How to buy a digital camera?

Recently I present a professional meeting in witch a digital camera expert made a report: haw to buy a digital camera. Because the report is so wonderful that I decide to share the main content with you.
First: gain enough money.
Second: find the digital camera shop
Third: buy it
Forth: take it home
Just a joke this is a technical article, the proper name of the article is
Four most important elements about choosing a digital camera

First: Megapixel
Definition: One-million pixels, a unit of measurement in an image. This number will determine the quality of the image. Think of it as the number of dots in your picture. A low density of dots will result in a poor image.
Image pixel resolution is important for many reasons. The really definitive measure of resolution is the number of pixels that it captures horizontally and vertically. For example, a camera that captures 1600 pixels in the horizontal dimension and 1200 pixels vertically is a 2.25 megapixel camera. Not only will higher pixel resolution result in greater detail, but it also dictates what size prints you can get.
A four Megapixel camera will not make better 4 x 6 inch prints than a 2 Megapixel camera. However, it does capture a lot more detail, allowing you to crop your image while still maintaining enough resolution for a high quality print.

Second: CCD
Definition: In essence, this is the electronic version of film for a digital camera. Standing for charged coupled device, this refers to the chip used to record image information. Light hits the CCD when a photo is taken, and then the analog CCD converts the information to digital. This is one of the two main recording devices used in digital cameras.
In general, the larger CCD means a bigger light-collecting area and therefore better performance in low-light conditions with less noise. However, this rule is very inexact and it doesn't hold in many cases. The trend is to lower the CCD size because it also lowers the costs.

Third: Lens
The three most important characteristics of a lens are its optical quality speed and focal length.
Optical quality is difficult to assess, people always believe the product more expensive the quality of lens better.
Lens speed is determined by the amount of light it can transmit to the film or digital sensor and expressed as a number representing its maximum aperture. The lower the number the "faster" the lens. I would consider a number of "2.8" or lower to be reasonably fast and one with a number of "5.6" to be slow. Faster is better. Sometimes people call the number “f-stop”
Forth: optical zoom or Digital Zoom
Optical zoom this is a type of zoom on digital cameras that replicates what a 35mm zoom does, by actually magnifying the subject of the photo.
Digital Zoom Enlarging of an image that requires the camera to double the size of the pixels. Due to the doubling of pixels the image begins to become fuzzier and fuzzier as you enlarge.
The optical zoom lens produces a better quality image than the alternative digital zoom.
Fifth: What are SLR digital cameras?
In an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera, the user is seeing exactly what the camera is seeing through a series of prisms and mirrors. This becomes important for more advanced photographers. In SLR cameras, it is also possible to interchange lenses and keep the lenses from other cameras. Many digital SLR cameras also offer higher resolution since they are aimed at the pros. The disadvantages of SLR digital cameras are the significantly higher costs, bigger size and weight, and a small delay before the photo is taken because the mirror has to move out of the way before a shot.
www.1powershop.com updated 12/10

Digital Camera Battery Tips (1powershop)

Since digital cameras consume batteries very quickly, what type of battery can I use as an alternate?Digital cameras consume batteries very quickly. We recommend using rechargeable nickel metal hydride batteries, as opposed to alkaline batteries. NiMH batteries will give you more pictures per charge and can be recharged hundreds of times, unlike alkaline batteries.What steps should I take to make sure to get the full capacityout of my Ni-Mh batteries?To help your new NiMH batteriesreach their full capacity and performance, fully charge and then fully discharge it at least once every two to three weeks. Do not leave the battery dormant for long periods of time. If a battery has not been used for a long period of time, perform the new battery 揵reak in?procedure as described above. Also, consider investing in two sets of rechargeable batteries so you'll always have spares.Tips to conserve battery power.Here are some battery tips for conserving power. Limit the use of LCD and use the viewfinder whenever possible to frame a picture. And check the picture in the LCD only when there is a question of whether or not you got the shot. Rather than using the auto shutoff, manually turn off your camera. This will save a significant amount of battery power. When transferring pictures from your camera to computer, power your camera from the wall socket instead of the batteries. This can be especially useful when you're downloading photos or viewing them on your camera's screen.