Digital cameras are everywhere. Store shelves are lined with them, and Sunday newspaper circulars are filled with advertisements for them. But why buy one? Well of course if you are perfectly and completely happy taking pictures with your film camera, then don't buy a digital camera. But remember, you have to finish the whole roll, bring the film to the processor, and wait for the prints to come back, just to find out everyone in the "once-in-a-lifetime picture" had their eyes closed. Let's also not forget that you have to pay for the processing and buy film. Oh, by the way, you had better buy a few extra rolls, some for indoors and some for outdoors.

So what are the advantages of digital?

1. No more film! That's right, you'll never need to buy film again. Using a digital camera means that you can take pictures without paying for film or wondering which type of film to buy.

2. If you are careful with your storage, you will also never run out of film. The PCMCIA storage cards, which slip into the side of your camera, can hold up to 80 images. With a few of these in your camera bag, you can go on taking pictures for days. There's nothing like that special feeling you get when you run out of film while on vacation!)

3. No more processing costs. No matter how you get your film processed, it
gets to be expensive. You can't get around paying for processing unless you are
taking digital photos, and you'll never have to decide about matte or glossy
prints again.

4. You get to see your pictures immediately. Digital photography enables you to see your photos instantly; no more waiting for your film to return from the lab. Many cameras have LCD preview screens, so you can see the image instantly, or you can download your images to your computer as soon as you take them.

5. You can instantly re-shoot your pictures. If somebody walked into your carefully composed shot or if the baby's eyes were closed when the shutter snapped, you'll know it immediately. You can simply retake the image. (On the flip side, you can also preview all the poses you just took and delete the ones you don't like.)

6. You have more control. If you couldn't get close enough to your subject or the camera wasn't level when you took the picture, have no fear - you can fix it! You can easily crop or rotate your picture; remove spots; fix color; and lighten, darken, blur, or sharpen your images. With a little skill, you can even add people into the family photo even though they were not t here. Try that with a drugstore print!

7. Get out of that dark room! For those of you who spent hours splashing about in your darkroom to produce only a few prints, you are free. You can set up your computer in the light of day and image edit all you want. Just imagine - you can be social and manipulate images at the same time. You can see and be seen by your family and friends. If you have special talents, you can even work on your computer and watch the football game simultaneously!

8. Everyone can see it. With the advent of email and modems, you can easily send a photo of a newborn to distant relatives or post it on your Web site. You no longer need to take the time or spend the cash to make multiple copies of an image and distribute them.

9. It will last forever. Negatives and prints fade. They are subject to ultraviolet light, humidity and grubby fingers. Digital images, however, will last forever if carefully stored. And if your printout of the image gets damaged or you want to make a duplicate, all you need to do is pull up the file and reprint it. Your only cost is a sheet of paper.

10. Digital photography is environmentally sound. There are no processing chemicals to wash down our sewers, and the massive amounts of water and electricity used to process film are no longer needed. Plus, you won't need to worry about recycling those little plastic film containers.