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Of course, technology has moved on and now we have the digital camera as part of our photographic arsenal. But it has only been over the past few years that digital photography has become affordable to the home user.

The multitude of functions and features available to the user is quite overwhelming hence this brief guide to what to look for in a digital camera. First of all, digital cameras don't require film or photo processing so there's no visit to the local chemist in order to get your snaps developed. Instead, images are captured on a memory card and then transferred to a computer for permanent storage, but we'll discuss that later on.

Under the hood

Digital cameras use a standard lens to channel light to a powerful Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) imaging array, which does the job of photosensitive film and captures the image. Some cameras (especially digital video cameras) use a 3 CCD system and as you can guess, this provides a sharper superior image. You will see digital still cameras in the shops that have Super CCD - again these should give a better image. In terms of picture quality, specifications have improved towards the current 3.1 Megapixel standard. A Megapixel is a million pixels and the higher the Megapixel rating (it varies from 1.3 for older cameras to an average 2.0 Megapixels), the better the image quality - well that's the theory at least.

A 1.3 Megapixel camera can produce a decent photorealistic 6x4" or 7x5" print, whereas a 2.0 million pixel camera will deliver a good 8x10" print. A 3.1 Megapixel camera has a resolution of 2,048x1,536 and can easily be scaled down to produce very professional, rich looking pictures. And remember, an image may look good on a computer screen at 72dpi but be aware that things could look a little different when you print it at the standard printer resolution of 300dpi.

Storage

Of course, the camera will need to store these images and with image resolution and size increasing, memory cards are becoming larger to accommodate these developments. There are three main removable memory formats to be aware of: SmartMedia, CompactFlash and Sony's proprietary Memory Stick format.

SmartMedia cards can be bought in 16/32/64/128Mb formats, CompactFlash cards are available right up to 320Mb and Sony's Memory Stick can only be bought in 8/16/32/64Mb configurations. All these formats are incompatible and you will need to by a dedicated reader for your computer. There's no real winner in the media card war, just be aware that the Sony product has the lowest maximum spec and can be quite expensive. Also, when buying a high-specification Megapixel camera, it will probably be in the best interest to buy the biggest memory card you can afford to replace the one that's supplied

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with the camera (most companies supply either a meagre 8Mb card, or at the most a 16Mb card).

Other factors

Many digital cameras feature a large LCD screen at the back of the unit. This is often used to review any pictures you might have taken, but some cameras do away with an optical viewfinder and force the photographer to use the LCD screen instead. While this is a novelty at first, it can be quite a hindrance when trying to frame the perfect picture. It might be preferable to look for a camera that features both an optical viewfinder and the LCD review screen. Whatever you decide, using the LCD panel all the time will greatly reduce battery life - so use them sparingly or suffer the consequences!

Like their regular counterpart, most cameras are 'point-and-click' devices, relying on auto-focus and auto-exposure to achieve passable results. If you want to use your camera for more creative means, look for a model that overrides these automatic features and presents you with the chance to alter the manual settings. The same can be said in relation to the zoom function on digital cameras. Digital zooms are great fun, but won't resolve any further detail - if you want to get the best pictures, an optical zoom will make all the difference and may be well worth coughing up the extra pounds.

Get yourself connected

As digital photographs don't get developed, you will need to think how to get them into your computer. If you don't own a PC, there's really no point in owning a digital camera as both devices go hand in hand and you won't get the full benefit of the technology. As I've mentioned before, you can purchase memory card readers that plug into your PC, which suck the data from the card and dump it straight onto the PC.

But don't think you need to purchase one of these gadgets as most cameras come supplied with data cables and ports that can be wired straight to a PC. But beware there are two standards being used here: either USB or serial transfer - some cameras are capable of both standards and may be a consideration when it comes to compatibility issues. A Universal Serial Bus connector features a fast transfer rate while a slower, serial connector is favoured for older machines. Just be aware that if you have an older PC, you might not have a USB port with which to connect to your camera.

Snap happy

Buying a digital camera is a bit like buying a car. There are quite a few good models on the market so you really need to find the one that is suitable for you. You can spend a lot of money on a digital camera so ask yourself whether or not a budget model is up to the job? Bear in mind that, as with any camera, image quality is paramount, not the pixel count. A 3.1megapixel camera may give you larger pictures at a good resolution, but will also land you with larger file sizes, so if you just intend emailing photos to friends or putting them on the Web, you're wasting your money. Likewise if your printer's resolution isn't up to that of the images you want to print out, you'll only get prints at the lower resolution.

Still, perhaps you need that ultra-expensive camera because you have some serious applications in mind. Whatever you decide, try these cameras out in the shop and be quite thorough because this is the only way you will get a feel for the camera you want.