Digital cameras give everyone the power to take great photos

More photographs will be taken over the next 12 months than the total that were snapped around the world in the last 150 years, mainly through the proliferation of digital cameras. In fact, digital cameras now far outstrip film cameras, and that trend has forced a major shake-up in the industry.

German-based Agfa, one of the pioneering names in photography, went bankrupt last year and Kodak is laying off thousands of staff as it closes film processing laboratories around the world.

Further evidence of the transition can be seen in the announcement that Konica Minolta is withdrawing from the camera and film business and Nikon is to stop making film cameras except for a few professional products. In May Canon also announced it would stop development of new film cameras to focus on digital models.

However, many of the companies who made their names through the decades when the film camera dominated are still here: Canon, Kodak, Olympus, FujiFilm, Ricoh, Pentax, Nikon and relative newcomers such as Panasonic, Sony, Casio and Genius.

While the majority of households still own a film camera, digital cameras have moved rapidly to mass-market appeal.

The big drivers are the instant results, savings in film processing, the ability to delete unwanted pictures, manipulate images, and ea sy sharing of photos on CD or by email.

For those looking to buy digital there are now so many choices it can be confusing. Prices are coming down, performance and features are improving and professional level resolution is now mainstream.

Many of the concerns of the early market, such as the high drain on batteries and painfully slow shutter speeds have been addressed. Most cameras now take good photographs, refresh relatively quickly and are much easier on the batteries.

For those who simply wish to point and click without worrying about settings or reading the instruction book, the compact digital camera, often small enough to fit in a handbag or jacket pocket, is perfect. These can be bought for under $150 but a camera that will produce much higher quality images costs only minimally more.

If you are looking to replace a single lens reflex (SLR) 35mm camera and want greater control over image-capturing, and you plan on printing good quality 6 x 4 or A4 size photos, you should aim to get at least 4Megapixels resolution.

A robust 4-5Megapixel camera can be bought for between $200-$400. This past year new model cameras costing $400-$600 will even deliver 6-8Megapixels. Depending on the features such as lens quality you can pay up to $1500 for a good 7-8Megapixel camera. Most of the SLR cameras enable you to interchange lenses from your old SLR film cameras.

Robert A F van de Voort of Albany Studios suggests you think about how your camera will mostly be used before handing over the cash. Will you be snapping babies or family members? Will your subjects be indoors or outdoors? Will your subjects be at some distance such as birds in the trees, or will you be shooting landscapes?

He says many digital cameras have wide angle lenses that aren't suitable for capturing objects at a distance. For that you'll need a zoom lens, possibly a 10x or 12x magnification.

You also need to know what kind of settings are available to you and while most cameras have an automatic setting which takes care of lighting and aperture, it's helpful to be able to switch to manual and use the knowledge you might have gained through operating an SLR film camera.

Most cameras come with some built in memory but to store images at high resolution you'll need a high capacity memory card. Entry level used to be as little as 32Mb but don't settle for anything less than 512Mb capacity. Today even 2Gb cards are becoming more affordable. It pays to have two cards, one for back up. You might even get a better deal on memory cards if you negotiate during your camera purchase.

Having an additional battery or batteries to keep you clicking is also good advice. You should get 100-250 shots from fresh batteries. Rechargeable ones are helpful but keep several on hand just in case you end up taking more pictures than you planned.

Your camera should not only be something you enjoy the look of, it should feel good in your hand and balance comfortably. The controls should be within easy reach and the operation should give you a sense that you are in control. If the camera doesn't feel right the chances are you are not going to use it as much as you otherwise might.

Jargon buster

* Megapixels: The density of dots or pixels that make up the image. The more you have the greater your resolution - and therefore the quality of the picture - will be.

* Zoom: Look for the optical zoom specifications such as 10x or 12x. An optical zoom will take you closer to the subject while digital zoom only homes in on the pixels causing the image to blur and become blocky.

* Memory: Some cameras have specialised memory cards and others have settled on CompactFlash, SD cards or MemoryStick which are interchangeable with your computer, printer, video camera or even DVD recorder. Regardless, an external USB card converter will allow you to work with any type of card to transfer pictures to your computer.