Buying a Digital Camera

With so many digital cameras available on the market these days, the choice of which one is "right" for me can seem confusing, but, by looking at a few basic features, you can save yourself a lot of money and aggravation.

The first thing to consider is what kind of pictures do you want to take with your camera? Do you want to photograph large scenic vistas, fast action sports or just the occasional snapshot of grandma, the kids or the dog?

Digital cameras are usually sold based on the number of elements or Pixels each image contains. The more Megapixels, the larger the print you can make. For the occasional snapshot, 4 megapixels will produce a very nice 4x6 inch print for family or friends. 6 to 8 megapixels will allow you to print a nice quality 8x10 image or allow for cropping of unused areas of the picture. Greater than 8 megapixels will have superb detail and sharpness but at a cost. All digital cameras store the image in computer type memory either built into the camera or on removable memory cards. The higher megapixels, the fewer pictures you can store.

What type of memory slot does the camera have? Older cameras had built in memory, but this never used to be very large and you would have to download your images onto your computer before you could take any more. But that's no longer an issue if you're buying new. One thing to keep in mind is you will need to way to read the memory card on the camera to get it on your PC. If you are using a laptop, most of them come with a card reader in the side which you just slot the memory into. But if you are using a home PC it probably wont, so you may need to buy a card reader that will go into the USB slot. Another option for some cameras is you can just use a lead from the camera to the PC and transfer them that way. The most popular types of card are CompactFlash (CF), Secure Digital (SD), or xD-Picture Card.

What type of battery? This isn't so much of an issue these days, but some places may try to sell you an older camera that uses traditional AA or AAA batteries. I would avoid these at all cost, the reason being is they run out quickly and you can now buy a camera which uses a Lithium celled battery. These don't need replacing, you just have to charge them up and they last about 50x longer than standard batteries! Think how much a pack of AA batteries cost, then multiply that by 50. You can see why you shouldn't buy a camera without a lithium celled battery in.

Try the camera before buying. A lot of retailers will have live examples on display. Ask them if you can use it just to take a few test snap shots in the shop. Just to get a feel for everything and how easy it is to use it. Thing of things like the weight of it, can you reach the zoom buttons easily? Consider then going on to buy from the Internet as it can be cheaper than retail high street shops.