Jessica Foust: Hi! I'm Jessica with TopTenREVIEWS. Compact digital cameras are small, light and portable. These point and shoot cameras offer the versatility of the standard digital in smaller package. Now finding the compact digital camera to suit all your needs, can be a little tricky. So here are some of the features that you need to consider before you buy.

The first is size, the most obvious difference between a compact and a standard digital camera is the size. If you're looking for something small be careful. Some compact cameras sacrifice features for the size. Features like the zoom function and display screen, may be smaller or lack of functionality you find in a regular size digital camera. Remember also, that smaller cameras don't always have the small prices. Think about what you want the camera to do.

Next is megapixel. How many megapixels you need, depends on your shooting habits. Most compact digital cameras come with around 8-14 megapixels. Cameras with lower megapixels are fine for people who want to share their pictures online or limit print sizes to about 5x7 inches or smaller.

However, if you are looking for images are larger than 11x14 inches; you should look for a camera with at least 12 mega pixels. Just remember that you can always resize your pictures smaller in photo editing programs, without sacrificing quality. But you can't make images larger without loosing quality. When in doubt get as many megapixels as you can for the price.

Zoom is a standard feature on all digital cameras. It comes in two flavors; optical and digital. Optical zoom physically moves the camera lens to make the subject appear closure. Digital on the other hand, resizes the image itself, making it appear larger. Digital zoom has the same effect as optical zoom, but you loose a lot of the picture quality when you use that feature. So look for a camera with the strong optical zoom. This way you can ensure that your zoomed pictures come out on the best quality.

Next is LCD display screen. They have replaced a traditional view finder as a primary mode of composing your shots. Most compact digital cameras have about 2.5 inch screens, but some have larger. The bigger the screen, the easier it is to compose your shots and review your pictures.

Now remember shutter lag, it's a time between pressing the shutter button and the camera actually, taking the picture. You want this time to be as low as possible. Compact digital camera's shutter lag can range from less than a second to nearly 2 seconds. This means that you could miss a fast action shot, when you're winning soccer goals have it miss, due to shutter lag. If you can't get a camera with this close to half a second or less shutter lag it's great.

Digital cameras are notorious for draining batteries. So long-lasting batteries are essential. You have a couple of options here, replaceable "double a" batteries and rechargeable batteries. Double a, batteries can get expensive to constantly replace. however if you run out of juice and you can't plug-in your camera then, rechargeable batteries won't do you any good.

So if you're going to be shooting far away from a place where you can't recharge, replaceable batteries might be the way to go. However, if you want to be able to charge your batteries whenever you want. You can save money with rechargeable batteries.

When deciding which compact digital camera is right for you, remember you're doing small for a reason. But don't be sold on size alone, think about your shooting habits, what features you're most likely to use and purchase accordingly. I'm Jessica with TopTenREVIEWS. We do the research, so you don't have to.