Digital camera - which one to get

Oh yeah, megapixels are the main thing to look at in a camera since it's the quality of the pictures and all. my friend got a 12 megapixel one and takes excellent quality pictures. what i'd do if I were you, just get the one with most megapixels as long as you can afford it.

Mega pixels are not everything there are issues of response time, lens quality, ergonomics, weight, battery life and a host of other things. If you have some money to spend look at a digital SLR cameras. I am partial to Canon cameras, but Nikon is a very god alternative.

For canon look at the current digital rebels for a first DSLR, if you are serious with your photographylook at the 40D and 50D pro-sumer cameras.

With any compact camera, it is too easy to be swayed by the pixels. Lens quality counts for a lot, and so does the shutter lag (or lack of it - there is little worse than pressing the button and finding the action has passed before the camera finally responds).

A camera with no viewfinder quickly becomes a burden; in bright sunlight they are impossible to see properly, and lots of photo opportunities pass you by, and when you take a flash picture, the extra battery drain from the LCD can keep you from taking another shot for 10 seconds or more.

When the light is poor, compact cameras with more than about 8 megapixels produce ugly "noise" which badly degrades the final image. Cameras with larger sensors (SLRs and a very small number of expensive compacts from Leica/Panasonic) can do better with noise, and cameras with Foveon sensors and CMOS sensors are very good in poor light. High ISO ratings are only really useful with cameras of this kind. Only 2 compact cameras that I know of have CMOS sensors and they are both Canons, released just this month.

Another issue with overly large megapixel counts is the processing speed: they need a lot of computing power, so they a slower between shots and have slower "burst" modes. For instance, at 3 megapixels, my wife's Olympus shoots 20 frames per second, gets 13fps at 6mpxls, but it slows to 2.5 fps at 12 megapixels. Most cameras over 8 mpxl can't even manage 3fps.

For an "everyday" camera I suggest you look at a model with 6 to 8 megapixels (10 should still be acceptable)and optical zoom of 6x or better. Look for a well known brand, and make sure it has separate viewfinder. Don't be swayed by digital zoom or "total" zoom (that is just sales talk for optical + digital zoom - but it is only the optical that counts.

Check out that it takes the picture when you press the shutter release, not moments later, and that it has a good macro mode. A range of "Scene" modes is useful, and being able to exercise some manual over-rides is even better, so long as you don't have to hunt through a complicated or pooly organised menu to apply them.

If you are serious about photography, you will probably want to buy a DSLR. There are many entry level DSLRs that are affordable, yet offer a lot of important features. If you'd like to learn more about DSLRs and how they are different than point and shoot cameras, you can read an article I wrote on the subject here: http://www.quazen.com/Art... you decide that you want a point and shoot, there are so many digital cameras out there with a wide range of features. Before buying a camera it is important to figure out what features you will use the most. I have a very fun Sony point and shoot that has a lot of special effect features I can add to photos- things like radial blur effects and fisheye effects! I have some point and shoot cameras that allow me to change the ISO, and some that don't. I have some point and shoot cameras that allow me to change the shutter speed and some that don't. I have some point and shoot cameras that allow me to control the power of the flash, and some that don't. One thing I would highly recommend is a camera with optical zoom (NOT digital zoom!) However, the amount of zoom is up to you! The more optical zoom the camera has, the further away you can take pictures. So if you want to zoom in close to objects that are far away a lot, you will want a camera with high optical zoom.

So sit down and think about what features you must have, what features would be nice to have but not necessary, and what features you could easily live with out.

If you want to compare certain camera models, this is an excellent website:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp

You just select the models you're interested in, and it brings up all the specs side by side. And if you're not sure what a certain specification means, you can click the question mark besides it and it will bring up an explanation!

Unless you are into big time cropping and making posters megapixel are not that important. A good camera with between 5 and 10 mp will do fine. I would stay with a Canon or Nikon. I like the Canon and think the photos are just a little sharper and colors are slightly brighter, but a Nikon person would probably disagree with me. Canon and Nikon are the standard that all other cameras are compared to. I think the Canon Powershot A 500 series is very good. I have been researching a camera for my sister in law and the Canon A590 is one that gives you a great point and shoot camera with the ability to take more control over the camera and the picture as you learn to use the camera. The cost is under $200 and you might find sales now for under $150. If you want something more like a DSLR camera but without the size or having to change lens you might want to consider a Canon G9 (12.1 MP) or G10 camera. They are going for around $400 to $500. I have a G9 as a back up to my DSLR and have taken some great shots. You can also do major cropping with this camera and an editing program.

try sony cybershot....its pretty gud!!

you need to do a thorough research before purchasing a new digital camera.. you can check out for specs online... i also wanted to buy a digicam for myself, a sony cybershot.. sony cybershot models have wide range of features such as 5-10 MP, face detection, smile shutter and many more..

Well you are in my kind of situaltion. You are gonna buy a camera but dont know which to buy. Well it depends what kinda photo taker are you. Is it your hobby to take photos? Youw ant normal pictures to take when your with ur family or are you trying to be a professional photographer? Well, the best and simple cameras which i found to be very good resulting is of the Sony. They provide various cameras. Of course SLR cameras are better than normal cameras but it depends on the one who takes photographs.

You seem like you want a normal type of camera which takes good pictures, there are many varieties of camera nowdays. There are some cameras with touch screen or scratch prof and more. www.sony.com can be quite helpful. Well cameras of other companies such as Nikon and Canon are also good. But if you wanna take real good photographs any camera with 8 MP or high would be good. Thats what we junior photographers are taught hehe. Well with more than 8 MP ability you can click photos which is almost the size of a 4 meter poster which is I thin quite a big size for a normal use. Anyways the highest available MP camera is about 13.6 out there as far as i know of model Sony w300. Ok Good Luck buying a new camera!