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Buy.com's digital camera buying guide will help in finding the right camera to fit your lifestyle and personal needs by directing you through important features and options available on digital cameras. Some factors to consider before purchasing are size, cost, and features. What size digital camera appeals to you? What will you use the digital camera for? Is cost a concern? These initial questions will help eliminate the digital cameras that are not right for you and your needs.

There are two main types of Digital Cameras; Point and Shoot and Digital SLRs. Size is the greatest distinguishing characteristic between the two. A compact point and shoot camera can be the size of a small stack of credit cards and larger Digital SLR cameras about the size of a football. Having an idea of the size of digital camera that will fit your needs will make the buying process less difficult. A compact point and shoot camera can fit in your pocket making them great for general use. Digital SLRs take great photos, but require you to lug around more gear and are less discrete.

If you're looking for a stylish "pocket-sized" digital camera with a reasonable amount of features and the convenience of being able to carry the camera at all times, a compact size digital camera may be the best fit for you. You'll never miss a great photo opportunity again and they are great for taking photos of your family and friends anywhere. Some features of a compact digital camera include webcam capabilities, small compact design, voice recording, large LCD screens, and 12X or greater optical zoom. While the compact digital cameras don't have the professional features and distinct performance, they are the most popular size category. They are also easy for the whole family to use and are the best value for the average consumer. If you don't need a high-end professional digital camera, the compact size digital camera is the way to go.

While compact point and shoots comprise the majority of the Point and Shoot market there are other Point and Shoot options out there. Pro-sumer Point and Shoot cameras offer more of the high end professional features and technology you would find on a Digital SLR but without an interchange able lens. These cameras are great for anyone who enjoys photography, but are not ready for a Digital SLR.

Digital SLR cameras, once only for photographers and gadget lovers have recently surged in popularity as they have become more affordable and consumer friendly. DSLRs have interchangeable lenses, which attach to a body where the "guts" and controls are contained. DSLRs are sold two ways either as body only, meaning you will not be getting a lens with your camera or as a kit meaning it comes with a lens. Typically, kit lenses are not the top of the line lens, but great for beginners or those looking for a general purpose lens. DSLRs offer more control over the settings of your camera. Photos can be taken in an auto mode where the camera determines the best settings or in a full manual mode where the user dictates the f-stop (aperture) and shutter speed (length exposure).

There are two main types of lenses available for DSLRs; prime and zoom. A prime lens has a fixed focal length and a zoom lens lets you toggle between several focal lengths. Both of these types of lenses are available in wide angle, standard, and telephoto focal lengths. When looking for lenses it is important to remember that focal lengths are listed are based on a 35mm camera. Few DSLRs on the market are "full framed", meaning the sensor is an equivalent size to a 35mm camera. This means that there is usually a multiple you need to apply to your lens to find its 35mm equivalent. For example, this multiple for Canon DSLRs is 1.6; meaning if you had a 10mm lens it is equivalent to a 16mm lens on a 35mm or full frame camera.

More and more manufacturers are adding Point and Shoot features to their DSLRs adding to their increased popularity. Most DSLRs on the market today offer some form of live view which allows you to look at the LCD when taking a photo instead of having to look through the small view finder. Another new feature to the DSLR is the ability to record video, typically this was only something found on point and shoots but now some models let you shoot in full 1080p HD.

Megapixels are an indication of the resolution capability the digital camera has. The greater the number of megapixels your camera has, the more detail your photo potentially will have. We use the word potential because if your camera does not have a good lens, much of that detail will never make it through to your camera.

Cameras on the market today range from about 4 to 21 megapixels. With such a wide range how many megapixels do you need? This depends on what you will be using your camera for. If you plan on using your camera for taking photos and then emailing or posting to photo sharing sites chances are you will not need more than 8 megapixels. Many photo sharing sites like Facebook automatically scale down your photos to a low resolution. If you plan on printing large prints or editing your photos on the computer you are going to want a camera with more megapixels to retain the detail. 10 to 14 megapixels should be more than sufficient for most users. For those with discerning tastes you might want to go even higher.

Most Point and Shoot cameras have two types of zoom; optical which is through the lens and digital which is achieved by the camera's internal software enlarging the photo. Digital zoom is always improving but there is still a loss of quality when digital zoom is used. Current compact Point and Shoot cameras have about 3 to 5x optical zoom and about 4x digital zoom. Pro-sumer Point and Shoot cameras tend to have better lens which could offer an optical zoom of about 20x. For those shooting with a DSLR, the amount of zoom is limited to the lens you are using. Depending on what you are shooting you may want a different amount of zoom in your lens or none at all. For those starting off with a DSLR we recommend to get a good general purpose zoom lens with a range of 18mm to 55mm or 85mm. A telephoto zoom lens can also be useful depending on what you are shooting. In a telephoto zoom lens you should look for something with a range of 70mm to 300mm.

Memory cards have replaced film as the medium which photos are stored on. Digital camera memory is reusable and lasts longer compared to film. With traditional film, you only use it once and you have to keep buying more film. So memory is very convenient since you will never have to pay for film. Once you fill up the memory card, you can either download them to a computer or swap it out with another memory card and keep taking more photos.

The most popular removable memory cards are SD/SDHC and Compact Flash cards. Most digital cameras come with a memory card, but this card typically holds only a few photos. What size memory card is right for you? If you take a lot of photos a larger memory card is best. The size of the memory card and megapixels on the camera determines how many photos you can store on the memory card. To give you some reference a 10 megapixel photo is about 1MB. The prices of memory cards is always dropping and making smaller capacity cards obsolete. Today, you can find cards ranging from 512MB to 32GB. It is important to make sure your camera is compatible with the memory card you purchase; older cameras may not recognize cards with a larger capacity.

Whether you are a photography buff looking to go digital or someone looking to make memories from a fun night out last a lifetime, there is a camera for you. A little research and information will help make this buying process simple and painless. There are many things to consider, such as pricing and digital camera capabilities and Buy.com's Digital Camera section, along with this buying guide, will help you in the digital camera purchasing process.