1. What is your budget?
2. First decide how big you want your prints to be. If you expect to make 3” x 5” prints, send them via e-mail or put your photos on the web, a 2 Megapixel camera is sufficient. Larger pictures, 8” x 10”, require a 3 or 4 Megapixel camera. Larger size prints require even more. See our glossary for more help.
3. Consider the quality of the finished image too. Megapixels are not enough.
4. Consider the features that are right for you. Do you plan to zoom in from a great distance, want to take close-up shots of nature, take action shots at a sporting event? These features add to the cost of the camera, but are crucial for those particular types of photography. See our glossary for more help.
5. When considering a zoom lens, an optical zoom is better than a digital zoom, but it is more expensive.
6. Consider options that turn the camera from automatic to manual. How much control do you want vs. point and click?
7. Do you plan to take movies or predominately still shots? How important is sound quality? Extra features are great to have, but the better ones add to the cost of the camera.
8. Have you looked at the LCD? Is it large enough that you can see what you plan to shoot and what you’ve captured? Is it visible in bright light and low light?
9. How fast is the camera between shots? If you are shooting fast moving action, the camera needs to be fast. At other times speed is less important.
10. Have you considered the extra expense of important features that may not be included? Do you want rechargeable batteries and a charger, an extra memory card, or a tripod?
11. Have you held the camera? Is it easy for grown-ups and children to manipulate? Is it small and lightweight enough for you to easily carry?
12. How quick and easy is it to download and manipulate your pictures?

Glossary

Aperture is the opening through which light enters a camera's lens. The larger the aperture, the greater the camera's sensitivity to light. Smaller apertures give greater depth of field to a picture. The aperture setting is called the f-stop. The smaller the aperture, the higher the f-number (f8 and up). The aperture setting must be balanced against the shutter speed . The faster the shutter speed, the larger the aperture must be.

Depth of field indicates how much of a scene will be sharp and in focus. With a greater field of depth more objects in the picture will be in focus. A smaller depth will allow you to focus on the subject of the picture and have it stand out from the background.

Exposure settings all Concord cameras offer a fully automatic exposure setting allowing you to click and shoot without having to adjust the shutter. More experienced photographers may prefer the manual option which allows them to choose the size of the lens opening or how long the shutter stays open.

Focus range refers to how far you can be from your subject and have it in focus. The choices include auto focus, manual focusing for those who want the control and stepped focusing, which allows you to choose from preset distances. Concord’s multi-area AF system evaluates 5 separate focus areas and intelligently focuses on the subject, not the background.

Interpolation increases the image file size and allows a picture to be magnified. It is the opposite of compression .

LCD Most Concord digital cameras offer an LCD screen, which is used to view your picture right after you take it. The larger and the better the resolution of the LCD, the better you will be able to see your picture in the screen.

Memory card is a small, removable storage device that acts like a disc to a computer. It allows you to store your images. More memory allows you to store more pictures before changing cards. When you fill one, you simply insert another. Memory cards are transferable to computers for easy printing and emailing of pictures.

Movies and sound some cameras can record video in addition to still photography.

Number of pixels Pixel refers to the resolution of a digital camera. A pixel (picture element) is a point of data. For each Megapixel an image sensor is capable of capturing one million pixels. A high pixel count isn’t all that you need to take great pictures; other features matter as well.

Resolution refers to the sharpness of the finished prints.

Sensors - CCD (charge coupled device) versus CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensors Both are technologies for capturing images digitally. They both convert light into electronic signals. In a CCD sensor, the electronic charge is transported across the chip and converted to a digital value. Each pixel's charge is transferred, converted and buffered separately, resulting in a high image quality. With a CMOS sensor, each pixel has its own charge-to-voltage conversion so the uniformity is lower but the chip needs less power, can do more and is typically less expensive.

Design, size and weight you want a camera that is small enough to be carried conveniently, yet designed with function in mind. If the buttons are too small to press or your hand covers the lens, you won’t get a good picture.

Zoom lens allows you to zoom in on or magnify your subject when you take the picture. Our zoom cameras offer between 4X and 18X. High magnification lenses are great for nature or sports. Optical zoom moves the lens to magnify the subject while digital zoom uses a subset of pixels, crops your image and magnifies the results of the cropping.