When it comes to buying a digital camera, picture quality comes down to one word -- resolution. For most amateur photographers, a 3- or 4-megapixel model will be your best overall value. 5- to 6-megapixel cameras are for those of you with a large budget. Of course you're gonna pay for the higher resolution, but if you're looking for professional-grade pictures, that's the way to go.

In addition to "resolution," there are many other features to consider before making your digital camera purchase. Do your research and get the cheapest possible price you can on your new camera.

Digital Cameras:
Features to Consider

Camera Type

Compact
Compact digital cameras are designed to provide modest features, stylish looks and a tiny, "pocketable" size. The advantage is that you are more likely to have a compact camera with you when that "great" photo opportunity occurs. However, they are generally more expensive than standard-sized cameras with similar features.

Standard Point-and-Shoot
Standard digital cameras are similar to 35mm point-and-shoot models in appearance and features. Some are reasonably compact, but they are usually too large to drop in your pocket. A point-and-shoot camera offers few manual controls and is very simple to operate. Focus, exposure and most other adjustments are completely automatic; all the owner needs to do is aim and push the shutter button.

SLR / Professional
If you care more about robust features like interchangeable lenses, flashes and other accessories, you will most likely have to consider a larger-sized camera. This category includes Professional SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras, which are just like traditional 35mm SLRs. These cameras are designed for professional and serious amateur photographers who require manual control and the ability to change lenses easily. Only the most serious amateur photographer will demand the flexibility of these cameras, and they are usually larger and heavier than compact or standard models.

Image Sensor Type
CCD sensors provide sharp, precise images, but are generally more power consuming, while CMOS provides the user with both accuracy and energy efficiency.

Optical Zoom
The Optical zoom ratio of a digital camera measures how much the lens can actually zoom in to make subjects appear closer. Be careful to not confuse Optical Zoom with Digital Zoom. Digital Zoom simply takes the camera's image and "blows it up" digitally, resulting in loss of image quality. So, the higher the "optical zoom" the better.

Memory Type
When choosing memory, Cost, Capacity and Compatibility are all major factors to be considered.
Most digital cameras come with some on-board memory, which should be supplemented by an additional card. You can buy extra memory cards in values of 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512MB or GBs depending on the technology. Some high end cameras use mini CD-Rs and CD-RWs or IBM's MicroDrives to store images. These kinds of media hold a larger amount of data, more than most flash media.

Different manufactures dictate which type of memory you can use. For example, xD Picture Cards are used in new Olympus and Fujifilm cameras and are about the size of a postage stamp, where as Sony cameras use Sony's own Memory Stick format.

CompactFlash is the oldest and largest in size of the popular flash memory formats but they can come with massive amounts of space, up to 4GBs on a card.

MultiMedia Card (MMC) are also an older media type and have now been superceded by Secure Digital (SD) cards. MMCs will work in slots made for their successor, Secure Digital cards.

SD Cards (Removable Secure Digital) memory cards are used in many new cameras. They are lightweight, very portable and only the size of a postage stamp.

SmartMedia Cards are also compact, wafer-thin, plastic cards and were widely used in the first digital cameras. They typically are priced lower than all of the other cards and are widely available, but the card's design limits its capacity to 128MB.

Viewfinder
A viewfinder is the small square on the back of a camera that you use to compose your photo.

Eye Level Viewfinders are the most common but a problem with these viewfinders is framing inaccuracy as the view for the viewfinder can differ from the actual composition captured by the lens (especially on close shots).

Through-The-Lens Viewfinders are usually only found on higher-end digital SLRs due to their complexity and expense. It works by relaying the image from the cameras lens to the viewfinder. This means that what you see is what you shoot.

LCD Viewfinders are much like a camcorder's viewfinder. (LCD stands for "Liquid Crystal Display") This small screen is on the back of the camera and digitally displays the same image you would see through the viewfinder. You can review pictures stored in memory on your LCD Panel, but in bright direct sunlight the LCD screen can appear washed out, making viewing difficult.

Interface Type
This is the method by which your camera will communicate with your computer or other video device. Cables accompanying your digital camera allow you to upload photos to your computer for viewing, printing and archiving your images.