How To Buy Guide - Camera Guide

There are a number of common elements that are available with most digital cameras. Here's a run-down of the nuts and bolts, to help you better decide what you're shopping for:

Viewfinder: Optical vs. LCD – All digital SLRs come with both an optical viewfinder and an LCD screen, but some point-and-shoot digicams only come with an LCD. If you prefer to take pictures by looking through an optical viewfinder, be sure the camera you're looking at has one. If the camera doesn't have an optical viewfinder, look for one that allows you to adjust the LCD's brightness so you can see it in bright sunlight.

Lens – If you're buying a digital SLR, you'll have a wealth of lenses to choose from. Having interchangeable lenses allows you to upgrade your camera without buying a whole new camera body. If you're really looking for flexibility, look for a camera that will work with lenses for film-based SLRs as well.

Point-and-shoot digicams have two main types of lenses: retractable zoom lenses and folded-optics lenses. Retractable zoom lenses retract into the camera body when it's turned off and extend when it's turned on. The upside to these lenses is that they often allow greater zoom ranges; the downside is that there's usually a lag time between turning the camera on and waiting for the lens to extend. Folded optics lenses, on the other hand, give the camera an ultra-slim design by folding sideways in the camera body. These lenses used to be lower-quality, but in recent years have shown themselves to be just as high-quality as many retractable zoom lenses.

Mid-range digital cameras usually use fixed zoom lenses that don't retract into the camera body when it's turned off. A benefit of these types of lenses is that they offer increased magnification, sometimes up to 12X optical zoom. They also are often threaded, allowing you to use lens converters and filters.

Zoom – There are two types of zooms you'll see referenced on a digital camera: optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical zoom is the maximum amount of zoom the lens supports at its highest resolution. This means that if a camera has a 5X optical zoom, you can zoom in to 5 times the image size and still have a high-quality picture.

Digital zoom is a process where the camera digitally zooms in on the image it's seeing. Digital zoom will get you a closer image, but it comes at a price: the image will pixelate, and have a lot more noise, because digital zoom goes beyond what the lens is capable of. Our advice? Ignore the digital zoom, and look for a camera with the highest optical zoom. The more of it, the better.

Battery Life – Even though some digital cameras still use standard alkaline batteries, we recommend you look for a camera that comes with its own rechargeable batteries. Digital cameras can be very power-hungry, and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are much more energy-efficient and cost-effective. You might pay a little extra, but it will save you loads in costs and frustration.

Memory – Once you've taken the image, you need a place to store it. For the most part, a camera's built-in memory won't hold enough images to keep you satisfied, so most offer the capability to store images on flash memory cards. Memory cards come in a lot of different shapes and sizes – Secure Digital, CompactFlash, xD Picture Cards, and Memory Sticks are all options. If you have any other devices that use memory cards, we suggest getting a camera that uses the same type of memory card, so you can trade out when you need to.

Scene Modes – Most digital cameras offer a variety of shooting modes that let you take better photos under different conditions. These modes usually don't allow you to do much fine-tuning, but sometimes a slight adjustment is all that's needed to turn a mediocre shot into a great shot. Generally, the more scene modes a camera has, the better.

Advanced Controls – All digital SLRs have advanced controls, but many mid-range and point-and-shoot cameras allow you to make advanced adjustments, too. Some options are exposure controls (allowing you to adjust the brightness of the shot, and even sometimes the intensity of the flash), ISO controls, and white balance. Most of us won't ever need to mess with these settings, but if the person using the camera knows their stuff, you might consider looking for a camera with these sorts of options.

You'll want to consider each of the above features when making your decision – they'll all affect the things you can and can't do with your camera.

Now that you know the basics, on the next page we'll explore some of the special features that have sprung up in recent years. While not essential, they sure help.