There are several brands to consider, several pixel ratings, several levels of photographer to address when purchasing a digital camera. There are two sides to purchasing a camera, a technical side and a photographical side. I am no photographer but I can instruct as to what brands provide quality products and what type of specifications to look for. With that in mind, here we go.

Price

As usual the first thing to consider is price. I don't like to go for budget anything, it's just asking for bad quality. So for a decent digital camera expect to spend over $100. I'll assume you're a novice in photography and just want a basic digital camera since you're reading this and not banging out specs with your local dealer. If you're not experienced in the ways of Digital Cameras, research is definitely your friend. There are several digital cameras out there for under $100. I call them "why nots." Because the seller is hoping to find someone who knows nothing about digital cameras, who just went shopping with a wad of money expecting to pay well over $200, but sees their product for $69.99 and says "why not."

Do not purchase any digital camera under $100.

Pixel Rating

You really don't have to have the latest and greatest here. About 8 megapixels and up is just wonderful quality. You can save a buck or two and get an 8 megapixel camera and never know the difference.

Memory Compatibility

This is pretty important. Don't get stuck with a camera that uses expensive memory. Pick a camera that uses SD cards (i.e. no sony). SD cards are the cheapest form of digital media anywhere. You can get 2GB cards for under 10 dollars. If you break one, no biggie, go get another. This is not the case with Sony's Memory stick.

LCD Size/ Viewfinder

LCDs come on most digital camera to show you the pictures you just took. They also double as a viewfinder. This is preference, but make sure the digital camera has whichever you prefer. Some just prefer to use an old fashioned viewfinder. If the camera is perhaps a gift for someone with bad eyesight you want to get it as big as possible. They come as big as 3.5 inches. But this also contributes to how big the camera will be.

Portability

As mentioned previously, you want to consider size. For around the $250 to $300 mark, you can get a very nice very small Canon Elph. If size is not an issue save your money. Note, this works two ways. Smaller cameras can also be cheaper. Stay away from these. If you're not paying for the portability you're likely getting what you paid for.

Brand

There are several good brands out there. I recommend any of Kodak, Canon, Olympus, or Nikon's cameras. These all have budget level cameras so stay away from those, but they make good solid cameras in the mid-level range.

Kodak is great for its userfriendliness.

Olympus provides solid cameras for less than most.

Nikon provides decent photos for decent price but is a bit less user friendly.

Canon is my favorite. It is not the most user friendly, however the photo quality they insist on creating is amazing.

Features

If you're not very computer friendly, I would advise a Kodak. With a Kodak easy share, they do all the work for you. You can even edit photos on some models.

If you're somewhat experienced with technology, I would largely ignore features as they are mostly gimmicky things which can be done better on a PC.

Memory

Always purchase a memory card with your digital camera. Otherwise you'll take 12 pictures and be very annoyed that you can take no more. I recommend simply going with the biggest card you can find for $20. This varys from store to store but you can usually get up to 4 gigs (maybe more) for that price. That will let you take more pictures with an 8 megapixel camera than you can in a week. That is unless you REALLY try. Also make sure your camera supports the size of whatever card you get.

See it in Person

The best thing I can tell you is: See and use this camera you want to purchase before purchasing it.

You can read about specs all day and you'll never know the actual image quality of the LCD, the feel of the camera in your hands, the nuances, etc. You won't know how it handles different lights or how the OSD works. Find the camera you want in a retail store with a display model, use it, play around (that's what they're there for) then casually stroll online, consult my how to get great electronics for less hub (linked below) and go shopping for that specific model.

You'll save money and have confidence in what you're buying.

The quality of a photo taken by a digital camera is represented in a unit of measurement called the megapixel. This stands for 1 million pixels. PIxels are the tiny little dots that make up digital images on screens. So if you purchase a 10 megapixel camera, each photo you take contains 10 million tiny points of color on your screen. Obviously the more you have, the finer the picture quality, however file size is a factor here.

A 3.1 megapixel camera creates about a 4mb file with every picture taken. So on a one gigabyte memory card that's about 212 pictures. With the low price of memory cards these days that's hardly a factor, but it should be considered nonetheless.

In my humble opinion anything over 8 megapixels is great quality, and indisinguishable from a 35mm photo.