The price of digital cameras has been lowered dramatically as the popularity increases. You can now purchase a digital camera for anywhere from $30 to $400. As always, remember that you get what you pay for, and don't expect to get top quality photos from a cheap camera; you may end up disappointed!

There are many types of digital cameras on the market, and it will help if you know what they are when you start to shop. Some of the newest models are Digital SLR, Electronic View Finders, and Range Finders.

Digital SLRs are very much like film-loaded cameras. A series of mirrors and prisms control the optical path to produce a digital image on the LCD screen. You actually see what you are photographing when you look through the lens.

Electronic View Finders and Range Finders work much like a video camera, and optical view finder controls the picture instead of a lens. You don't look through a lens to take a picture; instead, you are looking at a digital image.

Many of these cameras have the technology to allow video footage; therefore, it is enabled by the manufacturer. You can shoot up to three minutes of video footage depending on the quality of the digital camera you are using.

Your new camera should have at least 2 megapixels resolution; anything up to 8 MP will provide great shots. 1.9-2.5 MP seems to be standard on today's market, but you can get more than 8 MP in some cameras on the professional market. Any less than 2 megapixels with frequently create poor-quality pictures that are fuzzy and blurred.

Ask to see samples of the pictures taken by that specific camera before you buy, and check the focus and zoom. The quality of the lens will make a big difference in your photos, so be sure it has a good lens. Another important item on your digital camera is a flash; without this, you will not be able to take pictures inside.

Understand all of the features and controls before you purchase your new digital camera. It can be confusing to remember how it works when you get the camera home if you don't understand how each feature works.

Many photographers are hearing the word "digital" nowadays. Digital photography is innovative and new, still in its infancy, and it is a wonderful photographic tool.

Tourists, among other photographic amateurs, love digital cameras. Family photos, graphic design, security, advertising, fashion, and inventory control are only a few of the ways you can use digital photography.

If you are one of those who love to capture life at its best and worst, digital photography is the new wave. The family vacation is much easier to record, and you can take hundreds more photos to put in the family photo album!

The fundamentals of digital and film cameras are the same when taking a picture. The big difference is that with digital photography you get instant results, as you can view your picture on the LCD screen of the camera. With a conventional camera, you have to wait for film processing to get the pleasure of seeing what you have taken.

With a digital camera you can delete the pictures you don't like, while film again requires you to wait, as well as spend time and money, on processing photos that you may not even want.

Electrical information is processed into digital information by the use of electronic chips in digital cameras. Millions of tiny receptors convert the energy into a digital image.

The color elements used are called pixels, and the standard pixel is the megapixel (MP).  Megapixel identifies the number of sensors needed to convert the information into a digital image. A camera with 8 megapixels of resolution is equal to about 8 million sensors.

The higher the number of megapixels, the better resolution and better quality of the photo you will receive. Good quality 4 x 6 photos can be taken with a 1.9-megapixel camera.

The professional photographer and the amateur photographer can find many advantages to digital photography. These include, but are not limited to:

* Without wasting storage space, the professional photographer can review, edit, and even remove a photo, while assessing composition and lighting.

* The versatility of management, including color and file, manipulation, and printing abilities, creates a much faster workflow than film cameras.

* It is much easier to modify and manipulate digital images than it is to modify negatives and prints.

* Special effects that are available on a digital camera can give much more dramatic results than film cameras.

* With the clear images provided by new digital cameras, tripods are a thing of the past in most instances. This is due to the anti-shake tools now available.

* Hundreds of images can be stored on your computer with a minimum of space allowing easy access for editing. It is much less expensive to store data on a computer than on rolls of film and negatives. In addition, the professional can take time to view them, saving only the best for use.

* Digital cameras are much more compact, allowing a freedom of movement when going on difficult shoots.

* Reviewing images and techniques are much easier as data can be stored directly on the photo, including; camera type, date and time, film speed, flash used, and shutter speed.

* Hundreds of photos can be taken without the need to constantly change film.

* Your home darkroom is now color, and editing your pictures is much less expensive. This eliminates the high cost of film processing and the added problems of storing rolls of file and negatives.

Manufacturers are now promoting the use of digital cameras to photojournalists by increasing the quality of cameras, by developing a quality of photograph that is comparable to 35mm models of the past.

There are many advantages when comparing digital photography to traditional film cameras. These include:

* Data can be stored on the image including date and time, type of camera, film speed and shutter speed (this is great for vacations); this assists in reviewing photos at a later date.

* The use of a tripod is all but eliminated due to the anti-shake tools in digital cameras.

* You can capture hundreds of photos for emailing and graphic uses without the need to print all of them and scan them into your computer.

* You print only the pictures you want, so you can take a lot of pictures. And, by changing the settings slightly, you can take as many shots as you want choosing only the best quality to keep.

* Storing photos on a computer is a lot cheaper than storing them on film, and they are much easier to access.

* With a consumer-grade printer, you can communicate directly with your camera or its memory card and print your own pictures.

* You can immediately view your pictures. If you don't like the picture, just take it over again!

* Film cameras are much larger than digital cameras with equal quality.

* Without the expense of developing film, you can experiment with the settings on a digital camera, allowing you to learn new techniques with no additional cost.

* Film cameras require a change of film every 24 to 36 pictures, with digital photography you can store hundreds of images on the same media device.

* Digital cameras can now be hooked up to your television, allowing you to review your photos with an audience.

* You have a home color darkroom for editing your pictures without the expense of a darkroom and its many chemicals.

* No more scanning of photos to view them on your computer.

* You don't have to pay the high cost of film processing and store many, many rolls of film and photographs.

When planning the budget for your new digital camera, include the cost of an extra memory card.  The cards that come with your camera aren't nearly enough memory to take the number of pictures you would like to take, so get a bigger card right off the bat.

A 3-megapixel camera should have at least a 256 MB card; a 4-megapixel camera needs at a minimum a 512 MB card.  Any camera with 6 or more megapixels should have a 1 GB card.  This will eliminate the possibility of ever missing a shot because your memory card is full, or even worse, having to choose which photo to delete because you have found one more that you just have to take!

Being able to shoot at your camera's highest resolution is another important reason to have a massive memory card.  Spending money on a 6-megapixel digicam should also include shooting with all 6 megapixels!

Another thing to remember is to shoot at the camera's highest compression setting, too. Squeezing more images onto your memory card by shooting at a lower resolution and with lower quality compression settings will only cause regret later.  You never know when you will shoot the next great photo. (Do you think the photographer left home that morning knowing he would photograph the nurse kissing the soldier? That photo turned out to be the most well-recognized photo taken at the end of the war!)

Don't chance missing a great shot with poor quality. Another thing to remember is that the lower the resolution of your photos, the smaller the print will have to be to remain clear. No posters can be made with a 640 x 480 resolution. Not exactly what you will want to display at your first gallery showing!