Buying a digital Zoom Camera

I use the term Zoom Camera simply because this article is based on personal experience when buying a Canon SX110 IS, which is a compact digital camera with a 10x zoom lens. There are a number of compact digital zoom cameras with 10x up to 20x optical zoom lenses which fall into this category. However, I'm sure my experience can be applied accross the full range of digital cameras from the bottom end 'point and shoot' to the top end professional digital SLR's.

Having decided which camera I wanted, my next task was to obtain the best possible deal and thus the purpose of this article, because what looks like a good deal is often not the best deal.

The best place to start is online which shows up quite a wide range of prices. All the major high street retailers have a website and in most cases they offer a better deal if you buy online than you can get by visiting their shop. There are a number of price comparison sites which make this task a lot easier. However, you need to look beyond the price displayed or ticket price.

Quite often, as in my case, you are not just buying a camera. Look carefully at the 'what's in the box' information. For example, my camera came with only a 32MB SD memory card (only enough for around 6 images), a couple of alkaline batteries and no carrying case. So I decided that I needed a 4GB SD memory card, four rechargeable nickel cadmium batteries (two as spares), a battery recharger and a carrying case. Even if the box contains everything you need right now, it is a good idea to consider what you might need later because bought seperately, these items can add significantly to the overall cost. By bundling these items in with the camera at the time of purchase is the best way to get a good deal.

So don't just look at the ticket price of the camera. Decide what you need to go with it before you start comparing prices. Some online retailers offer huge savings on bundled items. In my case for example, the 'extras' I needed would have cost a total of £87.50 if purchased seperately, yet by bundling them in with the camera I was able to save £34. Even though the ticket price for my camera was higher with this online retailer compared with others their overall bundled price gave me the best deal.