[thelist] digital camera shopping

[A. Erickson]

I went and read about a billion reviews last year and compiled a list of the
things that seemed most recurring in terms of what to look for in a good
camera. Now I give this list to you. Granted, I didn't follow any of these
things as my hubby went out and bought me an older Kodak digital camera
which has pretty decent quality -- I'm more impressed than not with it's
results.

- LCD screen of 2" on the diagonal or more
- LCD which tracks in real time
- Optical finder so that you can use in bright sunlight
- zoom lens should be optical not digital
- automatic and manual controls offer more options; look for light-metering
capabilities
- check for flimsy parts
- there's a typical delay between shots on digital cameras so you could look
for a rapid-shooting mode or "burst" mode
- USB for better/faster transfer
- external card readers are good, too.
- check how many images at highest res the cameral will hold -- not memory
- rechargeable batteris
- check if uncompressed images (usually tiff) output is available for really
hi-res shots
- play with the buttons and the interface a lot before you buy -- some of
those buttons are too small/too close together and some of the interfaces
are clunky and hard to work with.

- amanda, now holding out for a digital camera that can do 15 sec. MPEGS