Shooting modes
Many digital cameras offer special modes that optimize the camera settings for specific types of scenes. Landscape, portrait, twilight, and pan-focus are among the most common scene modes. Scene modes can affect both exposure and focus settings, and a panorama mode lets you shoot a scene in several frames, then "stitch" them together to make one big picture.

Look for a camera that offers scene modes that correspond to your favorite photo subjects. If you think you'll use this feature a lot, make sure that the camera you buy gives you easy access to it through a button or a dial, instead of making you hunt through the LCD menu to find it. Other useful options include continuous shooting, or burst, modes, which shoot multiple images sequentially to capture action. Many cameras offer voice recording and movie capture, but don't expect camcorderlike results.