Life passes by fast, and memories tend to fade, as time goes by. A digital camera can be a great way to keep all those fun memories fresh.
Digital cameras are such a large part of our lives, that manufacturers have even begun integrating them into cell phones. They let you immortalize a moment, even if you don't have a digital camera with you. When you do expect that you'll be taking photos and keep them for a long time to come, it's recommended to take a digital camera with you, as the quality of a cell-phone camera isn't great. If you like photography, a digital camera is a must.
However, it might be difficult to choose a camera, if you never bought one before. The points I talk about below should help you with your choice.
Find out what your needs are:
Find out what you need before you go out to buy a digital camera. There are two directions that people choose from usually. They either want to learn a bit of photography, or they want just to take photos of their friends and family.
How much money do you want to spend:
You can pay anywhere between 0 and 00 for a digital camera, so you should know how much you're willing to pay for one. Obviously, if you want to learn photography, you should set aside more money than you would for a small digital camera. If some fun is all you want, -400 should be plenty for a standard digital camera with the normal features.
What is a megapixel:
If you want a clear photo, megapixels is what you need in a camera. The more megapixels you have, the better the photos will be. What kind of megapixels do you need? For random photos, with friends and family, all you need are 2 megapixels. If you want something more professional, both in size and quality, you should go with a camera that has a minimum of 5 megapixels.
The optical zoom:
You should know that optical and digital zoom aren't the same thing. A lot of companies will try to sell you cameras boasting incredible zoom, but that's usually digital zoom. The problem with digital zoom is that you lose a lot of quality when you use it. Optical zoom is what you need to get clear pictures.
