Digital Photography made easy

Step 1 - Choose your camera

There is an awful lot of cameras available now, and the first - and hardest step - is to decide which camera to buy.

Which camera you choose mostly depends on what you will use it for.

Will you take some snapshots just to put them up on the web quickly? Do you need it for business, to add to damage reports? Are you going to print the pictures? At which size? Are you an experienced photographer and want full control over the images you take? Or are you a beginner aiming for a point-and-click camera?

The first thing to base a decision on is the number of pixels (the resolution) the camera offers.

While 3 megapixels was state-of-the-art one year ago, now it's almost standard - the question is: Do you need them?

Or do you need even more pixels?

Here are some cameras that are in the top of their pixel-range - check them out!

Sony MVC-FD75 Mavica Digital Camera

This is a basic camera for snapshots with a resolution of 0.3 megapixels - good enough to post them on the web!
The great thing here is that the 640x480pixel-images are stored on a simple floppy disk and you can upload them to every computer quickly.

Fuji FinePix A101 Digital Camera

1.3 megapixel sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality prints at 5 x 7 inches
2x digital zoom lens
Uses SmartMedia cards
Connects with PCs via USB port

Olympus C2500 SLR Digital Camera Outfit

True through-the-lens (TTL) single-lens reflex (SLR) camera kit with extensive manual controls for advanced users
2.5 megapixel sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality prints at sizes up to 8 x 10 inches
3x optical plus 2.5x digital zoom lens with autofocus
Uses SmartMedia or CompactFlash cards
Connects to pre-iMac Macintosh computers and PCs via serial port

Olympus C-3040 Zoom Digital Camera

3.34 megapixel sensor creates 2048 x 1536 images for prints at sizes up to 8 x 10
3x optical plus 2.5x digital zoom lens with autofocus
Uses SmartMedia memory cards Connects with Macs and PCs via USB port

Nikon Coolpix 995 Digital Camera

3.34 megapixel sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality prints at 8 x 10 inches and beyond
4x optical plus 4x digital zoom lens with autofocus
Uses CompactFlash memory cards
Connects with Macs and PCs via USB port

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S85 Digital Camera

4.1-megapixel sensor creates 2,272 x 1,704 images for prints at sizes up to 11-by-14 inches
3x optical Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar zoom lens with autofocus (plus 2x precision digital zoom)
Uses Sony Memory Sticks
Connects with Macs and PCs via included USB cable

Minolta Dimage 7 Digital Camera

5.24-megapixel sensor creates 2,560 x 1,920 images for prints at sizes up to 13-by-19 inches
7x optical plus 2x digital zoom lens with autofocus
Uses CompactFlash memory cards
Connects with Macs and PCs via USB port

Don't forget one thing - not only the pixels are important, also the lenses, how easy to use the camera is, the zoom, the manual control (if you need that), and the storage medium.

More about the storage mediums.