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Recently I went for a hike in a park with my eight-year old. It was a beautiful day, and I decided to take my camera with me. I used to be a very avid photography enthusiast, but over the last couple of years I have become lazy. Having a good eye for visual subjects, I get very disappointed, when my camera does not deliver up to my expectations. In my case it is not an easy task, as I am trying to push a consumer camera to produce professional results. You may say that it is not reasonable of me. Perhaps it is not, but that is how it is.

For the last ten years I have been using only digital cameras. Today I have a Cannon Rebel XS outfit with reasonably good lenses. To go with it, I have a grip with an extra battery. It is a smart gadget to avoid running out of power exactly when I need it most. When I bought my outfit a few years ago, it was a reasonable camera. Today I am using it mostly for portraits, and it offers good results.

Getting back to my story. We went for a hike. I had my camera, all two pounds of it, dangling on my neck. Believe me that, if you want to enjoy a hike, play with your kids, and find something to shoot, a bulky gadget hanging on you does help. I can recall other situations when having to deal with extra weight and bulk does not add to the enjoyable experience. It was my learning from a hike with my digital camera that extra weight is not a friend in more then one ways.

Things were different in the digital photography world ten years ago. Choosing a camera was somewhat less complicated then. There were fewer products available, which offered acceptable quality and performance at a reasonable price. You had to pick you price range and make your choices wisely.

Much have changed since then. Today there is a tremendous line up of products from a number of manufacturers. Top brands, like Cannon, Nikon, Pentax, Leica, Olympus, Sony, Panasonic, and many others, introduced multitude of products in various categories. Consumer point and shoot cameras, advanced consumer cameras, prosumer cameras, and the list of product categories goes on.

Because the technology advances in leaps and bounds, prices on older models are getting more affordable. New digital camera models are offering more value per every dollar. That is true for both compact cameras and DSLRs. Those of us who had to deal with a dilemma of what camera to choose, know that it may not be a simple decision. To make the process of selection easier, it is important to define what aspects represent value for you. You have to decide on features and attributes which you require, and those which are nice to have, but optional.

Having gone through such selection process a number of times, I have always been happy with my choices. I do have a significant body of photographs to show for it. All my Squidoo postings (lenses) are illustrated with my personal photographs. They are made with my old camera. I paid about $600 for it, including the lens and some extras. That was a few years back.

Today mid-range ($500-$700) prosumer products offer excellent value for the money. If you know how to use those cameras, you can achieve spectacular results. Unless you are using your camera for a particular purpose, and only higher priced products can satisfy your needs, I would not even look at anything above $1,000. If money is not an object, than the game changes, but this would be the subject for a different story.

If you are just starting out in digital photography, or trying to take the quality of your images to the next level, it may be a better option to spend some money on a few classes, rather then on an expansive camera. Learning about composition, shooting techniques and software use, among other things, can help you to move forward faster than getting a pricey camera. Remember, a new camera you are paying $1,500-2,000 for, will coast about half of that in a year or two, as new technologies emerge. Your knowledge and understanding of the craft will stay with you for a very long time, if you practice it, of course.

Unfortunately my camera no longer does what I need it to do. My expectations and requirements have changed and became more specific. I have two choices now, to buy a new outfit, or to buy a higher quality lens. Does it sound familiar to you? If I follow option two, I will have to spend a significant dollar figure, in the range of $600-$1,000 for a mid range lens. It will be more, for professional quality lens. In addition to a hefty price tag, the lens will come with extra weight, which we are trying to avoid.

I am also looking for features like HD video recording, as I prefer to have one camera that fits in my pocket and dose both high quality sills and HD video. This narrows down my search significantly. These are required and important features. The preferred brands and the physical preferences (size, weight) are on my list as well, and they should be on yours. Base you decision on the types of photgaphy you are practicing. Figure out what products are available in your price range which satisfy your requirements. We have to narrow down as much as possible to arrive to the logical conclusion.

You have to pick your price range and be demanding and reasonable within it. It will help you to make your decision faster and more effectively. There is always a better product, and there is always a cheaper product. Ignore them, and start with a comfortable budget. You will make the right choice, as it is much easier to find the best product in a given price category then bounce around the entire product universe.

I love photography, but I am not a professional photographer. I do not use my camera around the clock. When I do use it, I want it to do what I am intending for it to do. I also do not want to deal with excessive weight caring. Considering all this, and the fact that new generation compacts are getting more and more sophisticated and some rival DSLRs, I have done my research accordingly. The name, which came on top after my research was competed, was Sony Cyber-Shot DCS-RX100.

I am not going to replicate the technical info for this camera here, you can get all the details at dpreview.com, they sure are more reputable in their reviews and analysis than I am. My intention is to show how to tackle a decision-making process when choosing a camera.

Remember one important thing. A camera is not a gadget. It is an instrument for creative outlet and for chronological historic record keeping. Most mobile phones today have a built in camera. Some, like iPhones, have pretty good ones. They come handy and may do for simple things. However, if you are like me, and enjoy documenting the growth of your children and loved ones in pictures, you definitely need a better instrument than a phone camera. It comes without a question, if you are an aspiring photography enthusiast and can appreciate image quality and beauty.

Two of the most important and differentiating attributes of Sony DCS-RX100 are the large size of its chip and the quality of its lens. In general, these are two of the most important factors for any digital camera, including DSLRs. It is so, because they are largely responsible for the quality of the final image. The higher the quality o the lens, the better it allows the transfer of the "information" about the image. The bigger the chip, the more of that information it can record.

This particular camera offers a compact, aluminum body with a solidly performing Carl Zeiss lens. It is light-weight at only 240 g (0.53 lb / 8.47 oz), - exactly what we are after. It has an excellent technical range. It also has an HD video recording function. You can read all about it at dpreview.com. All in all, it is a great little performer.

In my view, this is one of the best cameras in its class on the market today and an excellent value. Most importantly, you will get the satisfaction of producing, enjoying and sharing high quality images that are yours. Portraits of you kids, family, pets, records of your trips, and the list goes on. As MasterCard commercial would say, - this is priceless.

Now after taking a major detour from the original subject matter, I can get back to my hike and photographs of the park. I did take a few shots, as you can see. I was not happy with them. My lens does better job on portraits and close ups. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the experience of being outside with my little one, a chance to exercise my creative eye and to stretch my muscles, if any.

I am fascinated by the old fallen trees, and I love photographing them. They are amazing, silent and static subjects for photography. They offer a variety of rich textures, depth, a sense of time and continuity. I am sure that the new Sony DCS-RX100 would do a better job, but nevertheless, here is what my old clunker did.

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