When you are purchasing a camera, you should be aware of all the features and functions it has to offer. You will often be swayed by the newest machine on the market, or limited by a small budget. One thing that can be more irritating, is selecting a model that has fewer drawbacks than its counterpart, in order to give you the best deal you could possibly have.

Without resorting to thrift stores or online auction sites, as these can often give you very little indication as to the quality of the appliance until it reaches your home, many stores will allow you to select a few for trying out before you purchase, and this will enable you to make an informed choice. Choosing a machine that has very few outlying problems can be difficult, as there will always be something that is not quite right for your needs.

This is especially true in the case of a small compact. These are aiming to hold a high quality unit into a tiny machine at a relatively low price, although this will often end up being a higher price than you would normally expect. Many machines on the market also boast their dual capabilities, with both a single image capture and a video playback option, and due to this, your choice may be more difficult.

Of course, looking at the internal and external features of all the models will give you a more informed choice before purchasing. As an example, the L77 by Samsung holds a lower resolution image at 7.1 megapixels, but makes up for this by the optical zoom set at 7x, which means that the pictures that are taken can still be incredibly sharp. Even at minimum zoom, the power often causes a lag, leaving you with slow loading times and a point and shoot delay.

This is further enhanced by some of the machines boasting a high internal memory. The memory functions will often serve to drain the power of some of the machines, and the lag deepens as more images are placed on the machine before transfer. Because of this, most models will often house a slot specifically for a micro SD card, meaning that pictures can be stored on there and transferred almost immediately.

With this, the control functions can sometimes be quite complex, especially with the different modes and effects that can be chosen as fun options for your images. The changes can be implemented quickly and easily, but will often take some getting used to.

Simply using that model as an example you will see how easy it is to find fault with just one area of a photographic tool. When you are about to purchase, you should see that for every advantage to using a particular model, you find more drawbacks that counteract the positives. This is not to say that no models are worth time or money, but rather that one model will often stand out for you and your needs.