| Are you still stuck in the stone age using an old film | | | | Image stabilization is a cool thing, and becoming more |
| camera to take your pictures? You must have a ton | | | | popular these days. It helps to keep your pictures from |
| of money to burn, what with all the film and developing | | | | being blurry, when you've got a case of the shakes. |
| costs. Not to mention the shelves and cupboards full of | | | | Especially when your shooting pictures at lower film |
| photo albums. You could be saving a mitt full of money | | | | speeds (ISO settings). |
| by breaking down and buying yourself a digital camera. | | | | Most digitals these days offer video options as well. If |
| Choosing a digital camera doesn't have to be that | | | | your interested in shooting occasional videos, this is a |
| hard, even for the most extreme technical Luddites in | | | | nice feature. Certainly not a substitute for a dedicated |
| the crowd. Here's a few simple tips to use as a guide | | | | camcorder, but still a good option to have. |
| to digital camera buying. | | | | One of the optional new skills you get to learn with a |
| Itty bitty memory cards are used to store your | | | | digital camera, is photo editing. You can add horns to |
| pictures on instead of film with your digital camera. | | | | evil Aunt Bessie, or scars and tattoos to creepy Uncle |
| While most cameras come with a some card, it's | | | | Chester. Whatever your imagination dreams up. Of |
| usually barely enough to hold a few pictures. The | | | | course more practical tasks would be removing red |
| camera companies really cheap out here. Some | | | | eye and adjusting color / sharpness / lighting flaws. |
| memory cards are expensive because they have | | | | Photo editing is kind of a second chance for |
| faster read/write times. Only buy the faster cards, if | | | | photographers that can't quite get the picture right with |
| you plan to use them in a camera that takes pictures | | | | just a shutter click. |
| in rapid fire mode. Like an SLR that takes 20 pictures | | | | Batteries are the bane of the digital camera world. Or |
| in 30 seconds. | | | | the gadget world in general. Big LCDs and flashes |
| Megapixels refers to the amount of resolution (detail) | | | | chew through batteries like Godzilla through a |
| that a picture can hold. Generally, the higher the better, | | | | Japanese army tank. Do yourself and the planet a |
| but only to a point. For the average photographer, | | | | favor by getting rechargeable batteries and a |
| anything over 6 or 7 megapixels is overkill, and not | | | | recharger. The cheap ones from Walmart work just |
| worth spending the money on. Check out sensor size, | | | | as good as the expensive ones from a boutique |
| if your really into camera specs, and want to check | | | | camera shop. |
| out something meaningful. | | | | |