Could anyone please advise me on how to choose a digital camera?

[theinsider]

We need a new digital camera - ours practically seems a museum piece and I'm embarrassed when I'm with other people with posh cameras.

I don't need anything too flash, these are my questions:

1)Good night-time pictures - is this standard these days? Our old one is basically unusable when it's dark, either inside or out and that's a bit crap!

2. How many pixels (is that the right phrase?) is standard these days? What's the range from basic to super?

3. What about memory card capacity? What is the measurement called and again, what's standard?

4. Is it worth paying extra for an above basic camera? I want it for pictures of the family, not into landscape shots. I do quite like taking photos so enjoy getting good shots, particularly close-ups, portraits and action shots.

5. And finally, where's best to get it, internet, currys (or equivilent) or should we make the effort to find a specialist shop?

Thank you very much in advance to anyone who is able to help.

Oh and one last question, what kind of ballpark figure are we looking at?

I'm afraid that really budget comes first!
Set your budget and work out what you can afford or compromise on from there!

Can I get a decent camera for £100 or is it more like £250? I know there'll be top-of-the-range ones at £500+ but I definitely can't afford don't need anything like that.

That's kind of why I'm trying to get an idea of what an "average" camera would be to see if I do need go downmarket or can afford to upgrade.

AGREE that the most important thing is to set your budget and buy the best camera that you can in that price range. £100-£150 should give you ssomething reasonable. Personally I love my Panasonic Z3(I think) which I got for about £130 6m ago. But don't forget to buget for extra's such as case, memory card..

The most important features are as follows (IMO)
LENS QUALITY Go for a camera manufacturer rather than an electronics manufacturer. Lens is much more important than electronics. Look for Olympus, Fuji, Carl Zeiss (on some Sony), Leicha (on some Panasonic)
OPTICAL zoom. Go for at least 3, 5+ if you can. Digital zoom is irrelevant. Cropping with editing software is exactly the same
SHUTTER LAG (especially if you want to do action shots) - the ones with a Lithium battery tend to fair better than AA batteries
Only when you have sorted out hte above do you need to worry about megapixels. 3-5 is perfectly adequate. Do not fall into teh trap of buying more because you think it is better. It is not (unless you want to print posters).

Anyway to address your specific questions...

We need a new digital camera - ours practically seems a museum piece and I'm embarrassed when I'm with other people with posh cameras.

I don't need anything too flash, these are my questions:

1)Good night-time pictures - is this standard these days? Our old one is basically unusable when it's dark, either inside or out and that's a bit crap!
Most digitals are liek this. The flash range is a bit poxy....

2. How many pixels (is that the right phrase?) is standard these days? What's the range from basic to super?
   See above 5Mpixels is plenty and will allow you to print A4 (I think)

3. What about memory card capacity? What is the measurement called and again, what's standard?
   check here. If you are taking 5Meg photos you will get about 400 on a 1Gb card. A 1Gb card is about £10-20 these days so not too expensive. However, you are potentially better off with 2 smaller cards as they can corrupt.

4. Is it worth paying extra for an above basic camera? I want it for pictures of the family, not into landscape shots. I do quite like taking photos so enjoy getting good shots, particularly close-ups, portraits and action shots.
   I have face recognition which I do quite like...bit of a gimick which works but not really critical though.

5. And finally, where's best to get it, internet, currys (or equivilent) or should we make the effort to find a specialist shop?
   I decided what feathures I wanted. Went to a specialist with my criteria. They advised me a choice of 2 - then I got it from Amazon. But cheeky really but it really does help to whittle down from a massive market.

Thank you very much in advance to anyone who is able to help.

Oh and one last question, what kind of ballpark figure are we looking at?

\link{http://www.cameras.co.uk/\I like this site for reviews...you can see where a chosen camera anks against its competitors.

Oh wow DoNot, thank you so much. That's just the kind of information I was after, really helpful.

Thanks again

Sorry for the essay though