Factors to Consider Before You Buy a Digital Camera

Brand
There are only a few major brands that make quality Digital Cameras including Canon, Sony, Nikon, Casio, Olympus, Panasonic and Kodak. With that said, Canon dominates almost all popular categories of digital camera and they look like they will maintain their lead into the foreseeable future by constantly putting out new and better models. If you are looking for a quality dSLR you should also consider Nikon and if you are looking for a budget digital camera also consider Casio and Panasonic but for the money it will be tough to beat the value that Canon delivers.
Cost/Value
When buying a Compact or Point and Shoot Digital Camera you should decide how much resolution and optical zoom you really need because you will be paying for it. In general the best value is probably in the $200 price point, 7 Megapixel resolution range with a 3-4X optical zoom which is plenty of resolution and optical zoom for most people. You can even consider buying an older 6 Megapixel model that will probably work fine and save some money but you wont get style points with your friends for having the latest technology if you go in that direction.
Type/Subtype
You should think about how you will be using your digital camera. If you want to carry it in your pocket you need a Compact and if you are a serious photographer who doesn’t mind the extra size and cost then you will probably gravitate towards a dSLR. If you want the cheapest and easiest to use camera and it doesn't need to fit in your pocket look at the Point and Shoot cameras.
Design
Ever since the iPOD consumer electronics are now considered for their style as well as their function. There is variation in style between digital cameras but there is no style leader like the iPOD 'yet.' For digital cameras there are really two design options - minimalist designs that are very easy to operate but do not have a lot of manual controls and bells and whistles or control rich features that are more complicated to use.
Performance
You are buying a Digital Camera to take pictures so make sure you buy one that will take the kind of quality images that you need in your camera. For some people a cell phone takes acceptable quality pictures and any of the top digital cameras on our list will be fine. For serious photographers image quality is a very personal and complicated topic, like choosing a bottle of wine, and ultimately they need to see the images taken by the camera to decide because no reviewer will see it exactly the way they do. You should consider image quality in the context of the light levels you will be shooting in as well as the level of motion in your subject matter. Also, consider whether the speed of power-up is important and the speed of taking multiple pictures in sequence.
Newness
There is probably no category of consumer products outside of computers that moves as fast as digital cameras. Top brands must come out with new models every couple of months to stay competitive and the big winner is the consumer because the price of the cameras keeps coming down and the performance keeps getting better. Because of this, having the latest digital camera is a real fashion statement for some people and you should decide whether you want to get the latest and greatest product on the market or you want a specific level of performance at the cheapest price you can find.
Expert Opinion
There are very few categories that are reviewed as closely as Digital Cameras (maybe computers and cars). Even though models are constantly coming out, there are top experts at Cnet, dpreview, dcreviews, imaging resource, and steves digicam that all do a pretty good job. However, when it comes to all important image quality there is still no substitute for your own judgment.
Consumer Opinion
Because digital cameras are so popular and because great new models are constantly coming out to keep everyone excited, there are a lot of user reviews on all the popular digital camera models. You can find these reviews on shopping.com, amazon.com and shopping.yahoo.com for example.
Where to Buy
You can buy the popular digital cameras at a wide range of stores both online and offline. Buying a popular camera means that there will be a wide choice of stores and also a lot of price competition which is a good thing for you. Look for the total cost including tax and shipping and read store reviews before buying from anyone online.

Explore the Buyer Guide to Digital Cameras at smartguider.com/

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