The choice for a Pro user, of course, is to go for a Digital SLR camera. Now for the average user remains the question. The answer is: it depends on your budget and your necessities.

Since price gap between digital SLR and the best compact digital cameras is closing sharply, then, let's review the characteristics of a SLR digital camera.

The features and performance you get from an digital SLR have increased enormously and better yet, they are now easier to operate. The lag time has been reduced drastically. The lag time is the that it takes the camera between the shutter being pressed and the camera actually taking the photo. For a SLR this lag time is almost instantaneous just like the SLR film cameras. The compact cameras are catching up but the difference is still significant. The reaction time of a compact camera is about 0.5 sec, time enough to make loose the heartbeat of the moment and the opportunity of a great picture.

Another significant difference is the sensor capacity. SLR has a larger sensor and a compact camera has a smaller sensor. This means the auto focus feature is faster in the SLR, the resulting quality of the picture is better and the possibility of taking good pictures under low light conditions is considerably better. The sensitivity is measured in the standard ISO of the film cameras. The larger the range of the camera the more sensitive is. For example, a compact digital camera features normally ISO 50 - 400, while a digital SLR is 100 - 1600..The larger the last number the better pictures can be taken under low light conditions.

Another important point is the battery life, being larger that of a SLR camera, because of the less use of the LCD screen used only to view the image. A normal point and shoot camera may allow you to take about 500 photos while with the SLR you may take up to 2000 shots.

Then it comes another important aspect: the interchangeability of lenses only possible on those SLR cameras. This is important for the zoom and macro features.

Among the disadvantages to mention for SLR cameras compared to those compacts is the more size and weight of the SLR camera. Moreover, since they do not have a LCD screen is not possible to preview the image (an additional accessory is required to have a LCD screen). Another aspect that could be important is the inability to take videos of the SLR cameras. Finally, the cost of the lenses may be even larger than the camera itself.

To summarize, I may say that the final decision depends on your expected use of the camera. The quality and features of an SLR camera are not compared to the best compact digital camera. But if your concern is about portability and ability to record videos, the digital compact camera is your best choice. You can have a combination of good pictures with easy to use features.