1. Determine what you want to photograph

• Do you take pictures only a few times a year (christmas, holidays, anniversaries)?
• What is your personal experience level with cameras?
• What type of photography will you be doing? (portraits, landscapes, macro, sports, nature? I guess a little bit of everything, right?)

2. Look for image stabilisation

This is a great feature of modern cameras.  What is our goal? Yes, good pictures, and good pictures are razor sharp where they have to be. Image stabilisation is a great help.

3. Megapixels are not everything

When marketers advertised new digital cameras, then the megapixels (MP) came first in bold letters. It seemed to be the most important number.  There was a real race about who had most of them. In fact the number of megapixels is the least important detail of the camera.

Let me explain, what those pixels are: A pixel is a tiny colored dot, and thousands or millions of those dots create the picture. Imagine the paintings of the old impressionists like Van Gogh, or imagine a mosaique.

Now it seems logical, that many dots will make a better picture. Well, a mosaique of thousands of tiny stones sure is more precise than the same mosaique made of a few bigger stones. With smaller pieces you can work out the details better. This is a fact.

If you remember the first digital cameras with a few hundred thousand pixels, their images were grainy. Consider that it wasn’t only a question of the pixels, the image processors were in an early stadium too.

The electronic became smarter and the pixels smaller (and more). How much pixels are enough now? To be clear, then years ago – and that was Stone Age concerning digital photography – I saw a king size print in a photographer’s store. The print had the format of your front-door.

The print showed a woman almost in natural size and it was made with an early Nikon/Kodak SLR of 6 million pixels. The print was razor sharp! Every detail like hair, clothes etc. were cristal clear. Absolutely terrific.

Recently I found in my archive a forgotten poster print. It was such of a sharpness that I wondered if I made it with my Mamiya 6×7 middle format. But nope, it was taken with my 5MP Olympus E1. Hence you can combine, 5 or 6 MP would be more than enough for your own use, more than 12 MP are ok for SLRs. For a pocket 10 MP this is a good standard.

First of all the sensor size matters in relation to its megapixels. Since the sensors of pocket cameras are tiny, it’s not the best choice to buy a camera with 14 MP. For an SLR it’s ok, because the sensors and the pixels are bigger.

If you want to make money from your camera, then you should work with an SLR of at least 14 MP. There are stock agencies not accepting smaller image files.

Be aware that the higher resolution of a camera creates bigger digital files. Since you are photographing with the highest resolution setting (what I hope), you need to have enough memory cards with your camera.

It would absolutely make no sense to buy a high-res camera and decrease the resolution setting to store more pictures on the card and hard drive.

4. Do you want to improve your photography?

Do you want to take more professional portraits, dynamic landscapes, fascinating nature shots? In this case you should look for additional options like an external flash, changeable lenses, filters and other lens attachments. You don’t have to buy it at once, but you will have the flexibility to complete your equipment according to your needs.

5. Read reviews

Read what others have to say about a camera before you buy one. When users write about their experiences with a camera, they are unbiased.

Read more about digital cameras on

www.photography-tips-for-your-profit.com

BEST SELLING DIGITAL CAMERAS

1. Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens

2. Canon PowerShot SX20IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 20x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch Articulating LCD

3. Canon PowerShot A1100IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Silver)

4. Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Black)

5. Canon PowerShot SD780IS12.1 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Black)

6. Canon PowerShot G11 10MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Stabilized Zoom and 2.8-inch articulating LCD

7. Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black)

8. Nikon Coolpix L20 10MP Digital Camera with 3.6 Optical Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Deep Red)

9. Nikon Coolpix L20 10MP Digital Camera with 3.6 Optical Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Navy Blue)

10. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H20/B 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization

11. Canon PowerShot SD1200IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Dark Gray)

12. Canon PowerShot S90IS 10MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3-inch LCD

13. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 12.1MP Digital Camera with 18x POWER Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD

14. Nikon D90 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

15. Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Blue)

Since I take pictures every single day, I wear always a camera with me. The bulky and heavy equipment I take when I have a plan or an assignment. But when I leave the house for other reasons I have a little point and shoot camera in my jacket. I can combine the advantages of both worlds like this and I never miss a shot (most of the time).