How to Choose a Digital Camera

Choosing a digital camera can be intimidating. Study the sales literature, read the reviews, talk to the camera salespeople, and you'll come away with a head full of technical jargon, but probably not much idea of what camera to buy. Even if you're able to pick up on some of the more important features, and wade through the quagmire of megabytes, megapixels, and mega-headaches, you'll quickly learn that different camera manufacturers use different terms for the same thing -- pretty much leaving you right back where you started!

Resolution

Today's digital cameras have a "megapixel rating." This is an indication of the number of pixels (picture elements) the camera's image sensor uses to create the picture. The number of megapixels produced by a camera determines, in large part, the size of the prints you can make from it. A 1-megapixel camera makes prints up to 4 x 6 inches, a 1.3- to 1.5-megapixel camera makes 5 x 7-inch prints, and so on. If you plan to do any digital photo editing, make sure you get the highest resolution you can afford. When you begin with a large (high-resolution) picture, it's easy to scale (enlarge or reduce) it with little or no loss of picture quality.

The chart below gives you a rough idea of how many megapixels you'll need for a given print size. These aren't hard-and-fast rules, as you can always print larger images than the sizes shown here; but if you make prints larger than the recommended sizes in the chart, they will most likely be blurred or have "jaggies" (a stairstepped effect) along the edges of your subject because of the way the software adds or subtracts pixels when you re-size an image.

Pre-Setting Balance & Focus Settings

To reduce or eliminate the delay between pressing the time when you press the shutter button and taking the picture, you can pre-set the balance and focus settings.

If your camera has a lock exposure setting, use it to store the settings. Otherwise, press the shutter button halfway down and hold it until you're ready to shoot.

Tips

• Don't review your pictures on your digital camera. The LCD screens drain the battery.
• Choose "optical zoom" over "digital zoom," which simply crops the picture.
• Buy a stand-alone memory card reader to save the battery and makes transferring photos faster and easier.
• Back up your photos to brand-name CDs or DVDs.