There has never been a better time to buy a Digital Camera. With price points at all time lows and feature sets at an all time high, owning a digital camera has never been this easy. Choosing the right model for your needs however can be a bit daunting. Our Buyer’s Guide will help to make you a savvier consumer and help you navigate the through the wide array of Digital Cameras available today. Becoming a savvy shopper means not only knowing your budget but also asking yourself the right questions about how you intend to use your camera. Here are some questions to keep in mind as you work through our interactive buyers guide:

• How often do you plan to use your camera?
• Is your camera mainly for personal or business use?
• Would you describe yourself as a casual, intermediate, or professional user?
• How important is the cameras size to you?
• Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?
• What will you do with your photos after you take them? I.e. do you plan mainly to print them out, email them, post them to the web or all of the above?
• How do you plan to store the pictures?
• Do you prefer more compact, convenient lenses or more bulky, inconvenient lenses that will help you take "better" pictures?
• What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Be as specific as possible.

With some of these questions in mind, we will now take you step by step through the some of the most important aspects of choosing a Digital Camera most suitable for your needs.

Camera Resolution

Deciding how many megapixels you need is the first important step in finding the right digital camera for you. We won’t go into a lengthy discussion here about what megapixels are instead let just say that megapixels are an important feature in determining image quality.

Image quality for the most part depends on the resolution of the digital camera. Resolution is a measure of image sharpness based on the number of pixels that make up the image. More pixels produce sharper, more detailed images. Digital camera resolution is measured in pixels. One million pixels is equal to one megapixel.

• 1 to 2 megapixels of resolution is all you really are going to need if you only want to share images via e-mail or online photo albums, or use them for personal home pages.
• 2-3 megapixels will be sufficient if you want to make 4x6-inch prints as well.
• 3-5 megapixels should be sufficient if you think that you may want to enlarge some of your images to 8x10 inches.
• 5 megapixels and up: Digital cameras with resolution above five megapixels range are capable of producing professional-quality images. These cameras are designed for intermediate and professional photographers with advanced skills however the price points have come down to such a degree that now even cameras with more than 10 megapixels may well be within your budget!

Optical zoom

Optical zoom magnifies the size of an image by adjusting the lens. Unlike digital zoom, optical zoom enlarges the subject without sacrificing resolution.

When comparing cameras, you should always use optical zoom. There is no point in comparing digital zoom with digital zoom or optical zoom with total zoom. Always compare optical zoom with optical zoom.

When purchasing a camera we suggest choosing a digital camera with a minimum of 3X optical zoom.

Memory Card Support

A memory card is the film of a digital camera. While most cameras have some built in memory it is important to have a good memory card to store your pictures on. There are several different types of memory cards used by different manufacturers below we will describe each of the major ones:

CampactFlash:

This is the memory card with the largest physical size and storage capacity. About the size of a matchbook and weighing about half an ounce, these cards come with a capacity as high as 2 GB. These cards are better for use with high-megapixel digital cameras. There are also versions that store at a high-speed rate, which is helpful for shooting several pictures in succession.

CompactFlash is one of the most common types of digital camera memory. Most high-end digital cameras and all digital SLRs are CompactFlash compatible. There are two physical sizes of CompactFlash - Type I and Type II. Type II is thicker and some cameras will only accept Type I CompactFlash. Type II CompactFlash is usually higher capacity. The most common Type II CompactFlash cards are mechanical, memory cards. The main benefit of CompactFlash, besides availability, is that it has a controller chip in the card. The controller chip allows higher transfer rates. Most cameras can't take advantage of this extra speed, though. Only cameras with larger internal buffers - mostly digital SLRs - can take advantage of high-speed CompactFlash. CompactFlash is inexpensive, easy to find, and works in a lot of digital cameras. For those reasons, it's one of the most desirable types of digital camera memory.

Secure Digital & MultiMediaCard Memory

The smallest available memory cards, Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard memory allow for very small cameras and can also be used in selected PDAs, organizers, phones, and MP3 players.

The only difference between the two memory types is that Secure Digital cards have a write-protect switch for added data security.

xD Picture Cards

Introduced by Olympus and Fuji in 2002, the xD Picture card is the newest digital camera memory format. Its tiny size - 0.97" x 0.98" x 0.67" - means it can be used in very small cameras. The xD Picture Card can also be used in any CompactFlash compatible camera with the available CompactFlash adapter.

Memory Stick

Memory Stick was developed by Sony for their CyberShot digital cameras and other Sony electronic devices. With the exception of a very few cameras, Memory Stick is only compatible with Sony digital cameras. That means if you have Memory Stick media for a camera and you decide to buy another brand of camera, the Memory Stick cards you own are not likely to work with the new camera. On the other hand, if you own other Sony devices, there might be benefits to owning Memory Stick. Sony MP3 players, PDA's and selected Sony Vaio computers also accept Memory Stick media.

MicroDrives

The MicroDrive card is actually a miniature hard drive housed in a Type II CompactFlash chassis. The IBM MicroDrive was the first compact memory card to offer a full 1 Gigabyte storage capacity. Although flash memory has bypassed the MicroDrive in capacity, the MicroDrive is still the best buy on a dollar-per-byte basis. MicroDrives, however, have a reputation for being delicate and unreliable. They are more prone to failure since they have moving parts that can wear, or be damaged. But when handled normally and not abused, they are very reliable. Because of their moving parts, MicroDrives use more battery power than flash memory.

Shutter Speed

Measured in fractions of a second, your camera relies on the shutter speed to determine proper exposure. If you have a wide range of shutter speeds, you have more latitude in deciding what aperture to use and what kind of pictures you can take. Make sure that the digital camera you choose provides a full range of shutter speeds. Most digital cameras will have a range of available settings from a few seconds to a few thousandths of a second. Some digital cameras can go as high as 1/4000th of a second and some can time a shutter release as long as 30 seconds. We recommend that you look for a digital camera with a shutter speed of at least 1/2000 of a second.

Summary

With price points continually coming down and feature sets continually going up, it is a great time to purchase Digital Camera. With all of the above considerations in hand you should now be better equipped to make a more informed choice when choosing Digital Camera that best suits your needs.