Decide Between Film or Digital

• Decide whether you want a film camera that takes pictures on traditional film, or a digital camera that saves pictures to a digital memory card. While digital cameras may have a higher cost up front, long-term you will more than likely save money with them since you no longer have to purchase film each time you want to take pictures. Digital cameras allow you to take thousands of pictures and save them to the same memory card. You only need to develop the pictures you want, and pictures can be instantly shared with family and friends over the Internet.
  
  

Decide between Compact or an SLR

• Decide whether you want a compact digital camera or an SLR that can take professional-quality pictures. Compact cameras can fit into a pocket or purse and are great for carrying around on trips, but they tend to not have all the manual features and options found in SLRs. Typically used by serious amateur photographers and professionals, a SLR can be enhanced with different lenses, flashes and other accessories, and the settings of an SLR can be manually adjusted.
  
  

Buy a High Resolution

• Film cameras all take the same resolution photographs. When buying a digital camera, buy a camera with a higher resolution than you think you will need. Digital photos are made up of thousands of tiny dots called pixels. The higher the resolution a picture is the easier it will be to crop or edit it. Pictures taken at an eight-megapixel resolution and above can be enlarged to poster size. Lower resolution pictures on the other hand can look blurry and out of focus when you try to make them larger because you are stretching those tiny dots larger than they should be. You may never want to enlarge your pictures, but it's always better to not limit yourself.
  
  

Compare Prices and Read Reviews

• Compare prices of camera models before making your final purchase. Research consumer reviews of the cameras you are interested in. Web sites like Pricegrabber have both consumer reviews and price comparisons.
  
  

Try It Out

• Before you buy a camera, try it out at your local electronics or camera store. Get an idea of how the camera feels in your hands and how the controls for the camera work. Seeing a picture of a camera online can't give you an accurate perception on how it will be to actually use the camera.