Can anyone give me advice on purchasing a digital camera?

the best advice you can get, is... see how much you have to spend and stick to it.....

then the main things i think you need for basic home use is.... how many pixles does it have... the more the better, although 3.5 is fine for normal use but if you can get more... get them.... dont go higher than 8 to 10 pixals.... you'll never use them unless you want bill board poster size pictures....

the next thing is IGNORE the digital Zoom No... but get the best OPTICAL zoom you can Afford... again you wont / shouldnt need more than 10.

Optical zoom uses the lense to zoom in... the Digital zoom uses the pixles, so if you have 3 mega pixals, and Digital zoom to X2, then you will only be useing 1.5 Mega Pixals on your photo... this make a blury image..

so :-

money

Pixals

OPTICAL zoom

hope this helps

OH maybe one other thing... power supply... i'd personaly use a camara with normal rechargable pencil batteries.... its cheeper in the long run, and its easy to carry spares... if it has a "camara" batteries, this can be expencive to get yourself two spare ones to carry with you

....................................................

ivan below.... :-)

trained photographer? lol

10 - 12 mega pixals is normal..... but get more..... just waisting money... YES the more pixals the sharper the image... but the resalution is dependent on how they are being viewed... IE computer screen / TV (by the way the TV has round pixals and the comp has square, the same as the camara, so the pics wont be as clear on the TV) yes, as i was saying, its dependent on the screen, which will usually be around 72 psi which is pixals per inch.... if your camara is more that a 3.5 pixal, then this will cover it...... YES get more for zooming, but 10 is PLENTY.

i didnt want to give you an overly technical answer, i was trying to keep things as simple as possible. but people CLAMING to be photographers but who know sh1t and talk sh1t, make me laugh

I have owned about 6 so, i am probably quite good for advice.

If its for general picture taking go for one with a big screen, consider wether you want standard aa batteries or a rechargeable lithium one. Any mega pixels above 5 will suffice unless your doing posters, memory can be added by buying a card, other than that are additional features going to weigh you down or be a benefit. The more you spend the more features you will get. At the high end the s8000fd is feature packed and offers a great video mode. at the lower end any of the big makes offer great cameras for less than £100; kodak, sony, samsung pentax, olympus

http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/equipment/Digital...

just a lilttle piece of advice.... when you go to buy it, ask if you can try it out, and then test the timing (i'm not sure what the correct terminology is here) of the time it takes between pressing the (shutter) button, and the actual time it takes to capture the shot. This needs to be as short a time as possible, as something that's very annoying with some of the digital cameras is when you snap a picture, but it actually takes about 1 second to capture the shot. (PS - 1 second is very slow!!)

Kodak c533 for $170, 5Mp 3x optical zoom,Kodak has a different camera that's about$150, but for an extra $30 you get optical zoom and more features. and it take good pictures too Canon a430 for $180, 4MP, 3x opt zoom, better than Kodak, Nikon's are really good to, but I don't know about prices. all of these brands take SD memory cards, the most popular kind. Sony has the DSCS600 and the DSCS500 for about $230, 6MP 3x opt zoom, great cameras,and they have a special lens that give you really crisp pictures stay away from Polaroid, vivatar and other cheap no name brands. and be wary of one that come in plastic packages that you have to open with a knife. the more mega pixels you have the better, but if your getting to post pic on eBay you have to re size the photo's to less than 1 mp anyways. all the pirces I gave you are in canadian funds

Hello,

(ANS) I trained in photography many years ago (pre-digital) & I also used to work in the computer industry. No.1 OK! one of the most important thing to tell you about when buying a new digital camera is that you need to know how many "Mega Pixels" the camera has. The greater the number (in millions) of Pixels the sharper the image resolution will be (the sharper the image) a typical digital camera should have 10 or 12 mega-pixels or above. More is better when buying a digital camera.

No.2 Know what you will use the camera for i.e. the type of photography. such as just holiday snaps, family , friends the kids etc. OR for more heavy duty stuff like work, or hobby's etc. WHY? because this should determine the type of camera you buy.

TIP!

Digital cameras come in x2 types:- the up right single lens snap shot type camera (most common) and the digital SLR (digital single lens reflex). The digital SLR allows you to see precisely what your going to get by looking through the lens. In contrast the up right snap shot type cameras means you hold the viewing screen away from the body or look through the separate view finder to compose the image. They are very different from each other.

No.3 The snap shots digital cameras are lower cost & more affordable and this is the type of camera most commonly sold. Digital SLR's are more expensive and usually bought for serious hobby or professional use mainly.

No.4 The size of the SD card is also important as this determines how many images can be stored in the camera before you can transfer them to your computer. You can now buy 1GB (gigabyte) SD cards for many cameras which allows you to store a large number of images.

No.5 make sure the camera comes with the correct software that is compatible with your computers operating system i.e. windows or mac or linux,etc. Make sure the camera does come with a USB transfer cable so you can transfer images from the camera to PC.

**there is a VERY large amount of choice in cameras now so its easy to feel rather over whelmed but try to buy on cost verses features. That way you should be able to narrow down your final choice camera.

Hope that helps?

Ivan

Sony Cybershots are the best.Argos is OK,dealers will be more expensive

hi,dont waste your money buying one in a shop,go on bid tv.got the latest for alot less money.try it.sky 635 or 644.