Also note that not all high-zoom cameras are created equal. You know how you have to ask everyone in your group shot to gather in close to get in the shot? A wide-angle lens can solve that problem, so pay attention to the wide-angle end (lowest number) of the optical zoom range, not just the telephoto end (highest number). If you take a lot of group shots or landscape shots, the wide-angle end of the lens is even more important; it lets you capture more of the scene when you're zoomed all the way out. A good wide-angle lens starts at about 28mm or less on the wide-angle end; the lower the number, the wider-angle the lens.

Be wary of advertised zoom ratings--many vendors combine the optical zoom (which moves the lens to magnify the subject) with , which merely captures fewer pixels and magnifies those. Optical zoom gives you all the benefit of the camera's maximum resolution, combined with the ability to focus in tight on faraway action.

All digital cameras take .JPEG images by default, which compresses your photos and compromises the details in each shot. Many DSLRs and compact interchangeable-lens cameras, and some advanced point-and-shoot cameras also allow you to shoot in , which preserves all the data in your images without compression. Shooting in RAW lets you bring out more detail in your image during the editing process, but it also means that the file sizes on your images will be much higher. If you plan to shoot in RAW, make sure you have a high-capacity storage card to hold all that extra data.