Top 3 Cameras Under Rs 12,000

A digital camera is a must these days. If you ask me, I would suggest some amount of discretion when it comes to limiting your resources to one device, namely a high-end mobile phone. An MP3 player, a camera and your phone are exclusive, no matter how much people try to convince that convergence is the way to go.

Even the cheapest digital camera will give better results than your phone cam. Today I will help you choose a camera that will give you value for money – at an affordable price. These cameras have been selected not for their form factor or jazzed-up looks; I've been rather more practical in my approach. Let’s go!

Canon Powershot A590
Apart from being a complete one-point shooting solution, this one comes with the best manual controls this side of 12K. If you are a budding photographer, you will feel right at home. It’s got a slightly smaller LCD screen at 2.5-inch, but the megapixel count is 8.0.

The A590 offers 4x optical zoom, with optical image stabilization that allows shooting in full zoom. The main reasons I selected it for this list: manual controls and the accuracy of the scene modes. The camera also allows manual focusing, only digital though.

The lens offers a zoom range equivalent of 35-140mm, while the aperture ranges from f/2.6-f/5.5. I like this camera because it’s fast and doesn’t leave waiting for that micro-second when your subject is inconveniently whizzing past you. The camera takes two AA batteries. We used two alkaline batteries, which offered over 130 pictures (after which I lost count). The camera costs Rs 10,500 with a 1GB card. Totally worth it!

For more on this camera, click here