The phenomenon of digital photography began when digital cameras became commercially available sometime in the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. Since then, a lot of people have stacked away their film cameras in their closets in favor of the digital camera.

How many megapixels do you really need? More advanced cameras come packed with more pixels. But before shelling out tons of money for that gazillion megapixel camera, keep in mind that there are other factors that have to be considered when buying a camera. Besides, a study showed that people, even experts, cannot see the difference between the prints of pictures taken by 5 and 10-megapixel cameras.

There are plenty of shooting modes available with the digital cameras of today, macro, landscape, and low light, sunny, cloudy and so on. Even the most compact cameras have these basic settings but if you are looking for a camera with manual settings to tinker with, then you better make sure that the camera that you are about to buy has one. Clear your mind and make a checklist about what are the settings that you want from your camera and then make sure that your new digital camera has them.

However, there are purists who choose film photographs over digital ones. According to them, there film photographs produce more lifelike images than those taken by digital cameras. But the more advanced digital cameras of today are slowly but surely gaining ground and it will only be a matter of time before they produce images that will impress even the purists.

If you’re simply looking to take portraits in a more comfortable setting, then you may be able to get buy with a point and shoot digital camera which is perfectly capable of fulfilling this need with high quality pictures. If you’re looking for more professional looking pictures, then you’ll need to upgrade to a SLR or DSLR digital camera which offer a lot of different features that can be used in taking pictures. Some of these features include panoramic or wide angle lenses, high power zoom, high resolution factors, and much more. These types of cameras are typically purchased by those that are getting into the photography business in some form or fashion.

There are several different things to take into consideration before buying a digital camera. But an informed decision is a wise decision. From personal experience I can tell you the D3100 from Nikon is the best. To learn more about the D3100 click on one of those links.