The feature of cameras that is most highlighted is a number followed by MP. This is the resolution in megapixels that the digital camera is capable of capturing. It is the easiest for customers to understand and the easiest for salesmen to sell. Apart from megapixels, the most common factors considered while deciding which camera to buy are size and color. However, there are a few other little known things that can help you make a better decision. Professional photographers look at a host of other things as well to be able to take better quality pictures. This article covers a few things that can help beginners choose better.
 
Sensor size
The number of megapixels a camera has is easy for people to understand and therefore camera manufacturers and distributors highlight this number. A common perception is, the higher the number, the better the image. Well, this is not necessarily true. The size of the sensor a camera has is also extremely important. Sensors capture the image by converting light into digital signals. And, put simply, larger sensors capture images with less noise than smaller sensors.
 
To understand why sensors matter, consider two cameras A and B of 10 megapixels each, where A has a bigger sensor than B. While there are 10 million pixels in both cameras, the pixels are larger on the bigger sensor. The camera captures more detail as each pixel being bigger is more sensitive to light. Therefore, a larger sensor allows the camera to take photos at a higher ISO.
 
While, when manipulating a photo more pixels are definitely better, after a point, better sensitivity would be preferable over extra megapixels. However, larger sensors cost more and drive the price of the camera up. If all you want to do with your photos is share them on Facebook, sensor size probably doesn't matter too much. However, if you need to print your photos, it does.
 
Image Stabilization features
When taking a picture without flash, a slower shutter speed is required to ensure that enough light is captured. And a slow shutter speed combined with shaky hands will result in blurry photos. A camera with image stabilization (or vibration reduction) can dramatically improve the picture quality not just for those with shaky hands but also for those who take photos in low light without flash. Also, it is not just shaky hands but shutter release techniques as well that have an impact on the sharpness of the image. Quite a few cameras are shipped with optical image stabilization, a technique that stabilizes the image by varying the optical path to the sensor.
 
A point to note is that the shake reduction technology is not designed to reduce motion blur. It reduces the blur caused by shaking of a lens during hand-held shooting. Setting up a tripod takes time and if you need faster shots, image stabilization can be a very useful feature.
 
Flickr and Picasa
Flickr and Picasa are two of the most popular photo sharing sites.  They let you upload photos and also explore images posted by others. On Flickr, photography enthusiasts often have conversations about how a particular shot was captured. Apart from learning techniques from others and getting others to comment on your pictures, they let you search for photos by camera, thus helping you make a better choice while buying a camera.
 
The camera finder from Flickr shows you the most popular cameras by manufacturer and lets you explore content captured using a particular camera by different types of shots - action, portraits, night and landscape. For example, take a look at some photos taken by the Canon EOS 40D.
 
Picasa recently introduced a feature that lets you filter shots of a particular type by the camera used. For example, take a look at some photos of flowers taken by the Canon EOS 40D.
 
For more on how Flickr and Picasa can help, read how to buy the right digital camera using Flickr.
 
While Flickr and Picasa can help you get an idea of how pictures from a camera are likely to turn out, a larger sensor size and image stabilization features can improve the quality of your photos. When researching which camera to buy, look beyond megapixels and use various tools at your disposal to get the camera that is right for you.