step by step Guide to buy a Digital Camera

There are a few questions and factors to keep in mind when making the decision of which camera is best for you. I did this market-storming before I zeroed down to the camera I bought.

FOLLOW these steps strictly.
Move to next step only when you are done with the previous one:

Answer these:

1) What experience level do you have with cameras? - if you are new better go for a camera having least but best options.

2) Budget ?

3) Are you a professional photographer. If yes - you need a SLR. Else any point & shoot will do.

SLR Camera

After finalizing above look for the features that you would like to enjoy:

0) What conditions will you be largely photographing in? (indoors, outdoors, low light, bright light) - See for the ISO value of camera which should be between 16000 to 32000 for low lights photography

1) Optical zoom - 2x to 10x - (Digital Zoom usually is good) - Try to get a Automatic Zooming instead of Mechanical Zooming; provided in Flaunt-&pocket ones; if you are not a professional photographer. What type of photography will you be doing? (portraits, landscapes, macro, sports, marriages) - choose a better zoom accordingly.

2) image stabilization

3) LCD display size - 2.5 inches normally will do

4) size of camera you can bear - i.e. portability option ?

5) megapixel ? - the upper end of the range it can actually be a disadvantage to have images that are so large that they take up enormous amounts of space on memory cards and computers. One of the main questions to ask when it comes to megapixels is ‘Will you be printing shots’? If so - how large will you be going with them? If you’re only printing images at a normal size then anything over 4 or so megapixels will be fine. If you’re going to start blowing your images up you might want to pay the extra money for something at the upper end of what’s on offer today.

Some retailers will bundle such extras with cameras or will at least give a discount when buying more than one item at once - Make a list what you need:

6) Camera Case

7) Memory Cards - 2GB - more needed if more-megapixel photos you trying to store as more more-megapixel photo take more space.

8) Spare Batteries - **Battery Tips: Camera's battery will drain faster with more features you have and with more in-camera-editing-capabilities you have built in the camera. Larger LCD size drains more battery.

9) Recharger

10) Lenses (if you are getting a DSLR)

11) Filters (and other lens attachments)

12) Tripods/Monopods

13) External Flashes

14) Reflectors

15) Extra Flash / Auxiliary Lights

16) Wi-Fi support

17) Red Eye correction - automatic

18) Bluetooth support

19) in-camera-editing-capabilities

20) Do you already own any potentially compatible gear? - Talking of extra gear - one way to save yourself some cash is if you have accessories from previous digital cameras that are compatible with your new one. For example memory cards, batteries, lenses (remember that many film camera lenses are actually compatible with digital SLRs from the same manufacturers), flashes, filters etc.

Point and Shoot Camera

ADDITIONAL Tips -
Keep these in mind and move to next step then ->

**Give extra consideration to a camera with a good selection of software: Look for useful packages such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, Ulead PhotoImpact, and Corel Snapfire for editing images, as well as applications for organizing and sharing them.

**Don't base your decision on video capability: Though any still camera's ability to take moving pictures is limited, some are getting better at it. Nevertheless, if you want to shoot video, we recommend that you invest in a camcorder dedicated to the job.

**Consider investing in a memory card reader or a camera dock: A memory card reader acts like an external hard drive attached to your PC or laptop, allowing you to download pictures directly from your camera's storage media. Many newer laptops have one or more memory card slots built in, as do some inkjet printers. If you have a second memory card, you can keep shooting while the images download, rather than having to keep the camera hooked up to your PC. Alternatively, some cameras come with a dock or offer one as an option, and some of these docks offer a dedicated button for uploading all of your new photos on a memory card. A dock also charges the camera's battery.

Next step:

1) Do a little research - ask friends/relatives.

2) Don’t JUST rely upon the advice of the helpful sales person (who may or may not know anything about cameras and who may or may not have sales incentives for the camera they are recommending).

3) Read some reviews in digital camera magazines

4) Search Internet for online reviews to help you narrow down the field.

5) always check for reviews at more than 1 shop

NOW:

Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a handful of cameras head into your local digital camera shop and ask to see and play with them. There’s nothing like having the camera in your hands to work out whether it suits your needs. Here you check these trivial points with most importance:

1) How handy is the camera - Does it fits your hand properly without slipping ?

2) Responsiveness of camera - After pressing button how much time will it take to produce the image?

3) How much time do you need to wait before taking next image ?

4) How easy are the commands, menus to understand ?

5) How handy are the buttons of camera ?

Finally - After you’ve selected the right digital camera for you it’s time to find the best price:

1) start online and do some searches to find the most competitive prices on the models you are interested in.

2) With these in hand you are in a good position to be able to negotiate in person with local stores and/or with online stores.

3) Generally find that retail stores will negotiate on price and will often throw in freebies. Online stores are more difficult - most bigger ones don’t give you the ability to negotiate but smaller ones often will if you email them.

4) Don’t forget to ask for free or discounted bonuses including camera cases, memory cards, extra batteries, filters, free prints, cases etc. I even know of a couple of stores that offer camera lessons that you can ask to be included. Some stores will also consider giving you a trade in on older gear.

------------------------------ Thank You for Reading this Article :)

"Iraq War Ends" - says "New York Times" ??

New York: The U.S. Defence Department on Wednesday declared the end of the Iraq war and the immediate withdrawal of all troops, prompting an admission from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the Bush administration had known all along that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, according to the “New York Times.”

Sorry, folks, the Iraq war isn’t over (sob sob !!), at least not yet. In an elaborate hoax, pranksters distributed thousands of free copies of a spoof edition of The New York Times on Wednesday morning at busy subway stations around the city, including Grand Central Terminal, Washington and Union Squares, the 14th and 23rd Street stations along Eighth Avenue, and Pacific Street in Brooklyn, among others. The spurious 14-page papers — with a headline “IRAQ WAR ENDS” — surprised commuters, many of whom took the free copies thinking they were legitimate. The paper imagines a liberal utopia of national health care, a rebuilt economy, progressive taxation, a national oil fund to study climate change, and other goals of progressive politics. Dated July 4, 2009, and boasting the motto “All the news we hope to print” in a twist on the daily’s motto “All the news that’s fit to print,” the fake paper looks forward to the day the war ends, and envisages a chain of events that would be manna from heaven for American liberals. In one story ExxonMobil is taken into public ownership, while in another evangelicals open the doors of their mega-churches to Iraqi refugees.

The hoax was accompanied by a Web site (click here to visit the spoof site) that mimics the look of The Times’s real Web site (click here to visit the original site) . A page of the spoof site contained links to dozens of progressive organizations, which were also listed in the print edition. (A headline in the fake business section declares: “Public Relations Industry Forecasts a Series of Massive Layoffs.” Uh, sure.)

The Associated Press reported that copies of the spoof paper were also handed out in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, and that the pranksters — who included a film promoter, three unnamed Times employees and Steven Lambert, an art professor — financed the paper with small online contributions and created the paper to urge President-elect Barack Obama to keep his campaign promises. Software and Internet support were provided by the Yes Men, who were the subject of a 2004 documentary film. `Yes Men` issued a statement about the prank, stating, in part: "In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass them out on the street."

Original NYTimes Website

There is a history of spoofs and parodies of The Times -> Probably the best-known is one unveiled two months into the 1978 newspaper strike. A whole cast of characters took part in that parody, including the journalist Carl Bernstein, the author Christopher Cerf, the humorist Tony Hendra and the Paris Review editor George Plimpton. And for April Fool’s Day in 1999, the British business executive Richard Branson printed 100,000 copies of a parody titled “I Can’t Believe It’s Not The New York Times.” A 27-year-old Princeton alumnus named Matthew Polly, operating a “guerrilla press” known as Hard Eight Publishing, edited that 32-page spoof of the newspaper.

Spoof of NYTimes Website

Mr. President USA - Barack Obama versus his Presidential-Election-Rival-Candidate McCain

A comparison of plans-&-views on issues relating USA-&-World
which Barack Obama - Mr. President USA
& his Presidential-Election-Rival-Candidate Mr. McCain
rammed on during their presidential-election-campaigns

Economy

Obama's Stance on the Economy

Barack Obama has offered a detailed plan to get America’s economy back on track, by creating new jobs and easing the burden on hardworking Americans by offering middle-class tax cuts three times the size of McCain’s.

McCain's Stance on the Economy

John McCain’s economic policy is the same as George Bush’s. It ignores middle class Americans, giving $200 billion in tax cuts to corporations, including $4 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil, while leaving over 100 million middle-class Americans with no relief. Economists say McCain’s plan will add $3.4 trillion to the national debt.

Education

Obama's Stance on Education

Barack Obama puts children first by investing in early childhood education, making sure our schools are adequately funded and led by high-quality teachers, and reforming No Child Left Behind.

McCain's Stance on Education

John McCain supported George Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans instead of much-needed funding for our students, teachers, and failing local classrooms.

Energy & Environment

Obama's Stance on Energy

Barack Obama will invest in alternative fuels and renewable energy, including a plan to increase America’s energy efficiency and create 5 million new “green” jobs.

McCain's Stance on Energy

John McCain has repeatedly opposed renewable and alternative energy proposals, has promised oil companies a new $4 billion tax break and hired a number of powerful oil lobbyists to run his campaign.

Ethics

Obama's Stance on Ethics

Barack Obama has been a leader on government transparency – refusing to take donations from lobbyists or PACs, improving disclosure and creating a database where the public can track federal contracts and earmarks.

McCain's Stance on Ethics

John McCain has no less than 177 lobbyists working on his campaign, including many of his top advisors. McCain’s own campaign manager continued to receive money from Freddie Mac until August 2008.

Foreign Policy

Obama's Stance on Foreign Policy

Barack Obama will continue the long American tradition of smart diplomacy to keep the country safe while improving America’s standing in the world.

McCain's Stance on Foreign Policy

John McCain will carry on George Bush’s policy of unilateral action that puts American troops in harm’s way without exhausting diplomatic options.

Health Care

Obama's Stance on Health Care

Barack Obama’s health care plan will provide accessible, affordable coverage for all, and it will reduce health care costs for families.

McCain's Stance on Health Care

John McCain’s health plan would tax health benefits for the first time ever — imposing a trillion tax increase on working families and leaving millions without heath care.

Homeland Security

Obama's Stance on Homeland Security

Barack Obama supports increased security measures for our airports, ports, and land borders, part of a national plan to protect American’s infrastructure and keep our communities safe.

McCain's Stance on Homeland Security

John McCain opposed increased screening of cargo entering the United States and opposed increased security for airport, port and boarder security.

Iraq

Obama's Stance on Iraq

Barack Obama will work with his military commanders to responsibly end the war in Iraq. Obama will refocus our resources on al Qaeda in Afghanistan and finish the fight with the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11.

McCain's Stance on Iraq

John McCain has no plan to end the war in Iraq, and would keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. McCain calls Iraq "the central front of the war on terror" even though Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us are getting stronger in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Seniors & Social Security

Obama's Stance on Seniors & Social Security

Barack Obama is committed to ensuring Social Security is protected and viable for this generation and the next. And Obama will eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 -- benefiting more than 7 million seniors.

McCain's Stance on Seniors & Social Security

John McCain supports President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security and would gamble the Social Security Trust Fund in the stock market. McCain’s tax plan leaves 37 million seniors without much-needed relief.

Taxes

Obama's Stance on Taxes

Barack Obama provides a middle class tax cut for 95 percent of American workers. Middle class families will get three times the tax relief from Obama than they would from John McCain.

McCain's Stance on Taxes

John McCain’s plan leaves 101 million American households with no tax relief, while giving $200 billion to corporations, including $4 billion tax cut to oil companies.

Veterans

Obama's Stance on Veterans Affairs

Barack Obama supports our troops – both in combat and at home. He voted to provide armored vehicles and body armor for our troops fighting abroad, and will fully fund veterans’ medical care and restore competence to VA planning to ensure our veterans have the resources they need when they return home.

McCain's Stance on Veterans Affairs

John McCain has repeatedly voted against increases in veterans’ health care, against mental health and brain injury services for veterans, and will ration veterans’ health care to vets with combat injuries, reducing the resources available to our vets.

Women

Obama's Stance on Women's Issues

Barack Obama works for America’s women – supporting a woman’s right to choose, equal pay for equal work, expanding the childcare tax credit and paid sick leave for parents.

McCain's Stance on Women's Issues

John McCain wants to overturn Roe v. Wade and his party’s platform opposes all abortions — even in cases of rape and incest. McCain also opposed the Equal Pay Act, and the landmark Violence Against Women Act.

Senator Obama has been able to develop innovative approaches to challenge the status quo and get results. Americans are tired of divisive ideological politics, which is why Senator Obama has reached out to Republicans to find areas of common ground. He has tried to break partisan logjams and take on seemingly intractable problems. During his tenure in Washington and in the Illinois State Senate, Barack Obama has accumulated a record of bipartisan success.

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Civil Rights There is no more fundamental American right than the right to vote. Before the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, barriers such as literacy tests, poll taxes and property requirements disenfranchised many Americans, especially minorities. More than 40 years later, there are still numerous obstacles to ensuring that every citizen has the ability to vote.

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Defense "Our country's greatest military asset is the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States. When we do send our men and women into harm's way, we must also clearly define the mission, prescribe concrete political and military objectives, seek out advice of our military commanders, evaluate the intelligence, plan accordingly, and ensure that our troops have the resources, support, and equipment they need to protect themselves and fulfill their mission." -Barack Obama, Chicago Foreign Affairs Council, April 23, 2007

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Disabilities "We must build a world free of unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination .... policies must be developed, attitudes must be shaped, and buildings and organizations must be designed to ensure that everyone has a chance to get the education they need and live independently as full citizens in their communities."

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Faith In June of 2006, Senator Obama delivered what was called the most important speech on religion and politics in 40 years. Speaking before an evangelical audience, Senator Obama candidly discussed his own religious conversion and doubts, and the need for a deeper, more substantive discussion about the role of faith in American life.

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Family Strong families raise successful children and keep communities together. While Senator Obama does not believe that we can simply legislate healthy families, good parenting skills or economic success, he does believe we can eliminate roadblocks that parents face and provide tools to help them succeed. A husband and father of two, Senator Obama has promoted strong families in the Senate.

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Fiscal "The cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and states of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on ... If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we'd see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies." - Barack Obama, Speech in the U.S. Senate, March 13, 2006

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Immigration Barack Obama has played a leading role in crafting comprehensive immigration reform. Obama believes the immigration issue has been exploited by politicians to divide the nation rather than find real solutions. This divisiveness has allowed the illegal immigration problem to worsen, with borders that are less secure than ever and an economy that depends on millions of workers living in the shadows.

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Poverty There are 37 million poor Americans. Most poor Americans are in the workforce, yet still cannot afford to make ends meet. And too many poor Americans are single mothers who are raising children. Barack Obama has been a lifelong advocate for the poor -- as a young college graduate, he rejected the high salaries of corporate America and moved to the South Side of Chicago to work as a community organizer. As an organizer, Obama worked with churches, Chicago residents and local government to set up job training programs for the unemployed and after school programs for kids.

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Rural "We are at that critical and urgent moment. If Washington continues policies that work against America's family farmers, our rural communities will fall further behind - and so will America. But if we reject the politics that has shut ordinary folks out, we can create a new story for rural America ... The dreams of rural Americans are familiar to all Americans - to make a good living, to raise a healthy and secure family, and to leave our children a future of opportunity. It's time for real leadership for rural America to extend that American dream. That's the dream of opportunity that I've spent my life fighting for. And that's what our rural agenda will do." - Barack Obama, Speech in Fairfax, IA, October 16, 2007

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Service "Your own story and the American story are not separate - they are shared. And they will both be enriched if we stand up together, and answer a new call to service to meet the challenges of our new century ... I won't just ask for your vote as a candidate; I will ask for your service and your active citizenship when I am president of the United States. This will not be a call issued in one speech or program; this will be a cause of my presidency." - Barack Obama, Speech in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, December 5, 2007

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Technology "Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let's set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let's recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let's make college more affordable, and let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America."

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Urban Policy Barack Obama has had a lifelong commitment to the people and neighborhoods of America?s cities. He understands that cities and metropolitan regions are key drivers of prosperity in the global economy and that opportunities for and contributions from all people and communities are critical to America?s long term success. As president, Obama will implement a regional development agenda that utilizes and strengthens the considerable assets of our urban centers. These investments will bolster America's long-term competitiveness in a globalizing economy, and ensure long-term prosperity for all Americans.

PROMISES that Barack Obama - Mr. President USA made during his presidential-election campaigns

USA gets it's First BLACK President - Barack Hussein Obama II

Barack Hussein Obama II (pronounced /bəˈrɑːk hʊˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the President-elect of the United States of America. He is expected to take office as the 44th President of the USA on January 20, 2009. In the November 4, 2008 United States Presidential election he won 53% of the popular vote, and 349 electoral votes to rival John Sidney McCain III's 173 (with 15 electoral votes belonging to North Carolina as yet unclaimed).

10 reasons why John McCain lost

My hunch is that we'll look back on this and say that John McCain could never have won. So why did he lose? Here are 10 off-the-cuf fone-word and two-word reasons, some of them inter-linked. 10 reasons for why Obama won to come next:

1. Economy

2. Wars

3. Bush

4. GOP spending

5. GOP corruption

6. Disorganised campaign

7. Mediocre debating

8. Age

9. Changing messages

10. Downbeat demeanour

A bit about him:

He also is currently the Junior United States Senator from Illinois. Obama is the first African American to be elected President of the United States, and was the first to be nominated for President by a major U.S. political party. Obama is also the first candidate born in Hawaii to have been nominated and subsequently elected president.

A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, he became the first African American to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review. Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003. After a primary victory in March 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70 percent of the vote.

OBAMA

The President's Signature ->

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel. Obama announced his presidential campaign in February 2007, and was formally nominated at the 2008 Democratic National Convention with Delaware senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

Official sites:

• Obama '08—BarackObama.com (2008 U.S. presidential campaign)
• Barack Obama U.S. Senator for Illinois (U.S. Senate office)
• Fight the Smears: the candidate's responses to Internet rumors.

More about the President:

From a small-time community worker to the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama's victory in the US Presidential polls marks a huge political transformation in a country with a racist past that will have a Black occupy the top post for the first time.

A votary of strong ties with India, the 47-year-old Harvard-educated lawyer and a Democrat reached the White House exactly 45 years after the Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King challenged Americans to embrace his "dream" of equality.

Barack Hussein Obama, whose father was a Kenyan and mother a White American, himself has had no misgivings on the herculean task he faced in getting elected as President because of his race and name.

This was reflected by his recent comment that getting elected to the White House would be a "leap".

Undertaking his campaign with a catchy slogan -- 'The Change We Need' -- Obama presented himself to America as a fresh face with the knowledge and mettle needed for the White House.

He emerged victorious after a gruelling and bitter 21-month-long campaign in which he overcame the challenge from high-profile fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton and Vietnam War veteran Republican nominee John McCain.

Born on 4th August, 1961, in Hawaii, Obama will be the first Black President, a development that demonstrates a major change in America, which has witnessed bitter racism for centuries before the social evil was abolished about 200 years ago.

Obama's first tryst with power came in 1996 when the low-paid community organiser on Chicago's south side was elected to the state Senate of Illinois.

He made it to the federal Senate in 2004 after a landslide electoral victory.

While many have scoffed at Obama's experience as a community organiser saying community work experience does not count in the making of a US President, analysts feel that it has helped the black American leader to reach out to individual voters during his campaign.

Obama became a media darling and one of the most visible figures in Washington, with two best-selling books to his name - 'The Audacity of Hope' and 'Dreams From My Father'.

For the Democrats, who were out to wrest the Presidency from the Republicans after eight years, Obama's nomination was a gamble.

But Obama defeated Arizona Senator McCain handsomely in the election which was dominated by frequent controversies, mostly related to his race and religion.

Obama, whose first name Barack in Arabic means 'the blessed', was hard pressed to fend off rumours that he is a Muslim and said he is a practising Christian.

During the campaign, the advocate of strong partnership with India has made a number of comments and gestures, including lending support to the civil nuclear deal though he initially had reservations on it.

He has also made it clear that India posed no threat to Pakistan and that the latter rather faced the danger from militants within.

At the same time, he also talked about discouraging outsourcing, a move, if implemented, could have an adverse impact on India.

"....Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America," he said during campaigning.

Obama, who broke all records for fund-raising, had said that his victory would be a "defining moment" for the nation which abolished slavery 200 years ago but was still battling the scourge of racial discrimination.