If you are one of the many people looking to purchase a digital camera, either for the first time as a replacement for an older film-based one, or as a replacement for a digital camera you may already have, then there are a number of features which you may wish to look out for. Digital cameras are now so packed with technology, features and gadgets that it can sometimes be hard to know which will prove to be most useful to you in the long run.
Although one of the main advantages of having a digital camera is the fact that you do not need film, it will still be necessary to have a method of storing the images which you take. Some digital cameras have built in memory, although if this is included, it will often be rather limited.
Instead you will find that the most popular method of storing and saving captured images on a digital camera will be through the use of memory cards. These come in a variety of sizes and with varying amounts of memory. Put simply, the more memory you have available, the more photographs you can take, or the greater the resolution and detail of the images you capture.
More memory or storage equals more data that can be saved. Whether this data is in sheer quantity of images, or sheer quantity of detail within those images, is entirely up to you. For professional artists and photographers it will be more important to capture as much detail as possible, but for the average snapper, it will be more useful to be able to take a large number of photos.
A typical memory card may well have anything from one gigabyte to eight gigabytes of data, although this does vary tremendously. Even a couple of gigabytes of storage will allow the average photographer the option to take many thousands of photos before the card is full.
One of the most useful features for many people is the inclusion of an LCD screen. This does use the batteries up much more quickly, and although it can be used to frame your photos as you take them, the viewfinder can be used just as well to help conserve battery life. The real advantage of having an LCD screen is that you can view your photos immediately after you have taken them. This means that you can check your images to make sure that they have come out as expected - with no odd lighting problems, blinking or obstructions.
Most digital cameras also come with zoom - although this can be either through the movement of the lens, or a digital zoom feature. Often it is possible to find both available. Zooming in using a lens means that the detail of the image is increased as you appear to get closer to your subject. A digital zoom simply makes the detail that can be seen a little larger, but adds no further detail itself. Both can have their place, but a standard lens based zoom will often prove more effective for most people, with digital zooming useful to help frame the image you wish to take.
