There are many excellent smart phones on the market today, and most of them have cameras. However, picture taking capabilities among modern mobile phones can vary a great deal. Here are some tips on smart phones, to help you get the best smartphone camera features for the least amount of money.

The best cameras are easy to operate and there is not a great deal of adjustments necessary. Also, it does not take very long for them to be ready for action. This is an important feature to consider if you enjoy taking those cute and adorable images of children or pets, as they play. If you can simply point and click, you can get those special shots.

Many people are concerned about megapixels, but few smart phone owners actually know what a megapixel is and why it is an important feature. Digital images are made up of tiny particles called pixels and one million pixels are equal to a megapixel. Naturally, one would think that an image with more megapixels would be clearer and sharper than ones with fewer megapixels. However, megapixels do not tell the entire story.

Most of the better smart phones on the market today have cameras with enough megapixel images to do a good job. For example, there may be very little difference between 16 MP images and those from 8 MP cameras. Extra megapixels can make a big difference in full color images that you print from your computer, and because most mobile phone users do not print out their images, megapixels should not be much of an issue. For example, a five megapixel image should be just fine for uploading to online sources.

Many top smartphones have cameras with digital image stabilization. This feature helps to keep image blur to a minimum if you are taking pictures while traveling or moving. For example, you might want to take an image or movie from inside a vehicle as you travel down the road. Digital image stabilization will compensate for shaking or other movements that the car might make, and you will get a clear picture.

HDR (high dynamic range) is an important feature you may want to consider. With this option, your smart phone actually takes 3 pictures of the same image and combines them into a clear and better looking image. However, it works best for still life images, and may not be needed if most of your pictures are of family and friends.

Whenever it is too dark for normal images, a good LED flash can save the day. Make sure your new phone has LED flash and you may want to pay extra for a phone that has dual LED flash. This will give you better flash photos but it comes with a price. It uses more power and it can be more expensive.

As a general rule, if you want to get the most camera phone for your money, ease of operation is very important. Megapixels are not that big of a deal. Digital image stabilization and dual LED flash as two excellent options to consider, if you can afford them.