Dear Lifehacker, Recently, the LCD on my digital camera cracked. (I had just bought the camera in February.) I contacted the manufacturer and they said that I can send it in, pay an "assessment fee" and then get a quote for how much it would cost to fix the camera. I understand cracked screens are not covered by warranty, but is paying to get a quote legal?

I have tried and failed to get into photography several times in my life. I like the idea of taking beautiful photos, but all the rules, settings and tricks seemed impenetrable. Within the last year, some of those basics finally clicked in my head, and I "got" it. Here's what did it for me, so you don't have to search for them yourself.

Harvey Norman is having a sale on action cameras and related accessories, with prices starting at just $3. You can also get an additional $25 off when you spend $150 or more. Noteworthy deals include the top-of-the-range GoPro Hero4 for $183 (RRP: $499.) Here are the links to the best deals.

Video: There are some really nice cameras out there that are incredibly small, and that can be frustrating if you have big hands. This DIY camera grip makes shooting a tiny camera feel more like shooting a chunky DSLR, and acts as a stand so you can set your camera anywhere without any fear of damaging it.

Vincent Laforet is a professional filmmaker and photographer renowned for his aerial photography of Alpha cities at night. Laforet recently visited Sydney as a guest of Canon Australia where he shared a handful of nocturnal shooting tips.

Dear Lifehacker, I'm looking to buy a new digital camera, but I don't know what specifications to focus on. I've been told megapixel ratings don't really matter when it comes to image quality, so what do I look for? What specs will tell me if a camera shoots great images or not?

Variable neutral density filters are very useful for photographers that like manual control in bright light. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for one, though, you can make your own from just a few cheap polarising filters instead.

Mac only: You know that sinking feeling you get when you accidentally delete your photos or reformat your camera's memory card without first removing the pictures on it? Reach for Exif Untrasher instead of antacids and rescue those pics from annihilation.

When it comes to taking a great photo, artificial lighting can't replicate what Mother Nature offers—if you know how to put the natural light to good use. Here's how to turn your face towards the light properly.

Windows only: Free Windows application CuteCanonCapture turns your computer into a remote trigger for your Canon digital camera.

Flickr user six million dollar man loves creating timelapse videos with his new timelapse garden video camera, but when it came to mounting the camera for those long timelapses, he employed a little DIY ingenuity.

Professional camera gear is prohibitively expensive for most hobbyists. If you're not paying your bills with your lens work, use PetaPixel's guide to pick up great lenses and other gear on the cheap.

Mac OS X only: Never been entirely happy with the way your Mac reacts when you plug in your various camera-sporting devices? Wish it could do something different when you plug in your iPhone versus your DSLR? Cameras can help.

An experienced, battery-killing photographer knows what kills the juice in digital cameras, and it's the LCD screen. He recommends dimming, auto-sleeping, and avoiding shot review as much as possible, along with a few other battery-saving techniques.

A few years ago, blogger Jimmie Rodgers's camera was stolen while volunteering in an impoverished Brazilian community, so he did what any sane person would do: He bought an new camera and made it ugly.

The photog gurus at weblog Digital Photography School offer up 13 tips for improving your outdoor portraits, several of which explain how to best take advantage of whatever lighting conditions you're shooting in.

You're a fan of photographing food in restaurants and your kids outdoors, and you've got about $300 to spend on a new digital camera. BestInClass can tell you what experienced shooters would recommend buying. The site, which compiles and sorts the reviews and blog posts of more than 750 professional shooters, hobbyists, and photography web sites, doesn't make you do any sorting, sifting, or weighing of whose opinions matter more. You check off boxes to indicate what you like to photograph, choose a size (fits in jacket, pants, or doesn't matter), and then slide to a price limit (though bear in mind that last one will be in US dollars). The results are a nicely streamlined selection of reviews and buyer information, topped off with a specific camera BestInClass sees as your best bet. The sites uses a "fancy algorithm developed over two years" to pick out which make and model fits what you picked as your typical uses, then ranks the rest on the same criteria. You get review outtakes, average customer reviews, technical specs on each model, and not too many ads to interrupt your dig. BestInClass expects to expand into different consumer purchase arenas, but is focused on digital cameras at launch. We can't say yet whether its algorithms do a better job than an afternoon spent feature-comparing, but it's at least a great starting point for narrowing the field. Free to use, no sign-up required.

BestInClass

Nostalgic for the good old days when a cardboard box, a pinhole, and some film meant you had a camera? The DIY junkies at weblog Make update the pinhole camera to work with your standard digital camera.For your digital version of the pinhole camera, you'll need some black paper, aluminium foil, a rubber band, and tape. Ah right, and the digital camera. From there, the essence of the pinhole camera remains the same. You block out all the light around your camera, make a pinhole, and then set your camera to an ultra-long exposure. It may seem silly to turn your digital camera into a pinhole camera, considering that it already is a camera, but it's a fun project. If you give it a try, be sure to read through the comments for a few helpful tips on optimal pinhole size.

$0 digital pinhole camera

Our gadget-loving siblings at Gizmodo offer a detailed, straightforward explanation of why more megapixels doesn't always mean a better camera. These days everything's cramming more megapixels into their cameras—like Sony Ericsson's crazy 12-megapixel cameraphone, for example—but that doesn't mean that the 12-megapixel cameraphone produces results close to what even a 10-megapixel DSLR could do. Obviously, there's a world of difference between the image quality you're going to get out each of those. Most of it comes down to the size of the sensor and the pixels. You can fit a much bigger sensor inside of a DSLR than you can inside of a mobile phone, which not only means you can fit more pixels on the sensor, you can fit much bigger ones—imagine bigger buckets to catch the light. Sure enough, the sensors inside of DSLRs are huge compared to the ones in compacts Check out Gizmodo's post for the full detailed rundown—including their nice analogy comparing pixels to light-catching buckets, which makes a lot of sense to the uninitiated. If you're a shutterbug, let's hear your thoughts in the comments. Giz Explains: Why More Megapixels Isn't Always More Better