There are some minor downsides to digital cameras. Images take a breath or two of time to actually record after you press the shutter. The much higher end cameras don't have this delay, but with less expensive cameras, you're waiting for the image to transfer from memory to your storage card. Also, if you go on vacation and want to take thousands of pictures, you'd need more memory cards, because, like film, there is a capacity to them. Of course, you could bring a laptop or even one of the portable hard drives, and transfer images from flash memory to a hard drive. That means lugging more stuff, but to be fair, carrying 50 rolls of film takes more space and weight than a small laptop.

The really good news, though, is there's no processing cost and you can delete pictures you don't like, upload pictures to your computer, store them on CD, and reuse the memory card over and over. Think of the memory card as a more advanced floppy disk. It's just storage. If you're a very active photographer, the mere savings over film and developing (even on one trip) can often pay for the purchase of a digital camera.

Given all this, it's likely you'd spend about $300+ for something good, and that'd be pretty much all you'd need to spend. If you don't want to spend at least $200, consider a different gift area completely.

We'll talk about specific cameras, printing, service bureaus, and connecting the camera to your computer in the next few weeks. Since I'll be answering some digital camera questions, now's a great time to send them to me. If you've got a "first digital camera" question for the series, sent it to david@ZATZ.com. Remember, almost no question is too dumb so feel free to ask away.

David Gewirtz is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines. He can be reached at david@ZATZ.com.