I am planning on buying a camera, but I have no idea how to choose one. What makes a good camera?

Most cameras are 3x and 4X optical zoom. Super zooms are 10x and 12x optical zoom. So zoom might be important. Many cameras are 4 to 6 megapixels. Unless you do a lot of cropping or enlarge photos more than 11X14, 10 megapixels is overkill. You would not want to wait more than 1 second for next shot delay(as I found out recently I don't even want to wait 1 sec.) An image stabilizer can be important if one has slightly shaky hands. You would want a camera that doesn't eat up batteries quickly, and also one that has a viewfinder. Using the LCD screen all the time, will eat up batteries as opposed to using a viewfinder mostly. You may just want to spend closer to $300- Check out July'07 Consumer Reports when it hits newstands or check out your local library. Reviews of cameras from ther owners is Website dpreview.com

one that does what you need when you need it that's what makes it good for many that was a disc and 110 camera nasty little cameras with tiny negatives but they met the needs of some people who still think those cameras are "good" Define exactly what it is you want a camera to do once you have those parameters "good"changes levels

When you say camera, I would imagine digital camera.Right? What size do you want? Bulky or small which fits inside a pocket. - Consider 5 mega pixels resolution - 4X to 6X Optical zoom. - 2 inches minium LCD with clear display - Longer battery life is important. Read the following article to get your feet wet http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,125645-page,1/article.html http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-buy-a-digital-camera/ Read reviews http://www50.shopping.com/xFS-~PartnerId-2681~FD-7185~KW-Canon%20PowerShot%20A540~IsPrd-0~linkin_id-2072595 Do not over analyze. Write down the cameras you will consider and try them out in electronics store such as Best Buy, Circuit City or big Camera Store. Once you narrowed down your choice you buy it in the store or order it on line for saving. - Buy a camera which was introduced to market within the past one year or less. Digital Cameras could be obsolete within few years. www.amazon.com www.bhphotovideo.com

Even though I personally own this camera, I would still like to highly recommend the purchase of a Nikon Coolpix L10 for the following reasons: 1. Besides taking well-exposed hi-quality 5 megapixel pictures, it uses a standard set of rechargeable double AA batteries which last a very long time; 2. Has a 3x optical zoom; 3. The flash setting for "red-eye" correction is on the navigator wheel and not within a submenu; 4. It's very small and light; 5. Uses inexpensive SD memory cards; 6. The digital video feature takes wonderful "sound" videos which are noise free. It records the piano very well with it's built-in microphone; 7. It comes with a USB 2.0 transfer cable which you connect to your USB computer port; 8. And the price is a mere $120 [sold at Samy's Camera - www.samys.com, and Staples.com.] Good luck!

My first digital camera I bought I didn't know anything and so have learned from experience. I have just recently bought my second one and here is what I looked for: a good LCD screen that you can clearly see the picture you just took; quickly switching from viewing the picture you just took to being able to take another picture (some cameras take 5 or 6 seconds to be ready to take a new picture which is frustrating in situations where you need many consecutive pictures quickly); very good quality when taking motion pictures (test it out in the store and take pics of people walking fast or running, it will give you an idea of how blurry the pic will be); and one that uses the type of memory card which is used in many different cameras (you will have to buy a separate memory card to store pics and there are 4-5 different types depending on the camera you buy). Hope this helps!!