Which Digital Camera Is Best For Me In My Budget?

With every company worth its name coming up with a digital camera to sell, I don’t blame you for getting confused every time you visit the camera store. Here’s the basics of what you really need to know before stepping out to buy a digital camera for yourself.

Why Do You Want It?

Before you work towards which camera is best for you, first you have to decide what is your intended usage for the digital camera.

Fun and Family

If you just want it for fun and clicking family pictures like most of us, go for any normal digital camera that's about 10-12 megapixels. The advantage of going for this resolution is that you will get excellent picture quality in a very budget price camera. Even if you are looking for a digital camera that is best for you in a budget that is low, this will fit ideally.

Something of a higher resolution, say 14 to 16 megapixels would be great but be ready to extend your digital camera budget a bit. However it would not affect the quality to a great extent if all you want to do is see your pics on a PC or a digital frame.

Unless you need life sized printouts of your pictures, you should do very well with a 10 to 12 mp camera.

If you have professional intentions you need to go in for a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR), then decide upon the model and brand later.

While the results of a DLSR are definitely more exclusive it also comparatively more complex to operate. On buying one, you would require at least some assistance to familiarize yourself with the usage of the camera. Also you would need training in some form or the other from a professional while taking pictures.

A DLSR  would also normally be more expensive than its automatic cousins, so go for it only if you are really neck deep into photography.

More on what to look for in a good DLSR later.

Most digital camera brands have basic features that are quite common. Any decent digital camera in your budget worth its name should have at least the following features, not necessarily in this order.

• Autofocus and auto adjustment as per light conditions

• Automatic Flash for indoor and night photography

• Manual setting of options for photography in various natural settings such as seaside, snow, bright and dim sunshine, cloudy weather and for fireworks

• Option to reduce picture size in terms of space occupied

• Red eye reduction

• Image Cropping

• Day and night photography options

• Macro image(for close-ups)

• Option to switch off flash, and forced flash even in daylight

Nearly all companies have similar features in their digital cameras, give or take a few.

You can choose from various companies models like Sony, Nikon, Canon which are market leaders. They all have cameras in each category to suit your budget range.

Cheaper versions would be available in companies like Minolta, Olympus etc. However, expect to see some miniscule loss of performance. This may be in terms of lower battery life, larger time gap between pictures and so on.

The way cameras are going, I really do not think you can go two miles without coming across a digital cameras store!

You can either buy a digital camera from a specialist camera store that stocks all brands, or go for a company shop that gives you all the models of say, a Sony, a Canon or a Nikon. Most supermarkets and electronics shops will definitely be able to give you a wide enough choice in digital cameras to fit your budget.

You can even buy a camera online. It works out quite well for most people. Buying online has major advantages in that you can compare the features, prices and get the best deal for the digital camera to fit your budget precisely.

One of the best places to buy a digital camera online today would be Amazon, with its proven lowest prices and reliability of service.It also offers you an amazing review of each item to help you arrive at a good decision.

Check out any of the cameras on the right to get a really good idea of what you should buy.