Digital camera technology has come a long way in recent years – it was only since the beginning of the 00’s that they really started to become mainstream.

These days there are many types of cameras for all situations, the most popular ones include:

Compact

Also known as a point-and-shoot camera, are small, light and designed for convenience. Most use automatic systems for setting the exposure options, and have flash units built in but they do not offer interchangeable lenses. They are getting more powerful all the time and some include better lenses, flashes and more advanced settings.

Examples of this type of camera are: Canon A3100 IS, Panasonic Lumix TZ10, Fujifilm FinePix XP30, Canon PowerShot SX220 HS

Hybrid

These are the next step up from compact cameras they do not have interchangeable lenses like SLR’s but have longer, much better lenses than the compacts, that allow users to zoom in closer to their subjects. They also have more advanced features such as aperture and shutter speed settings, white balance settings, better focussing options plus a whole host of menu settings and options.

Examples of this camera are: Canon PowerShot SX30 IS, Nikon Coolpix L120, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1

Micro Four Thirds

These are the next step up again, they have interchangeable lenses similar to SLR’s but the body is similar to that of a small compact camera in size. The body doesn’t have a mirror behind the lens like the SLR but it has many of the SLR settings such as aperture and shutter speed settings, white balance settings, better focussing options plus better flashes and the ability to add external flashes too. Being able to change lenses opens them up to a whole host of other options too as you can choose macro lenses (good for close up shots), Zoom lenses (so you can go in close to far away objects) and wide angle lenses (so that you can photograph in small spaces and get a lot in)

Examples of this camera are: Sony NEX-5, Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 , Olympus PEN E-PL2

SLR

These cameras use to belong much more in the professional market, but with the increase in digital models and prices coming down they have entered many mainstream households. SLR’s (which stands for Single Lens Reflex) have a mirror behind the lens that allows the user to see straight from the viewfinder and through the lens. There are a host of lenses that you can buy and interchange with and the body of the camera offers many settings and options – aperture, shutter speed, colour balance, focussing, image formats – the list goes on. Plus you are able to buy a myriad of accessories such as flash-guns, filters trigger cable etc.

Examples of this type of camera are: Canon EOS 1000D, Canon EOS 500D Digital

What will the future hold for cameras?

We’re seeing more and more powerful technology emerging all the time, there are now 3D cameras like the FinePix REAL 3D W1 which has 2 lenses which enables it to create a 3D image that can be viewed on the camera, on the special digital frame they sell or you can have 3D prints made.

Cameras are getting smaller and lighter and more feature packed, some of them already do HD video, so with the rise of 3D movies you can guarantee that this will be incorporated in the future – no more 2D photos, we might have a system one day that is an all-in-one 3D video and photo camera.

There are already ideas around for SLR’s with mobile phones built in or lenses that wireless and can be detached from the camera to shoot at different angles. Here at MadBid.com we think that wireless technology will start to feature more predominantly within our gadgets, just as Apple have started including it within the iPhones and iPad’s so that you can print wirelessly – perhaps eventually all cameras will use wireless technology for printing, storage, transferring images as currently it’s a highly underused.

As with our customers MadBid.com like to be in the forefront of offering you the latest technology, nearly all of these cameras are available for you to bid on – register or login and sign up for  our newsletter to find out when we feature the newest releases.