Let's look at the types, or families, of digital cameras currently available. As we do so, keep in mind that no one yet knows what a digital camera should look like so you'll find all kinds of strange shapes. 35mm cameras have taken familiar forms because they require room for the film and light path as well as prisms and such. Digital cameras are freed of many of these limitations so they can take new forms. During these early days, some manufacturers make their cameras look like familiar 35mm cameras while others veer off in new directions. Regardless of how digital cameras look, the market for them is roughly divided into four tiers with blurry lines separating cameras based mainly by image resolution, features, and of course, price. At the low end are the fully automatic point and shoot cameras with resolutions below 1-million pixels and prices below $500. At the next level are megapixel cameras, those having over a million pixels in their image sensors. Costing less than $1000 these cameras also give you some creative controls. Near the top are megapixel cameras costing between $1000 and $2000 that appeal to both amateur and professional photographers, and are sometimes called prosumer cameras. In addition to offering higher resolutions, these cameras also have more features. At the highest level are the expensive professional digital cameras based on 35mm and APS SLR cameras. These cameras have the highest resolution, most features, and highest prices. Let's take a look at these four categories in more detail. Point and shoot cameras For the past few decades, serious photographers have mainly been using traditional 35mm SLR cameras. But these large and heavy cameras are inconvenient to say the least, so most serious photographers have always stuck a point and shoot camera in their shirt pocket. The photos from these small cameras may not be quite as good (and that is debatable), but they go anywhere and pictures that would otherwise be missed are captured. Point and shoot cameras have earned their stripes and are welcome additions to even the most professional photographer's camera collection. Why this discussion on point and shoot cameras? It's because in the new digital photography arena, they are not only very popular, they are the least expensive digital cameras. These cameras are fully automatic and usually don't provide you with a lot of creative control-that's why they are called "point and shoot." Because of the low resolution of many of these cameras, printed output is limited to about 4 x 6 inches or so. Despite this small size, the images are ideal for Web pages, e-mail attachments, and small reproduction sizes in newsletters and other documents. Multi-megapixel cameras Positioned just above the point and shoot cameras is a family of cameras with over 1-million pixels. Generally, the higher resolution is combined with more advanced features such as through-the-lens (TTL) focusing and creative controls. This is one of the fastest growing categories of cameras because these cameras appeal to serious photographers who like to have creative control of their camera's settings and make prints up to about 8 x 10 in size. Professional cameras If you have money to burn, you might cast your eye on the professional 35mm or APS SLR cameras that have been adapted to digital photography and cost from $3000 to $20,000 and more. These cameras often use 3 image sensors, one for each color so they capture great color and resolution. They also have at least 2-million pixels in their image sensors and usually many more (Canon's has 2036 x 3060 pixels for a total of over 6 million pixels). One huge advantage these cameras have is that most of the features (such as exposure controls) and accessories (such as lenses) designed for the film versions also work with the digital versions. Digital video cameras Normally we take one picture at a time with a still camera, or perhaps a few hundred at best with still cameras offering a video capture mode. However, it's also possible to select individual frames off a video tape. Shot at 30 frames per second, video captures 1800 images per minute. The ability to choose from such a vast array of images is tempting, but keep in mind that video has less resolution than most digital cameras. With the latest digital video cameras, you don't have to digitize frames because they are captured in a digital format. The lines here get very blurry because some digital still cameras are capable of capturing short video sequences and some digital video cameras can also capture still images. For example, Canon's Optura camera, with a resolution of 380,000 pixels can capture more than 500 still pictures on a single tape as well as recording the sound for your verbal notes or narration. Specialty cameras Digital cameras are so useful, they are being incorporated into more and more devices ranging from laptop computers to PDAs. Novelty Cameras As the size and price of image sensors fall, cameras can be incorporated into more and more object from toys to watches. | 
