Consumer Level (Entry Level or "Point and Shoot")

• Common suppliers: Agfa, Canon, Casio, Epson, Fujifilm, Kodak, Kyocera, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Ricoh, Sony, Toshiba
• Prices are usually under $500
• 1 to 2 MB or megapixels
• General resolution of 640 x 480 = 1,000,000 pixels or less
• Fixed lens and built-in flash
• Removable storage
• Ease of use for real estate agents, insurance adjusters, personal use, and conventional photography

Semi- Professional Level

• Common suppliers: Agfa, Canon, Casio, Epson, Fujifilm, Kodak, Kyocera, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Ricoh, Sony, Toshiba
• Prices are usually under $2,000
• 1 to 2 MB or megapixels
• General resolution of 1200 x 1000 = 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 pixels
• Adjustable lens, iris, built-in flash, and flash sync for external flash
• Removable storage card or disk
• Packaged options and accessories
• Uses: product shots, photo development work, professional images, and publishing work

Professional Level (Studio and Field)

Professional level cameras provide high resolution and maximum dynamic ranges in color images. The professional level category includes high resolution (high megapixel) digital cameras or digital backs. Digital backs are placed on the body of an existing camera, enabling the camera to store images in a digital format. The digital back contains a CCD (Charged Couple Device) image sensor which scans the colors in the image. Some backs store images on removable storage cards or hard drives while some models require that each image be transferred before the next shot.

Professional Field Camera

• The most common type of professional digital camera is the 35mm single lens reflex (SLR)
• Common suppliers of field cameras: Canon, Fuji, Kodak, MegaVision, Minolta, Nikon, Polaroid, Sony
• Prices range from $3,000 to $25,000
• Resolution ranges: 1024 x 1280, 1280 x 1000, 1524 x 1012, 1736 x 1160, 2000 x 3000, 2048 x 2048, 3060 x 2036
• High end resolution in pixels is up to 6,000,000 (6 MB or 6 megapixels)
• Image storage: 16 MB average or storage card
• Viewfinder: Most often optical - some are LCD
• Lens: Interchangeable or adjustable
• Standard SLR lenses are used and combined with a CCD back
   

Studio Cameras and Digital Backs

• Generally larger in size and most often using a digital back combined with camera body and lens
• 2 x 3 format
• Common suppliers of studio cameras: Agfa, Arca-Swiss, Better Light, Dicomed, Fuji, Hasselblad, Jenoptik, Kaiser, Kodak, Leaf, Leica, Mamiya, Phase One, Polaroid, Rollei, ScanView, Scitex, Sinar/Bron, Sony
• Prices range from $5,000 to $60,000
• Resolution ranges: 1280 x 1000, 1520 x 1144, 1920 x 1920, 2000 x 3000, 4490 x 3480, 4096 x 4096, 4500 x 3648, 3750 x 5000, 6144 x 6144, 5000 x 7200, 6000 x 7520, 7000 x 7000, 8000 x 8000
• High end resolution in pixels is up to 49,000,000 (49 MB or 49 megapixels)
• Sophisticated electronics and operating systems
• Image storage: Generally none - tethered to storage repository
• Viewfinder: Most often optical - some are LCD
• Lens: Interchangeable or adjustable