Quality of a digital camera's images is largely determined by resolution, which is measured in pixels. If you plan to take tight close-up or faraway shots that involve lots of detail, you'll have to spring for a higher-resolution camera. Ditto if you expect to be cropping and then enlarging your images.

Images from lower-resolution cameras can appear grainy or under- or overexposed. However, if most of your images will be viewed onscreen only at normal size, a lower resolution (but no lower than 640x480) will probably be adequate.

High resolution adds a few hundred dollars to the price of the camera, so don't buy it if you don't need it.

Another facet of image quality involves bit depth, which determines color accuracy. A depth of 24-bit translates to 16.7 million colors--all the colors the naked eye can detect. Cameras priced below $2000 typically have 24-bit depth.