Just a few short years ago picking the best digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera was a snap: there were only a few models to choose from, and they all cost well above $2,000.

Today making a similar choice is not so cut-and-dried. New manufacturers have plunged into the market and there is greater competition and a wider range of cameras being offered.

So what’s a consumer to do?

Approach your digital SLR purchase as if you were buying a new car. While the costs are considerably different, the steps you should take are almost identical.

TIP #1 – Know What You Want to Photograph

A single male living in the city doesn’t need the same type of car as a soccer mom living in the suburbs. In the same fashion, not everyone needs a top-of-the-line digital SLR camera.

It’s important to decide what you want to take pictures of before you go looking for the best camera. Do you enjoy taking portraits of friends and family outdoors, or are you trying to capture your son’s indoor basketball games?

The answers to questions like this will help you focus your search for the best digital SLR camera.

TIP #2 – Understand the Jargon

When you’re buying a car, it helps to be informed. When the pushy dealer tries to sell you on a twin-cam fuel injection system you’ll be able to reject the offer only if you are REALLY sure you don’t need it.

The same thing applies to digital SLRs: before you get involved in a conversation with a camera dealer, learn about terms like ISO, anti-shake and megapixels (hint: more megapixels DO NOT increase the quality of the image) so you don’t buy more camera than you really need.

TIP #3 – Hold Some Cameras

You wouldn’t go out and buy a new car without taking it for a test drive first, would you?

A test drive is your best opportunity to see if you like the way the car handles, if there’s enough room in the interior and how easy it is to adjust the stereo when you’re doing 70 on the Interstate.

Digital SLR cameras come in a variety of shapes and sizes – since you’re going to be taking a lot of photos with it, you should get a sense of how the camera feels in your hands before you make a decision to buy.

TIP #4 – Read Reviews

You’ve done your homework and you’ve taken a test drive. Are you ready to buy the car of your dreams? Well, not quite yet.

Before you make a final commitment, you’ll probably want to read reports about how well the car fared in crash tests and whether or not there is a serious defect with the vehicle make and model.

Since digital SLRs are just small computers with lenses on the front, they are subject to the same types of malfunctions that can plague your home computer. This is not to say that most digital SLRs fall apart within months – they don’t.

But some are more temperamental than others, and the only way to find out if you’re about to buy a real lemon is to read reviews from current owners.

TIP #5 – Buy From a Reputable Dealer

This last tip is VERY important.

When buying your car, you can either go to a dealer that others have recommended or you can take your chances with that shifty individual down at the used car lot.

Digital SLR cameras fall under the heading of “home electronics” and there are plenty of sleazy companies out there looking to make a quick buck by luring you in with unbelievable prices.

If you’re doing some price comparisons and come across a company selling a camera for half of what everyone else is selling it for, don’t walk, RUN away.

This is a bait-and-switch: they hook you with a low price and then sell you a lot of accessories that you really don’t need. End result? You actually wind up paying MORE (and spending a lot of your valuable time) than you would have if you’d just purchased from a respected and reputable dealer in the first place.

So why should you buy a DVD Camcorder? Because of the simple reason that a DVD camcorder records video on DVD discs, rather than DV tapes. A DVD camcorder is basically different from a regular digital video camera in the way it saves the recorded video.

Lot of people actually feels comfortable with a DVD than a DV tape simply because they can identify with DVD based electronic items! Almost all of us have a DVD player

at home, and each of us have seen a DVD disc. Besides, DVD discs are easier to handle than tapes, unlikely to get chewed up in the camera.

Besides, you can straight away play the recorded video on your DVD player since the video is recorded on a DVD. In some of the DVD camcorders, you can even perform basic editing functions on the camcorder itself, in case you do not want to do a fully fledged editing on your computer.

Also, you can access the recorded video clips via a menu system, similar to what you do on a digital stills camera. You can even use the various menu functions to process the video clips.

As you can see, DVD camcorders seem to be getting more and more popular because of its ease of use and because it looks technically less daunting to use. For that reason, DVD camcorders will continue to be attractive to many first time users.