The speed of change in the digital cameras area is fast and new models show up on a regular basis. Yes, you might feel inclined to buy the latest gadgets that are launched, play with the latest options and then show off the photos you just took, but do you actually need the latest digital camera or will the current one work for a while longer.

If you already own a compact digital camera and you already master it, you might want to upgrade and get a DSLR. A DSLR will allow you to take your photos to a whole new level, both in quality and level of detail. DSLR’s also let you change their lenses. For example you can use a wide lens to catch more of a landscape in a photo, or you can use a telephoto lens to take a photo of some lions that are resting.

Before the advent of digital cameras, it was harder for Canon, Sony, Kodak, Nikon or Kodak to come up enough new features to convince customers they should upgrade their cameras. So they didn’t.

Be discriminating in where you do your camera research, and where you finally purchase your camera from. While the big box electronics store may have the best prices, your far more likely to get intelligent answers and advice from specialty camera store staff. Online purchasing has a little bit of both, but you need to be careful here. Look for generous return policies, and don’t forget to factor in shipping charges for purchases and potential returns.

One thing you’ll notice when shopping these days, is that the line between professional level SLR (single lens reflex) cameras, and amateur point and shoot cameras is vanishing. For around $500 – $600 you can get a pretty impressive digital SLR. The Canon Rebel XT and Nikon D40 lines have models in this class.

What’s most important here, is to understand what your getting into with SLR. It does allow for more control over your photography, but also assumes you have more understanding of what makes a good picture. Controlling aperture, f-stop, color balance, focal length and metering are good things to know here. You can of course use the default auto settings forever, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having an SLR.

Point and shoot cameras are still by far the more popular choice by the masses. They’re simple, inexpensive, and quite often take great pictures. Like I said earlier, it’s the person behind the lens that really decides how good the final picture is.

In the end, what really matters is good pictures. And the means to that end, is knowing what you want and where to get it. If you want to take the best pictures you can, then educate yourself before and after your purchase. Before will get you the best tool possible, and afterward to help you make better use of the camera in your hands.