a photography career, concentrate on the what again – not on the how. Isn’t that liberating?