It is important though to know in advance for what purpose one is taking the pictures for. For the family album a regular camera using film or simple digital camera will do. Any digital camera with 3 mega pixels, with settings to photographs in a number of conditions usually sunny, cloudy, night ad indoors will do. It is important to have enough memory with you so you do not have to limit what you can take because of lack of space. The memory that comes with cameras is usually too low for even a days shooting so make sure to but some more.

If the traveller is an amateur or intends to sell, enlarge or otherwise make any special effects with the photographer then a more specialised camera is needed. A camera that can be manipulated in many different ways is ideal, with high a number of mega pixels to allow for reproduction and enlarging later. It may also have the option to attach wide angle, telephoto or other special lenses. Wide angle lens are good for landscape or panoramic photographs, telephoto lens is good for sport photographing or for objects that are too far or the photographer cannot go close to due to inaccessibility. There are also coloured lenses that can be used to add mood and style to photographs.

Digital cameras are quite popular because they offer more options in terms of quality and storage. There is less waste too as the pictures can be composed and recomposed until satisfaction is achieved, one can also delete undesirable pictures and make room for more. There is also less bulk to lurk along and less risk of damage to photographs unlike the old way with films.

The memory card is reusable, the pictures are of a better quality as digital cameras offer setting to suit different conditions the user may find to photograph in. For those that are creative and would still like to have a personal touch on their pictures there are digital single lens reflex (SLRs) which allow them to express their creativity, by manipulating the camera focus and composition capabilities.

With digital cameras there is no urgency to print out the pictures right away, because with the universal serial bus (USB) cable one can store the pictures on a computer or disk to be used later or edited. Some digital cameras can also make videos or short movies so whenever you feel that the moment calls for a video you can always shoot one. Videos or movies do take a lot more memory space so have handy extra memory or store them on a computer or DVD.