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Step 1
By far the most common technical term thrown at consumers is 'Megapixels'. This simply means how many dots are in the picture, the more dots the finer, clearer the picture will be. Keep in mind that even a 5 or 6 megapixel digital camera will produce excellent 4 x 7 digital photos. Higher megapixel cameras are great for larger pictures where the grain will come into play. If you're just going to make small pictures don't waste your money on a 10 megapixel camera, you won't notice the difference.
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Step 2
Sony CybershotMemory: Decide how you will use the digital camera. Will you take it on vacations or day trips and take 100s of photos, or just a few at a time, downloading the photos into your PC at the end of the day. Most all digital cameras are expandable via memory cards, but this additional memory will cost you money. An important consideration is that high megapixel cameras take digital photos that take up more memory. Check if there is a setting to turn down the print quality or else you may fill up the memory quicker than you think.
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Step 3
Zoom: A standard feature among digital cameras, but make sure the image stabilization built into the camera works while zooming. This is really only an issue if you take action shots, think about how you will use the digital camera. Note that there are two types of zoom; optical and digital. Optical zoom is the best as the lens does the actual zooming. Digital on the other uses software to zoom in, this is the worst type of zoom as the pictures can get quite grainy. Some manufacturers will throw 10 and 20x zoom at you, make sure it isn't digital, you'll be sorry.
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Step 4
Nikon CoolPixLarge or small camera. There's a trend these days to make digital cameras as small and lightweight as possible. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Keep in mind though that small cameras have less buttons (requiring more menu scrolling with one or two buttons) and are usually difficult to hold, an issue if you take many photos at a time.
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Step 5
Gift? Know your receiver, keep in mind that teens like small, quirky cameras, while less tech savy people like simpler, point and shoot type of cameras.
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Step 6
Casio 10.1 Megapixel GoldPrinter compatability. If you already own a color printer or photo printer make sure the digital camera you're considering is compatable with it, either through direct connection or by plugging in the memory card.
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Step 7
Shutter and Aperture settings: Some high end digital cameras offer the ability to adjust these settings. If you are a professional this is useful to you. For the average person make sure there are different picture style settings you can choose from, such as outdoor, indoor etc..
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Step 8
Some digital cameras today can take videos. Although they are getting better at it the fact is if you take videos you should really invest in a dedicated digital video camera. The results will be much better.
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Step 9
When you are ready to buy the best digital camera online make sure you choose a merchant with reviews. In the end actual users can give you real insight as to which camera is the best digital camera you can buy online.
Comments
kristinasan said
on 10/31/2009 http://www.4-less.biz
LuckyAngel said
on 1/24/2009 Very detailed, very helpful. Thanks! 5*