Choosing a digital camera can be a confusing and daunting task, with so many options, features, brands and price points. Here are some tips for choosing a digital camera:

One criteria that some people may not consider is the ability and experience of the picture taker. If you have little experience in photography, then certainly choosing a camera with the best ease of use ratings is crucial. However, if you have a little more experience with photography, then you should consider some of the cameras with more features and power.

Choosing the right digital camera for you involves many factors. The characteristics will vary quite widely from model to model and from manufacturer to manufacturer.

The price is important but it should not be the one and only factor your use to decide which camera you choose, as this will result in a poor quality choice that may not be reliable. Though the price and your budget certainly remains an important factor.

The sensor size and number of megapixels is important. Basically, the more megapixels, the higher resolution your pictures can be taken in. Just a few years ago, cameras could be just 1 or 3 megapixels. Nowadays, one can find cameras with 10, 12 or more megapixels. So this technology has come a long way in a short time. Obviously, the higher the megapixel, the higher price you will pay for the camera. Therefore, the best advice is to consider moderation in choosing the size of the megapixel. Maybe you don’t really need pictures with crazy high resolution. If you are posting pictures mainly to the web, a blog, your website or eBay, then you don’t need an extraordinary amount of megapixels as the higher the resolution, the higher the file size of the pictures and this means that the pictures may be difficult to upload to the web due to size, especially if you have a slower connection. They may also be difficult for people to load in their web browser if they are too high in resolution. So, keep that in mind.

The Optical system. The lenses of cameras, either digital or film, are very important to obtain quality images, especially if the number of megapixels is high. Many famous brands have their own technology for the lens system, Sony uses Carl Zeiss lens, Panasonic uses Leica lens, while other manufacturers such as Canon and Nikon, are the owners of a long tradition in making lenses for cameras. All digital cameras can provide a digital way to zoom as well and if you plan on taking pictures of small items or of landscapes or people, then zoom may be a feature you place some importance in.

The manual settings. The possible manual settings of a camera can be very important when choosing the right digital camera. If you are beginner and simply want ease of use, then manual settings will not be as important to you. However, if you plan to take pictures of many different scenes and situations, then you’ll want to be able to fiddle with the manual settings to be able to take the best pictures possible.