For my Christmas present I'm going to get a digital camera. Like many others, I've been watching digital cameras develop for the past year, hankering after the promise they've held out. Now digital cameras have come close to the quality and price I want, and I'm ready to take the plunge.

The latest advance in the technology is the megapixel snap camera, which has brought much of the high priced quality used by professionals down to the $500 to $1,000 range of the ordinary consumer. The digital camera in that price range is still not quite at the quality many will desire, and you do need a computer and a reasonable quality printer, but for sure you can expect more advances to come within the year.

As a keen amateur photographer and journalist I've always been aware of the possibilities the technology holds. Most modern newspapers these days do layout by computer. Stories are written by computer and sent over to the subeditors desk. The photographers develop their negatives and then scan those negatives into the computer. The subeditors then lay out the digital image and copy on a digital page.

A digital camera skips the negative and the scanning. Instead you take a photograph. The image is stored on removable and reusable computer memory card about the size of a dollar coin. Many of the cameras have a built-in liquid crystal display so users can view the image as soon as its taken. If you don't like the photo you simply hit delete and it's gone.

When you're ready, you load the images into your computer. You can then send as many copies as you want to friends by e-mail, post them on your personal Web page, or print them out on your printer. The camera is then ready to use again after you delete the previous images from the card. Some film labs overseas are even offering regular developing for those who own the cameras and want a print. Instead of bringing in your film, you bring in the card or the camera.

I was at a tree trimming party last week where a friend of mine snapped away quite happily with his new Olympus D340L, a megapixel camera which he got for $500. The price includes shipping, customs duty and an international warranty.

This new class of digital camera is called megapixel because each image is made up of one-million or more picture elements -- called pixels. The higher the number of pixels the better the quality. The D340L gives 1.3 megapixels.

The D340L came with a 4 megabyte card, but he bought an extra 8 MB card for $30. With 8 MBs he can store 36 pictures at the "high quality'' setting. With the best quality setting -- which gives more density of image, thus requiring more memory space -- he can store up to eight photographs.

My friend brought our hosts a Christmas card he had designed and printed out on his $300 inkjet printer. It contained an image of himself and his wife. The quality was as good as any disposable. He also showed me another photograph that was sharper and crisper looking than many of the pictures produced by snapshot 35 mm cameras selling in the $100 to $200 range.

The superior advantage of a digital camera is you can crop, enhance, resize or change the image to suit your taste on your computer using the software provided with the camera. If you're ambitious get PhotoShop.

My friend either prints out on regular paper, which gives an OK picture, or he buys high quality glossy paper. A packet of 20 4x6 inch paper costs $9 in the US, double here, he said.

The day after the party he sent me an E-mail with a web site address I could go to and view the photographs he had taken the night before, with the offer he would E-mail me the ones I wanted. Now that's using technology.

When he goes on a vacation he brings his laptop, takes his photos, then stores them so he can reuse the card without losing the images.

You can see the results of digital camera technology twice a week in the Bermuda Sun. For almost a year the paper has been using the Olympus D600L, a megapixel camera in the $1,000 or less range depending on what kind of deal you can get. The paper has three such cameras. The reporters take the photographs when they go out to get information for stories, come back to the office, then input the images straight into the computer.

There are many things you should be aware of before taking the plunge into a digital camera. If you still have difficulty putting a 35-mm film into a camera, or are a fool on a computer, then don't do it. According to reviews, some of the cameras pose some difficulties when hooking them up to the computer. I'm looking at buying the Olympus D640L, which is 1.4 megapixel, has a 3X zoom lens an F2.8 to 5.6 stop, wth autofocus and macro, and which can accept other lens. Check out Internet Web sites of Kodak, Olympus, Fuji, Nikon and other manufacturers. Reviews and recommendations are available at www.zdnet.com/products/camerauser.

Of course watch out also for the envy factor when buying a digital camera. The camera manufacturers are tossing out better and cheaper models by the month on to the market. Like most computer technology these days, you just have to accept the model you buy will soon be superseded by a better product within the next few months.

Digital cameras crave after the next big jump in technology in two years. Well -- maybe a year.

What I'm waiting for is the development of a reasonably priced portable digital viewer which can take stored images from my computer. Then I take the viewer to gatherings and bore my friends.

Tech Tattle is about issues in technology. Contact Ahmed at 295-5881 ext. 248, or 238-3854, or techtattle ygazette.newsmedia.com.

Digital cameras Just snap away and be happy with what you've got, and crave after the next big jump in technology in two years. Well -- maybe a year.

What I'm waiting for is the development of a reasonably priced portable digital viewer which can take stored images from my computer. Then I take the viewer to gatherings and bore my friends.

Tech Tattle is about issues in technology. Contact Ahmed at 295-5881 ext. 248, or 238-3854, or techtattle ygazette.newsmedia.com.