How to Choose a Digital Camera

Knowing how to choose a digital camera and what to look for will ensure the best photos of your most important moments. The best digital camera revolution is well underway, offering greater control and the ability to review images instantly instead of waiting for them to be developed. Even if you have a camera in your cell phone, a digital camera is a worthwhile investment to preserve your memories.

Digital Camera Advantages
Unless you're investing in a high-end digital SLR camera, it's worth noting that the images you'll get won't be quite as good as those from a standard 35mm camera, although you'd likely need a magnifying glass and a trained eye to spot the difference.

A digital camera offers two key advantages that more than offset the minor tradeoff in image quality. First, you can see the pictures you take with a digital camera immediately, thanks to a built-in LCD screen. If Uncle Marty's eyes are closed or a bright light has thrown everyone into shadows, you can delete the photo and take a new one immediately. No more unpleasant surprises from the film lab.

Second, a digital camera stores images on reusable memory cards that can be erased and reused without affecting the quality of the images. This means you can take as many pictures as a digital camera's memory will hold without worrying about the cost to have them developed.

Memory Cards
Instead of missing moments to save those last precious frames of film, a digital camera lets you swap in a new memory card. Memory cards are thin, interchangeable cartridges that are inserted into your digital camera. When a memory card is full, you can download its contents to your computer and erase it to take more pictures.

Your digital camera will use a certain style of memory card, with MiniSD the most common. You'll be able to choose from different memory capacities, and you should check the manual for your digital camera to find out how much memory is supported. Often, a digital camera includes a USB adaptor so you can transfer images to your PC. If your digital camera doesn't have an adaptor, you'll need a USB card reader to save images from the memory card.

Understanding Megapixels
In a digital camera, megapixels measure the number of elements in the digital sensor. The more megapixels you have, the higher the image quality. It's important to note that megapixels don't correlate between different types of digital cameras, because they use different sizes of image sensors. A 3MP digital camera will take better pictures than a 3MP cell phone camera, and a 3MP digital SLR camera will take better pictures than a 3MP digital point-and-shoot camera.

Two megapixels is an absolute minimum for a digital camera if you want to make prints. The rule of thumb is to get as many megapixels as you can afford. There's a correlation between the number of megapixels and the maximum print size before the image quality starts to break down. For standard-size photo prints, a digital camera with four or five megapixels is ideal. If you want to print in larger formats, you'll need more megapixels. An 8MP camera will give you clear prints up to 20 x 30 inches.

Lenses
Lens quality is what sets one digital camera apart from another. Megapixels affect image resolution, but the lens determines image quality. A cheap digital camera likely has a cheap lens and should be avoided, even if it has a high megapixel count.

It's tough to gauge a digital camera's lens quality in a well-lit store, since many problems won't show up until you shoot in low light or at long distances. It's a good idea to research different digital camera models online to find out which ones have the best lenses.

Almost every digital camera has a zoom feature that lets you get closer to the action. Optical zoom is the most desirable. This feature mechanically moves the lens back and forth in relation to the sensor, providing lens-based magnification. You'll see the optical zoom rating for a digital camera listed as a number followed by an X. In general, 6X to 8X is a useful range. Spending more can get you a digital camera with 12X zoom or higher, but at this point you should question whether you really need a digital SLR camera with a telephoto lens.

Many digital cameras also offer digital zoom, often with fantastical claims of 100X magnification. Digital zoom magnifies the pixels that make up the image, and as digital zoom increases, the image quality decreases. This feature should be used sparingly and is no substitute for optical zoom.

Digital Camera Features
Look for multiple exposure settings for indoor, outdoor and low-light conditions. If you've got some experience taking photographs, look for a digital camera that lets you manually set focus and exposure. Red-eye reduction is a common feature on digital cameras, as is an electronic flash.

It's safe to use a digital camera in the rain, but divers will want a waterproof digital camera specifically built to keep electronics safe underwater. Check the location of buttons and the memory card loading slot to make sure they're comfortable and easy to use. A lens that retracts into the body of the digital camera is a good idea for those who like to carry their cameras everywhere.

Finally, don't forget the batteries. A digital camera needs a lot of power to run image sensors, zoom motors and the built-in LCD screen. You'll save money over time by getting rechargeable batteries and a charger, and make it a point to keep extra batteries on hand so you're always ready to shoot.