The simplest point and shoot digital cameras, or snapshot cameras, allow one to simply, well, point and shoot. All settings are either pre-determined or fixed, offering absolutely no scope for photographer creativity.

In a word, DON'T use point-n-shoot. The quality of your photographs will be terrible, and you will simply end up getting disappointed.



Most cell phones and PDAs offer built in digital cameras. If the device's primary function is to make phone calls - its NOT going to make a very good camera. Some boast multi-mega-pixels and all sorts of bells and whistles. But the quality of photographs taken by these digital devices is extremely poor.

While there are times when a quick picture needs to be taken and dispatched via email, these devices may fill the need. But you (or him or her) may just as well use an etch-a-sketch tablet to doodle on.


These digital devices have lower quality CCDs, regardless of the claims of millions and millions of pixels. The lens on a phone or PDA (mobile device like a digital diary) is tiny and are usually fixed focus, that is, they cannot be adjusted.

Resolution of pictures will also be lower, since the CCD is not capable of capturing the high level of detail that digital photography demands. Limited storage availability in such devices also means smaller image files, often over-compressed (causing loss of detail).


Almost all adjustable digital cameras, even Digital SLR cameras (DSLR), offer a "snapshot" mode. If you (or they) have a nice camera, don't waste your time using this mode.

The settings in point and shoot photography are either a guess or fixed; the camera computer (no matter how smart they try to make it), just cannot fathom what you are trying to take a picture of. Usually exposure settings are averaged, that is, different parts of the image are sampled and the average values of the best exposure settings for each point are then averaged. This can result in weird looking photos, since important (to you) parts of the image may not be exposed properly.

If you have a nice camera, learn to use it the right way! If not, consider getting a better camera! Read on.

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