You can find all the details for buying a digital camera in suyog’s and heneghan’s review. But one very important factor which you should also know before buying a digital camera is the operating system of your computer.
There are 2 types of connection available with a digital camera - the USB and the Serial. The USB connection are too fast as compared to a serial connection. The obvious choice would be a digital camera with the USB type connection for faster uploads. What is this connection stuff? - The connection that is established between the computer and the camera to transfer the pictures from the camera to the computer. But before making a choice check out the following:
* 1. **Does your computer have a USB port?** USB is relatively a new technology and is available on the new computers and all the laptops but if you are using a computer which is older than 2 or 3 years, you will be better off with this check. In case you don’t have one, you can get the additional hardware installed on your computer(for a price around 5K).
2. ** What is the operating system you use? **. Many of us work in the software industry and thus use Windows NT. **Be aware that Windows NT does not support USB connection**. It works on the WINDOWS 98, 98SE, 2000, or ME version but not **Windows NT**. The USB connection is also supported by the latest versions of Macintosh.
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I recently bought a digital camera with USB connection but was disappointed when it didn’t work on my computer which has windows NT. I found out the reasons from the customer support centre and websites, so I am sharing with my mouthshut circle.
So what is the best thing to do? Well, if you have an old computer, you could use a digital camera with serial connection(e.g KODAK DC3200) but the best thing to do would be to get a digital camera that supports both kind of connection(e.g Kodak DC3400, Kodak DC5000).
Hope it helps!