If you are just the casual picture taker, you wont need all the bells and whistles that come with a professional type camera, but you also want to make sure you are getting a product that will make your pictures look great at your inexperienced hands. There are several things that you may not have thought about before, things like shutter speed, pixel size, memory storage, etc. All of these things can make a difference in the type of pictures that you take.

So what should you consider when buying your first digital camera? Believe it or not, there are some very important things you should be thinking about.

First is money. Determine how much money you want to spend on your new camera. Setting a price range will allow you to target models that are affordable for you and keep you away from buying something you really dont need anyway.

What will you be photographing? Do you expect your pictures to be mostly of the family or will it be of scenic views during your travels? You need to have a camera that best meets your needs. For example, if you are going to be shooting a lot of sports or action pictures, you will probably want a camera that can shoot at high speeds.

Will you be shooting a lot of close-ups or frequently taking photos from a distance? You will need a camera with zoom capabilities at least 3 times zoom. Let us say you are at your sons high school graduation, and you are in the very last row of bleachers because you were running late getting to the school. You can still get a great picture of Junior getting his diploma if you have zoom capabilities. I have owned a digital camera without zoom and will never again go that route, believe me!

Do you know what you are doing when it comes to cameras and picture taking? If you are a beginner, you are going to be better off picking a camera that is easy to use. You will probably also want most of your features automated such as flash, exposure, etc. If you are more experienced, you will most likely want a little more control over your photos, so by all means go a different route!

Digital cameras are great because you can store lots of images on your computer and share them through e-mail, etc. But think about where you will be storing your images. If you have a computer with not much memory and no CD burner, you should probably stay away from the high-end cameras. Your images will be too large to store and you will have no way to save them.

Be sure to select a model with a good LCD screen, even if you don not think you need one at all. At the store, examine the screen in the light and be sure you can see the images well. Almost every camera has an LCD screen, so you shouldn not pay more to get it. But it is a good idea to be sure it is large, easy to see and shows good detail.

The LCD also gives you access to the cameras menu system, which will allow you to change the settings of the camera fairly easily. The LCD will allow you to view all the images on your memory card. You can flip through the stored shots and delete the ones you don not want to keep. The LCD will draw a lot of power from the battery, so there may be situations when you do not have access to your battery charger when using the viewfinder is a better option. It is also better to use the LCD rather than the viewfinder when shooting close up, due to the accuracy of the framing. Basically, what you see is what you will get.