2. DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT THE CAMERA FOR

So now you know your options. It's time to do some serious soul-searching and decide what kind of things you're going to do with your camera. Adventurers, fishermen, artsy people, webheads, and crack addicts all have different needs. You're most likely an amalgam of these, but you still have to figure out what's most important to you.

We've tried to keep the jargon down, but if you get lost in the lingo, check out Kodak's online glossary for general photography terms and for information on the features of regular film cameras, and look to Steve's Digicam dictionary for help with the digital terms.

So back to the original question: what are you going to use this camera for?

  • Adventurers, travelers, extreme sports addicts: Durability and toughness are your primary concerns. You need a camera with a minimum of moving parts or extensions, a camera that's nearly impossible to break; those point-and-shoot cameras with a thin lens covering simply won't work. It's also pretty tough to retrieve a lens cap after it has fallen a few hundred feet into a canyon. If you're taking the camera on a backpacking trip, you'd probably want to consider weight as well.

    Recommended: You want a point-and-shoot camera. The Olympus Stylus Epic point-and-shoot cameras ($100-200) were designed with the adventurer use in mind. They have a thick plastic cover that slides over the lens to form a seal, protecting the camera from wind and rain.

  • Party pictures, pictures of your friends: Your best option is a small camera that's easy to use, even when drunk. Look for a camera that has good automatic focusing and a good flash, since most bars, clubs, and other nighttime haunts are pretty dark. It should also be small enough to fit inside a small purse or a shirt pocket, since you don't want to carry a lot of stuff around with you on a night on the town.

    Recommended: You want an APS camera, because it's small, easy to use, and the film is moronically easy to load (even when plastered). The Canon Elph Junior ($100) is an APS camera about the size of a deck of cards that can easily fit in your back pocket. Just remember it's there before you sit down.

  • Artists, photojournalists, professional photographers: You need a camera that gives you a lot of options. The SLRs have the most features, the best lenses (generally), and the most versatility. They are also heavier, bulkier, and more expensive than point-and-shoot or APS cameras. But SLR cameras give the photographer full creative freedom; you can focus manually, change the shutter speed, and play with the aperture - all to achieve different photography effects. Of course, you can take artsy looking pictures with any camera; so don't feel trapped into an SLR just because you like to paint watercolors on Sundays. SLRs are also the easiest to upgrade and add onto (i.e. buy a better lens, add a mounted flash), so if your new-found hobby becomes a serious obsession, you can improve your camera without another major outlay of money.

    Recommended: As you know, you need a SLR camera. Both Nikon and Canon have excellent SLR camera lines that cover the range of experience from beginner to professional.

  • Web designers, graphic artists, geeks: For your needs, a digital camera is the simplest and easiest way to put images on the computer. For high quality images, look for a 1 or 2 megapixel camera (a megapixel is a million pixels) with an optical zoom. An optical zoom is the same kind of zoom you find in film cameras; it uses mirrors and lenses to make the image appear closer than it is (similar to how your eyeglasses work). An optical zoom is considered a perk on digital cameras, but almost all digital cameras have digital zooms, which simply enlarge images taken from far away, just like your computer does anyway. Weight, size, and cost also become issues with digital cameras, because while the lower-end digital cameras have the same limitations as point-and-shoots, they are bulkier, weigh more, and cost significantly more than their low-tech cousins.

    Recommended: Again, buy thyself a digital camera. Canon and Nikon have some of the best offerings in the digital camera market.