Digital cameras and professional digital cameras come with a variety of features.

• Adjustable diopter lens - This lets you focus the viewfinder to match your eyesight, be it nearsightedness or farsightedness. You can see without glasses.

• Aperture - The aperture can be controlled to determine the amount of light that reaches to the digital camera's sensor.

• Auto-Exposure Bracketing - Exposure bracketing is a technique used by most photographers to correctly expose the pictures. digital cameras feature auto exposure bracketing which can change the exposure values automatically each time you depress the shutter-release button in plus (+) and minus (-) incremental steps.

• Autofocus Assist Lamp - Most digital cameras have AF Assist Lamp to focus when taking photos in low light. Some digital cameras have an infrared AF Assist Lamp.

• Beep - During camera operations, beep sounds are heard which can be switched on or off.

• Burst Mode - Many digital cameras provide burst mode where shots are taken sequentially of a rapid moving subject.

• Compression quality - They have different compression qualities for recording images. Typically they are
o Fine (least compression, greatest file size)
o Normal (average compression, average file size)
o Basic (most compression, least file size suitable for email or web posting).

Designations vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
• Date / Time - The date and time can be set.
• Depth of Field (DOF) - DOF measures the sharpness of the image in front and back of where you focus on the main subject. digital cameras offer automatic DOF by controlling the aperture size and the focal length of the lens.

• Digital camera image file formats - digital cameras offer three main file formats for saving images
o JPEG
o TIFF
o RAW file formats.

• EXIF data - digital cameras save JPEG files with EXIF data like shutter speed, date and time, exposure compensation, metering pattern, focal length and the usage of flash, to compare good images with bad images.

• Exposure Compensation - All digital cameras have inbuilt exposure compensation. However, high-end cameras have the feature of manually changing it by using the digital camera's exposure compensation button or menu. This allows overriding the metered exposure by a value between the range of (-) 2 to (+) 2 EV.

• Exposure Modes - These range from fully automatic to semi-automatic to full manual mode. Scene modes have factory-optimized settings for different subjects and scenes.

• File Size - The number of pixels can be chosen, eg. 1280 x 960.

• Flash compensation - The output of the inbuilt flash is increased or decreased.

• Flash modes - Most cameras have inbuilt flash with several flash modes to suit a variety of lighting situations. Flash ranges change according to the zoom/focal length used. Flash compensation along with white balance can also be used.

• Focus modes - Usually more than one focus mode is available. Examples are
o auto focus
o single area focus
o continuous auto focus
o spot focus
o 3,9 area focus
o face-priority auto focus

• Frame Number - Cameras have a continuous number setting so that images are stored beginning with the highest file number used by the previous memory card. This prevents duplication of file names during image transfer.

• Histogram - High-end digital cameras have a histogram that can be viewed on the LCD or the electronic viewfinder. If the histogram indicates that proper exposure is not done, then it can be changed manually and the picture may be retaken.

• Hot shoe - Allows an external flash or other device to be connected to a camera. It is a slotted bracket generally located at the top of a camera.

• Image stabilization - digital cameras with image stabilization have an inbuilt gyrosensor and microprocessor, which can detect camera shake as it occurs. digital cameras use optical image stabilization, which is automatic.

• LCD Monitor - Brightness and contrast can be adjusted in the LCD display. Power consumption can be done by the standby mode or timed switch off mode, when the LCD automatically shuts off.

• Lenses and Zooms - There are
o fixed focal length lens
o optical zoom lens
o digital zoom lens
o interchangeable & converter lenses.

• Main modes -
o Record mode (access menu, adjust zoom lens, use macro lens, AF/AE lock)
o Playback mode (view images, format/erase/protect images, adjust print settings)
o Movie mode (video recording, video playback, audio recording, audio-video recording) features vary with manufacturers.

• Metering Modes - Automatic exposure is a standard feature on all digital cameras. The best exposure is determined by measuring the amount of light in a frame, which is known as metering. Three main digital camera metering modes are
o center-weighted metering
o matrix (evaluative) metering
o spot metering.

• PictBridge - Many cameras come with this feature that lets you print images from the memory card to a printer regardless of brand and thus completely bypasses the need for a computer.

• Resolution - All manufacturers offer high resolution in terms of megapixels. The chances of a better photo increase with higher resolution.

• Scene Modes - The manufacturer to automatically give the best exposure and settings for each scene preprograms these modes. Examples are
o backlight
o beach/snow
o fireworks
o landscape
o macro
o night portrait
o night scene
o panning
o panorama
o party mode
o portrait
o sports
o sunset.

• Self-timer - This lets the photographer come in the photo, or to take a self-portrait.

• Sensitivity (ISO) - ISO is a number that indicates a digital camera sensors sensitivity to light. The higher the sensitivity, less light is needed to make an exposure. digital cameras follow ISO numbers such as

o Auto ISO (camera automatically sets the ISO speed)
o ISO 50-80 (for taking photos in bright light)
o ISO 100 (for extra sensitivity)
o ISO 200 (for cloudy and overcast days)
o ISO 400 and above (for indoor photography).
Changing the ISO also changes the shutter speed and the aperture.
• Sensors and sensor size - digital cameras offer
o CCD (Charge-Coupled Device)
o CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor types.
• Shutter Speed - The amount of time the shutter remains open to allow light to reach the digital camera sensor is known as the shutter speed. digital cameras give options of shutter speeds like 1/2000 second, 1/2000 sec, 1/500 sec, 1/250 sec, 1/125 sec, 1/60 sec, 1/30 sec, 1/15 sec, 1/8 sec, 1/4 sec, 1/2 sec and 1 second.
• Viewfinders - The
o optical viewfinder is the most common.
o The electronic viewfinder is a small LCD found in expensive digital cameras.

• White Balance - The human eyes sees white objects as white regardless of the light source, but a digital camera does not. Hence, the whites in the image have to be balanced so that they appear white. Some digital cameras have automatic white balance, whereas some have manual settings where a reading is taken off a white colored object.