Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 03/02) - Okay -- you want a digital camera, or perhaps a combination video and still unit. But what to buy?

It all sounds great. Snap the shutter, download the images onto your home computer and you're ready to print them on your low-cost inkjet. But are you?

When it comes to digital photography, size is everything.

The bigger the file, the better the picture. And when it comes to digital photos, it's all about pixels.

Combination digital video-still cameras take great home movies and will store dozens of stills. The stills will look OK on your PC screen or Web page at 72 dots per inch (DPI) resolution, but printing them out is another matter.

At 640x480 pixels -- and even smaller on some cameras -- an image that you can pull off your colour printer at 200 DPI is only good for a print that measures eight centimetres by six centimetres (3.1"x2.4"), half the size of a traditional photo.

Fortunately, many popular cameras allow you to store much more digital information, 2.1 megapixels and more. It all depends on how much you want to spend.

A 1024x768 pixel file is good enough for a standard 4x5 print.

Higher-end cameras will let you print even bigger pictures with quality comparable to one reproduced from film. An 8x10 can be printed from a digital photo that contains 2048x1536 pixels. So when you go looking for the convenience of digital, think about what you're shooting and what you're using the pictures for, then consider your budget and ask a lot of questions.