Search a review for detailed and insightful comments about the reviewer's sense of usability, functionality, and quality. Skim reviews that just summarize the manufacturer's marketing materials or give a glowing report on every new model; instead, pay attention to reviews that put marketing claims to the real-world test for your kind of photography. Reviewer bias is a reflection of how the reviewer works, or doesn't work, with the camera. Ask yourself, "Does this person work the way I would?" Studio photographers have different needs from those of photojournalists, for example. As I said before, photography is about getting the shot.

Check out a reviewer's sample pictures. Almost all have a standard studio shot for resolution and color. I don't think any have standard "real-world" shots that show how the camera performs in challenging exposure situations, such as those with mixed light sources, backlighting, or low-light high ISO photos. Still, you can learn a lot about a camera by viewing these samples and looking at things like color, edge-to-edge sharpness, digital noise, and wide-angle distortion. Compare the edges of the picture with the center. Think about how colors of skies, white and black objects, and skin tones are rendered.

When you've finally settled on a specific model, you have purchasing options; sources can be online or local "brick and mortar" establishments. Online purchasing works well for both current and discontinued models. Local purchasing has the advantage of easy return policies, in some cases, and, to some extent, of trying the camera before buying.

Conclusion
As we enter 2006, digital camera designs are becoming both more standardized and more innovative. The nature of photography, however, is not likely to change; therefore, knowing how you photograph will greatly aid in evaluating the many new camera features to come.

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