Wall Street Journal Technology reporter Walter Mossberg has done his
annual suggestions for buying a digital camera. Special thanks to
Charolette Harris for bringing this article to my attention.

I have also included this in our links section of the website. The
article begins below. Please visit the address below to see the
article in its entirety.

Charles Burkett


--------------------------------------
Our Annual Guide to Buying A Digital Camera
By WALTER S. MOSSBERG

Though lots of people own digital cameras, far too many don't know
how to choose one. It's no wonder, since geeky terms
like "megapixels" and "digital zoom" have made cameras as mysterious
as PCs.

So, here's my annual guide to buying a digital camera. My assistant
Katie Boehret and I have compiled a list of basics to look for when
shopping for your first digital camera, as well as some tips for
current owners looking to upgrade. As always, this guide is meant
for mainstream, casual shooters, not professionals or the most
serious photo hobbyists, who care more about things like optics and
elaborate control over the parameters of each shot.

Categorizing Cameras. Digital cameras can be broadly sifted into
three main categories: pocket-size, point-and-shoot and high-end.
Thanks to technology, pocket size cameras do a splendid job of
marrying high-quality features with tiny size -- the perfect
solution for casual photographers like me who don't want to lug a
big camera everywhere to get good shots.

These pocket-size cameras are so stylishly slim and eye-catching
that they're starting to appear in various colors and with extra
features, such as unique sound effects. Be careful not to pay more
for a stylish-looking camera that lacks good features.

Point-and-shoot cameras are better for folks who don't mind carrying
a camera case or who would rather have a sturdier feel and a lower
price. These cameras come loaded with features, some of which might
not be as commonly found on space-constrained pocket cameras.

High-end digicams are larger, costlier and most commonly used by
avid hobbyists, who value their numerous manual settings and
options. But camera companies are doing a better job of marketing
them as less intimidating to average photographers who may want to
take their photography to the next level.

Megapixel Confusion. The digital-camera makers, and their retailers,
try to boil down the measure of a camera's quality to one factor:
its "megapixel" rating. But, like processor speeds in computers,
this megapixel number can be deceptive. More megapixels don't always
mean better pictures.

Megapixels are a measure of the maximum resolution that a camera can
capture. But they have to be seen in tandem with the size of a
camera's image sensor. That sensor must be large enough to capture
the ever-climbing megapixel numbers advertised with many new digital
cameras -- or else each pixel won't carry as much color information.
In many low or moderately priced cameras, manufacturers add more
megapixels without increasing the sensor size, which would be
costly. They simply shrink each pixel, and that approach yields
little or no gain in picture quality over a camera with the same-
size sensor, but fewer, larger pixels. When comparing similar
cameras with lower and higher megapixel ratings, ask if the higher-
megapixel model actually has a larger sensor than the lower-
megapixel one.

Don't be hoodwinked into buying a camera with a strangely high
megapixel count and a too-good-to-be-true price. It isn't difficult
to find digital cameras with five to seven megapixels that sell for
about $300 or so, such as the five-megapixel $329 Canon PowerShot
A95 and 6.3-megapixel $350 Fujifilm FinePix E550. Most users don't
need more than about three or four megapixels anyway, as higher
counts are mostly useful for doing detailed editing and making
really large prints, two things that most average users seldom do
with their photographs. The good news for buyers is that prices of
three- to four-megapixel cameras have dropped significantly in the
past year.

Zooming In on Zoom. The only real zoom that you need to pay
attention to on a digital camera is the optical zoom, or how much
the lens physically moves to capture a photograph. Most digital
cameras average about 3x optical zoom, which will suit average users
just fine. "Digital zoom" describes a computerized blow-up of part
of an image that your optical zoom has already captured, and it
usually degrades image quality.

To trick consumers, camera companies often advertise the
camera's "overall zoom" -- a number reached by multiplying the
digital zoom (often greater than the optical) with the optical zoom.
For example, a camera with a 3x optical zoom and a 4x digital zoom
might be advertised as having a 12x overall zoom, which is
misleading. Read closely and ignore digital zoom completely when
shopping for a camera.

Screens, Optical Viewfinders. One of the hottest selling points for
new digital cameras right now is their larger LCD viewing screens,
most of which average about 2 inches diagonally. These allow users
to review photos without squinting or holding the camera close to
see captured pictures. You can find larger screens; the $350 Olympus
Stylus 500 has a 2.5 inch LCD.

Keep in mind that these screens often must be jammed into a small
camera size. In order to fit them onto some pocket-size cameras,
companies do away with optical viewfinders completely. This makes it
harder for users with unsteady hands.

And on some cameras, having to depend on the LCD might make it
impossible to take pictures in bright sunlight, which washes out the
image on many screens. Be sure your camera has both an optical
viewfinder and an LCD viewing screen. The $349 Konica Minolta Dimage
X50 is a good example of a pocket-size camera that boasts a 2-inch
LCD and an optical viewfinder, yet still measures about the size of
a deck of cards.

Shutter Lag Time, Start-Up Time. When digital cameras started
gaining popularity, a feature that frustrated most users was the
slow shutter speed -- the time measured between when the shutter
button was pressed and when the photograph was actually captured.
Many newer cameras have improved this feature to around one-tenth of
a second or less, and it makes a difference when you must capture an
image instantly.

Shutter speeds aren't easy to find when researching cameras, but
it's worth taking some time to discover them. If possible, test your
camera in the store, taking note of any noticeable lag time.

The time it takes for your camera to start up, which is measured by
the time between pressing "power" and being ready to shoot, is also
important for capturing photos instantly. Any camera worth its salt
will take no longer than a second to start up; some even do so in a
half-second. Again, this specification will be buried in the camera
data, but is worth finding and testing in a store to get a real feel
for how quickly your camera will respond when you need it.

Another speed issue is shot-to-shot time -- the period between
taking one shot and being ready to take the next. The biggest factor
here can be the time it takes to recharge the flash. If quick
shooting of multiple pictures is important to you, look for a camera
with a fast shot-to-shot speed. Some cameras have a special "burst
mode," which allows rapid shooting of a limited number of pictures.
But, in this mode, auto-focus may not function fully.

Saving, Transferring Photos. Your camera's digital images will
usually be saved onto memory cards, and these come in many types and
sizes. The most common types are SecureDigital (SD) and Compact
Flash. Sony uses Memory Stick, which is mostly proprietary to Sony
products and most convenient if you own a Sony PC or laptop. Olympus
and Fuji use their own proprietary card type, called xD. An older
type of card, called Smart Media, is in decline.

I recommend at least a 256-megabyte card to relieve the stress of
constantly unloading your photos from the camera. If you really need
the storage space for a special trip or event, a 1-gigabyte card
sells for about $90.

One of the easiest ways to transfer photos from your camera is by
using special card-reading slots that now are being built directly
into more and more computers and printers. This saves you the
trouble of connecting your camera to the device with a USB cord;
instead, just remove the camera's memory card and insert it into the
built-in card reader.

If your computer or printer doesn't have a built-in card reader, you
can buy one for very little money. Alternatively, you might like
using a digital camera that comes with a cradle. These cradles
provide a home base for the camera so that once inserted, its
contents will upload to the computer. Some cradles also charge your
camera, eliminating an extra step.

Wireless. Kodak will soon introduce a wireless camera that can
transmit its photos via e-mail using Wi-Fi wireless networks. Some
other cameras, especially those built into cellphones, can transmit
pictures to the Web or to e-mail accounts over cellphone networks,
or directly to a printer using wireless technology called Bluetooth.

Be sure to buy a camera that fits your needs and budget. If you pay
attention to these tips, you'll be less likely to get railroaded by
a sales clerk into buying more, or less, camera than you need.

For the rest of the article, visit
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20050420.html.