One of the best digital camera websites is
www.dpreview.com. The reviews are a bit too long, but have lots of information.
To me, the key things are:
- Controls that make sense to
you. Some people like on-screen menus, some people like knobs.
- Viewfinder that feels right to
you. I hate holding the camera up to my face and staring at blank plastic because the viewfinder is a tiny little rectangle that isn't easily found. Of course there's the LCD, but in bright sunlight the optical viewfinder is often better.
- Size and weight appropriate for your use. You can get a tiny little thing the size of a stack of business cards, or a digital SLR that is as big as any film camera. The latter will take better pictures, but not if you leave it at home.
- Short delay between pressing the shutter button and the exposure. The dpreview reviews always measure and report this. (The delay is the auto-focus system working.)
- Short delay between one exposure and the next exposure ("shot-to-shot"). (The delay is writing the data to the storage card, or in better cameras to internal buffer memory.)
- Lots of exposures per each battery charge. (I think this is more important than the battery type. If you can take >200 pictures on one charge, and can remember to charge the camera, then you won't need to change batteries.)
- Decent pixel count. I think 4-5 megapixels is plenty for most consumer digital cameras, because as the pixel count gets higher the CCD or CMOS chip that captures the image is not getting bigger, so each receptor is getting smaller, and image quality actually starts to suffer at some point. I believe, at present, you have to get a quasi-professional-level digital camera before having more than 5 or so MP is really worthwhile. My info could be outdated, though.
- Compact Flash storage. This size card gives you a choice between solid-state flash memory and tiny hard drives (microdrives). The flash memory is more expensive ($300 for 1GB versus $200) and you'll soon be able to get microdrives in >4GB sizes. 1GB storage means you can store several hundred photos at 4 megapixel resolution, using JPG format - that would be a whole bagful of exposed film rolls.
- An adequate optical zoom range. I tend to value the ability to get a nice wide angle more than the ability to get a nice long telephoto. When you need a wide angle, there's usually no alternative. On the telephoto side, you can usually walk closer. For subjects that you can't approach (wild animals, race cars on track, etc) the telephotos in digital cameras usually aren't long enough anyway.
- If you are leaning toward a larger, more full-featured camera, then might as well consider a hotshoe for an external flash, the ability to attach accessory wide-angle and telephoto lenses.
I really like the new Canon G5, but I haven't loked at the other cameras suggested here. I also really like the latest crop of digital SLRs with interchangeable lenses (Canon and Nikon) but I'm still holding out for the technology to get better.