I need info to purchase digital camera

[Mrsdlf]

I am interested in purchasing a digital camera. I have a camcorder that takes digital stills, however, I do not know how to use it. I mistakenly take them while attempting to video tape. I am under the impression that the higher the MP the better. However, I was just informed that is not true, since there is not enough space for many photos on anything over 3.2 MP. Anyone that can help me, please, please, I'm all ears. I was recently looking at 4.0 and higher. I see they range in cost from $100.00 to $1,500.00. Price is not as big a factor as purchasing the right camera.
Thank you.

[Ken Fong]

A 3 MP camera will get you up to a 5x7 print fairly well, 6 MP allows up to an 8x10. There's no need to shoot in 6 MP if you are only going to print 4x6 or 5x7's, it will just slow you down and waste space. A 6 and 3 megapixel file will look exactly the same as a 2 megapixel file printed on a 4x6. This all assumes you don't crop your pictures...if you do crop or enlarge, the higher resolutions will help you.

Folks in this forum will be glad to help you but you will need to describe a little more about what type of photography you will be doing...snapshots, portraits, nature, sport, etc. Do you want a digital SLR with interchangeable lenses, or a compact digital camera? Most folks in this forum probably don't equate higher MP as better since they are 35mm photographers...they will most likely recommend spending money on the lenses for better photos; although 6 MP seems to be the normal range, with 11 MP for the high-end users (which is going into medium format range.)

If you want a DSLR, the D60 (no longer made but still sold) is an okay choice for 6 MP, but it has recently been replaced by the 10D (also 6 MP), which has better specs and looks to be a better value, but you run the risk of bugs because it is just coming out. Brand of SLR (Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Kodak, etc.) will also determine which lenses will be available to you.

If you don't want a DSLR, try peeking in the Powershot forum...there's a lot of creative power with those cameras also.

[D60DIETER]

This seems not easy to decide, but I try to give you some hints.

Do you want to change lenses (extrem wide angle or telephoto - like 2,8/400). Then you should go for a DSLR like the new D10 - with 6MP you can do an excellent print up to 8*10" without any correction work at the computer. If you invest some minutes at your PC or Mac you can get reasonable pictures up to 13*19". A good friend of mine brought it up to 19*26" in a quality that is acceptable if you are not looking at the pictures with a spyglass.

If you don´t want to buy a DSLR, because of the invest in the lenses - then you go for a powershot G3. This 4MP camera provides excellent quality and semipro adjusting possibilities. The turnable monitor is a wonderfull thing - you can work with this camera like looking in a MF-Camera and you can also do wonderfull above head shots.

Dieter

[sb9ron]

You are starting out in the right place by doing your homework. Don't rush into this without answering some basic questions. Do you want a professional level 35mm single lens reflex type digital camera with interchangeable lenses, a high end "prosumer" level camera such as a nikon coolpix 5700 or a consumer level digital camera. You have to think about what type of photography you are going to be involved with. Are you going to be using the camera for business or personal use? Just to name a few. Check out the http://www.robgalbraith.com website as well, a forum which will help you address the higher end camera issues. And speak with other professional photographers and listen to their opinions. Finally, if it is going to be used for a specific type of work talk to photographers who are already involved in that area. I'd be glad to get more detailed if you like as I have just gone through this process myself. I will be doing photojournalism for some local newspapers and I decided on the new Canon EOS 10D but I went for the expensive "L" lenses ($1300+ each). Best of luck in your research.