I bought my first digital camera soon after my son was born. I took so many photos that I turned the picture counter back to 0000. Yes, my bundle of joy was the subject of more than 10,000 shots—and why not? That's the beauty of digital: click away, delete the rejects and develop the photos you want. With the vast range of digital cameras on the market, I'm clearly not their sole fan. But like all products digital, the choices are both overwhelming and confusing. Following are the eight most common mistakes made by first-time buyers, plus which digital-camera features really matter.

Megapixel mix-up
Digital photos are made up of tiny dots called pixels. Simply put, the more pixels your camera has, the sharper your pictures will be. But don’t let the higher numbers mislead you. What's considered the minimum nowadays -- 3 megapixels -- will result in crystal-clear photos that can be developed as large as 20 in. x 30 in. without degradation in quality. In fact, a 3-megapixel camera is more than enough if you want to showcase your photos in a traditional photo album and e-mail them to friends and family. So why consider a camera that boasts as much as 7 megapixels? Anytime you crop a photo to hone in on your subject, you are actually reducing the number of pixels and, therefore, losing some picture quality. If you start with more megapixels at the outset, the diminishment is less likely to make a difference in the quality of your photos. read more »

Amateur home videos are a thing of the past with the increasing popularity of home editing software and high-tech cameras. Now, even little Jimmy’s first birthday video comes with background music and transitions. To satisfy the needs of the closet Spielberg in your family is the Vive from Cascade Audio.

Vive is a surround sound microphone that is compatible with any stereo video camera with a mic input jack. This device offers multi-channel listening and Dolby Pro Logic and Dolby Digital 5.1 compatible surround sound. The full sound also transfers directly onto any standard media like DV, DVD, CD, wav or mp3 with high performance audio recording with 20Hz to 20 KHz frequency response greater than 60dB signal noise ratio. And this amazing at-home technology is available for only $99, plus shipping. This price doesn’t even compare to its competitors that have been priced at over $1500. read more »

Who would have thought that those Polaroid pictures would ever be outdated? These days everything is digital and if the inconsistencies between the shoe boxes of photos and the files on your hard drive have been bothering you, this is a product for you. A perfect gift for Mother’s Day, the Photograph to Digital Picture Converter from Hammacher Schlemmer is an easy solution to the age-old shoe box problem. It’s faster and easier than any scanner on the market. All you have to do is place the photos on a tray that slides into a converter and with the press of a button you have files instead of shoe boxes. And with a 5MP CMOS sensor with up to 1,800 dpi resolution, 10 bits per color channel, automatic exposure and color balance, you can be sure that your pictures will translate with the same digital quality you’re used to. read more »

If you are looking for a creative gift this Mother’s Day you might think about a digital picture frame. It is the perfect mix of functionality meets sentiment and a great way to have memories circulate through the room. The new digital picture frames from ViewSonic takes the painful guesswork out of choosing photos for picture frame display. Now all of your favorite photos can share the same spotlight.

The frames come in color options of wood, black and silver or black and white and provide people with a traditional way to display their digital photos. And with the capacity to rotate between 4,000 digital photos with numerous options for transitions it is a perfect living room display. It is also a great beside companion with the bonus feature of calendar and alarm clock. The high resolution capabilities allow you to proudly display all of your high definition photos. read more »