What does one look for prior to buying a new digital camera?

high megapixels
high zoom
big screen (if u want)

Some money.

How many pixels it has is the most important feature, if it is less than 3.1 mega pixels it is really not worth getting, then probably how user friendly it is.

quality and storage amount

You should consider what you will us the camera for, indoor shots, people, landscapes, how serious of a photographer you are, price, all should be considered, go to www.dpreview.com where you can check out all makes and models of cameras Hi megapixal is not alway the answer, i use a 5 million megapixal and get excellent large prints of 20 X 30 inches.

It depends on what you want to do with it.

For me, I wanted ease of use, good quality photos that can be blown up to at least 8x10, and a decent video feature.

I went with a Kodak V550 because it was the only one that supported full 640x480 video at 30fps with a length limited only by the size of the memory card. It takes a good a video as my older VHSC camcorder did and will record over 20 minutes on my memory card, and, of course, it takes excellent 5 megapixle photos, has a decent zoom, and all the other bells and whistles that I wanted.

I matter of fact just got a new Digi cam and i got the new Kodak C 703 easy share . It has it's own doc so i can recharge the batteries and i love the 3x zoom on it and it is easy to download to your PICs to the PC . It has 32 md internal memory and has a slot to expand the memory too!She has 7.1 megapixel!!!!!

This one has everything you need! and want on a camera

Here is the link for you

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.j...

One important feature that gets overlooked is the delay many digital cameras experience once you take the shot. You end up with a shot a half-a-second later than what you thought. The new, digital SLRs seem to not have this problem but you're talking upwards of a $1000+. I purchased a $350+ Sony with 6.1 megapixels and there is no delay. My equivalent Olympus had the annoying delay.

The best things that I look for is how the battery is used, (rechargeble or fixed). Next thing that I look for is the resolution which is closly followed by how long it takes to get ready (in flash mode) to take a photo. Not tooo sure how you look for that, as at the moment i took my sugesstion from seeing others. What I meant by ready in flash mode is how soon after the flash will it be ready to take another photo in the dark (flash mode). I had a camera that basically took 30 seconds to be ready after a flash.... NOW that is just looooong.

Battery, why i advie on battery is that it depends where you want to take it and how many photos you want to take. The last thing you want is to be spending a fourtune on batteries (like what my old camera cost me), or on the flip side, you don't want to be out and about and your rechargeble battery dies just when you gots more photos to take. See what I am getting at.

Resolution, while resolution is good. Please note that anything more than 3Mega Pixes is just a waste of money as the human eye will not tell the difference between a 3mega pixes and a 5megapixes (or grater). They are jsut making us waste mone her on the unnoticable.

My reccomendation (bassed on battery life, being whether proof and resolution) is the Olympus 300 All-Weather. Sorry, I can not advice on price as it was given to me as a present. Battery life (rechargeble) is just GREAT and speed of flash ready and resolution is also superb.

Overall, look at your needs and take them into consideration before spending and the most expensive is not always the best as is the more cheep is sometimes just that.... CHEAP.

U need to do some homework by going to shops and play with them at the discount store. So u can see how easy it is to take pictures, what comes with it, and what accessories r offered for it. Once u narrow down the brand, go to the manufacturer site and gather more detail info. Go to ask.com or other search engine to get recommendation or chat logs about that make/model.

Usually the more $ u pay, the higher quality of prints & added features. u don't want any camera that is less than 4.0 mega pixles... the more the better, the more zoom u can afford lets u be further away from your subject. Some let u do mini video records/play audio features.

The small flat ones that fit in pocket while cute doesn't give u as nice pictures. When deciding find out wheither it comes with a charger, rechargable batteries, what kind of printer do u need to print pics from. The program... Are u taking pictures to just share on the net or u want actual prints like u get from a photo shop.

three things:
1. affordability - no reason to go over couple hundred bucks

2. megapixels - five is optimium for rookies. if you are a techie type you will have lots of fun.

3. memory card - buy at least a 512 mb storage card for pix. that way you can look at all your shots and delete unwanted pics.

do some research prior to purchase.

I wouldn't recommend a new digital camera with less than 6MP these days.
Optical zoom of 3x, 4x, 6x or more
Disregard digital zoom
A good resolution LCD screen
fast camera operation
quality images
quality build
Canon is an excellent, quality brand, I can easily recommend.