Holiday Buying Guide for Digital Photography Lovers:
Digital Camera


Fujifilm Finepix E550 6.3MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom

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Many people have a digital camera or at the very least a camera phone. But as technology advances, the price of the higher-quality digital cameras has come down dramatically. Features like a good optical zoom (5x or above) is now affordable, and the resulting pictures are incredible. Cameras are getting more lightweight, and at the same time, they hold more photos.

When purchasing a new digital camera as a first-time gift, or as a replacement/secondary camera, you should follow this short checklist to ensure that you get the best bang-for-the-buck.

Price

Prices have fallen in recent years, so much that it warrants looking at cameras again even if you are happy with the one you own. It will likely be the number one determining factor, so I am mentioning it here, but it also requires little explanation: the lower the better.

Optical Zoom

For those that don't know what the difference between optical and digital zoom, here's the bottom line: optical zoom is king. The higher the number the better. Digital Zoom doesn't compare. The reason is that optical zoom allows you to get up close and personal without degrading the quality of your picture. It reveals details like zooming with a telescope or microscope. Digital Zoom simply takes a picture and makes it bigger, and image quality almost always suffers. In other words, pay attention to optical zoom, and not so much (if at all) to digital.

MegaPixels - Resolution

The higher this number, the better your pictures will look. At about 2 MegaPixels, they are too big to display on most monitors, but where you will notice a difference is in the printing process. The reason is that for a printed image to look halfway decent, you need at least 300dpi (dots per inch). A typical monitor displays 72-96dpi. Go for the largest number you can find.

Capacity

When you go on vacation or when you travel, chances are you have your camera but not a PC or laptop to download the pictures onto. The more capacity your camera offers, the more pictures you'll be able to take before returning home. Typically, cameras can hold 200 pictures. Make sure the photo capacity meets your needs.

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