How to Buy the Best Pocket Digital Camera

Finding the right pocket digital camera can be a confusing task, given the number of manufacturers, models and all those technical terms to sort through. Purchasing a pocket digital camera online is the best way to go since you can take your time to look at all the technical stats of the pocket digital camera and make a smart buying decision. Let's go through what to look for, and, what is often overlooked when purchasing a pocket digital camera.

What is a 'megapixel' and what does it mean in a pocket digital camera?

Pocket digital camera companies love to throw this number at consumers. This is simply the number of dots that there are in the picture. The more dots, the sharper and clearer the picture will be. It's important to realize that even a 5 or 6 megapixel pocket digital camera will produce wonderful pictures if they will be 4x7, if the pictures will be larger they will start to get 'grainy'. If you'll just be making small photos don't waste your money on a 10 megapixel camers, you won't really see a difference.

How much memory should a pocket digital camera have?

Well it really depends how you will use the pocket digital camera. If you'll be using it all day taking hundreds of photos then you'll need a pocket digital camera with tons of memory. Just about every pocket digital camera can download it's photos into a computer. The important thing to remember here is that the best pocket digital camera will have a slot that you can put memory cards into. If your digital camera has this slot, then the on board memory doesn't really matter, just carry additional memory cards.

One item of note here is that a pocket digital camera uses memory based on the megapixels, the higher it is, the more memory each picture will take.

Should the pocket digital camera have a zoom feature?

Just about every pocket digital camera has zoom. There are two types of zoom, one optical the other digital. Stay away from the digital one.

• Optical zoom uses the actual lens of the pocket digital camera to zoom in.
• Digital zoom uses software to zoom in, this is bad since the pictures can actually get grainy when you zoom in.

Regardless of the type of zoom the pocket digital camera has, make sure the image stabilization works while the zoom is active. This is only really an issue during action shots, but may be important to you.

How complicated should the pocket digital camera be?

An often overlooked is how complicated the pocket digital camera is. The more features, the more complicated it is. If you are giving the pocket digital camera as a gift try to consider the receiver. An older person may like a simple point and shoot camera, while a teen may wnat something with more bells and whistles.

Make sure the pocket digital camera can attach to a printer

A nice, relatively new feature is a pocket digital camera that can plug directly into a printer without the use of a computer. Again, this is great for somebody who doesn't like complicated things. It's also great if you have an older computer without USB ports. If you already own a printer make sure the pocket digital camera is compatable with it.

Does a pocket digital camera have shutter and aperture settings?

Well they sure do. A high end pocket digital camera has all the bells and whistles that you'll find on any traditional professional level camera. If you're a professional photographer (or just want to be one) then look for a pocket digital camera with these settings since they allow you to shoot some great photos.

Can the pocket digital camera take videos too?

Some pocket digital cameras can shoot video too, just keep in mind that shooting videos is a real hog when it comes to memory. If you'll shoot lots of videos it's probably better to get a dedicated pocket camcorder too, since even the cheapest one will get better results.

How much does a pocket digital camera cost?

Here's an example of an excellent pocket digital camera available on Amazon.

Of course that will depend on the features and quality of the pocket digital camera as well as if it's on sale or not. I suggest you read digital camera reviews on such sites as ConsumerReports or ConsumerSearch. Reading digital camer reviews written by unbiased users like yourself can really help you pick the best pocket digital camera. You will of course find many more useful links right here on this page too.

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