Digital cameras are no longer a luxury these days, with high

resolution mega pixels and sophisticated features coming within

a very appealing price range. And thanks to many comprehensive

digital camera reviews, it’s easy to pick the most sought after

features and qualities and still stay within a budget.

Most people turn to digital photography because they like the

ease of printing and sharing the photos on the web. Business

owners choose the digital quality for their product catalogues

or brochures, students employ digital cameras for their

projects and with digital cameras in most recent cell phones,

even a child can take a snap and publish it instantly on the

web. And thanks to the newest lens and zooming qualities, you

don’t have to be a seasoned pro to shoot close-to-professional

images with modern digital cameras.

You can hardly find a digital camera today with resolution

lower than 2 megapixels – two million color dots per picture.

This is a decent quality for most uses, including printing the

photos for the home or school use. The higher the megapixel

rate, the bigger photos you can print without sacrificing the

quality. However, if you are not a professional photographer or

a graphic professional who deals with upscale images all the

time, you don’t really need a digital camera that produces more

than 8-megapixel camera – and these rarely become available for

less than $1000. Plus, if you seek to print large detailed

photos, make sure you have a high-quality printer that can

reproduces all the tiny details that make a difference.

When you pick a digital camera, you should also pay attention

to the zoom number. Digital cameras have two different kinds of

zoom. Digital zoom enlarges all pixels digitally, while optical

zoom enlarges the image with the lens magnification. Since you

can always enlarge the image later, on the computer using the

Photoshop or other image manipulation program, you would be

better to concentrate on higher optical zoom rate. The average

optical zoom for midlevel digital cameras is 2 to 4x.

There are a few other options to consider: whether a digital

camera uses a rechargeable batteries (zoom and LCD screen

consume a lot of energy); whether the digital camera has a

standard flash memory (you may need to buy a few more flash

memory cards in future), and if the menus are easy to

understand. If you travel a lot, you may want a digital camera

that is lightweight and compact.

Even if you decide to pick the least expensive digital camera

to serve your basic photography needs, you will still enjoy all

the benefits of digital photography: no film rolls to buy, no

wasted photos to dispose of and best of all, no waiting time to

get them printed. New models of digital cameras are constantly

launched, and the older ones are becoming less expensive day by

day. Know your priorities, check the most recent digital camera

reviews, and there should be a digital camera to perfectly suit

your needs.