Digital camera technology has improved rapidly over the recent years. There are all sorts of digital cameras suitable for various uses. Selection of the right digital camera becomes difficult.

• Be clear about your needs. You must be clear as to what you will do with the digital camera photos that you will shoot with your digital camera. If you want to simply send snapshots via email or post them on the Internet, you do not need a professional digital SLR camera. However, if you intend to print out in large sizes, then you do need high-end digital cameras.

• Be clear about your budget. You must be clear as to how much you want to spend for your digital camera along with its accessories. You should look for best lens quality and image sensor quality rather than fancy features such as video and audio recording if you are on a tight budget.

• Educate yourself. You should educate yourself about the overall digital photography techniques, and read digital camera reviews, digital camera buyer guide, digital camera guide, digital camera buying guide, digital camera price comparisons, digital camera ratings, prices of digital camera accessory, top 10 digital camera reviews, digital camera rating review, best digital camera consumer report, and digital SLR camera reviews. Educating yourself is important so that you can make a choice between cheap digital camera, discount digital camera, best /basics/digital-camera.php, underwater digital camera, waterproof digital camera, mini digital camera, professional digital camera, compact digital camera, digital camera wholesale, small digital camera, and digital camera refurbished.

• Visit a digital camera shop. You should visit a digital camera store and check out the digital cameras physically. If they have a digital camera sale, then you can get quality cameras at discounted prices.

• Understand the important parts. Remember the most important parts of a digital camera are the lenses and the image sensors. Any compromise on these parts leads to reduction of quality. CCD (Charged-Couple Device) image sensors are superior to CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensors.

• Know which features you need. Do you want to take stills or you want audio/video? How much memory would your work require? Which batteries would it need? General alkaline AA batteries or Lithium-ion batteries? Do you need audio/video features?

• To zoom or not zoom. Zoom lenses can be of plastic or glass. Glass is far superior and expensive. Well known lens manufacturers are Canon, Pentax, Leica, and Zeiss. You can have optical zoom or digital zoom. Digital zooms simply cast off the outer edges of a picture and interpolate the result creating a magnified view. It is not a true zoom, and should be avoided if possible.

• Exposure settings. Would you like automatic exposure settings or a more professional-level control?

• Know the software requirements. Image editing software present a great way to enhance your digital photos before printing. Some cameras come bundled with software like Adobe Photoshop Elements or Ulead PhotoImpact. Buying software separately would cost more than $100, hence if it comes bundled up with the digital camera, would result in considerable savings.

• Consider the accessories. A camera case is crucial to protect your investment from scratches and other injuries. You may also invest in a tripod to prevent camera shake. Extra lenses, flashes, batteries, and memory cards can also be given due consideration.

• Try it before buying it. If you know someone at the digital camera store, then you could actually take some digital camera photos before buying the digital camera. This way, you can get a feel of the controls, view the LCD screen under different lighting conditions, and give the digital camera a general tryout before buying it.