Pixelated

My dinky, free-with-Dockers digital camera has set me thinking about getting a real camera. This is turning into a major project. I don't know anything about digital cameras. So I've just spent the afternoon trying to track down a copy of the magazine 'Which digital camera?', only to rediscover what I already knew - it's not sold in the shops, you can only get it on subscription. Instead, I have no fewer than four different photography magazines, in three languages - English, German and Dutch - all packed with reports of tests carried out on about 50 different cameras.

So now I haven't a clue which camera to choose. Do I want the nifty looking Pentax Optio X with a swivel screen that allows you to hold your camera above a crowd and still see what photo you're taking? Or should I go for the Panasonic Lunix FX7 that looks as though it's not much bigger than the palm of your hand but gives you a vast 2.5 inch screen to compose your pics in? Or how about throwing in another hundred euros or so and getting the classy Canon Powershot G6 with its black and silver casing and a splash of red?

But the man wants a single lens reflex. So how about the Canon EOS 20D, a snip at a mere EUR 1,700 with lens thrown in? On second thoughts, could we manage with the new non-digital Canon 300X that's selling for just EUR 229? Oh, you'd like video as well? Could we perhaps combine them all into one super expensive mobile phone?...

All this choice is wonderful, exciting, overwhelming and utterly exhausting. What's wrong with the camera - I forget the make - that I bought in New York in 1991? Well, actually, nothing. It's still OK. I don't NEED a new camera.

Just feel a bit stupid trying to take pics of my cousin when she comes to Amsterdam tomorrow using a two inch by one-and-a-half inch dinky Dockers camera, that's all.

This isn't a camera I'm looking to buy, it's self esteem...