In order to find a camera, I searched various shopping sites on the Internet, but they often had poor descriptions of the cameras. Then I browsed digital camera review sites. Of these, one of the best is Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com). The Digital Camera Buying Guide was what finally helped me find a camera that fit my needs. Using the search function, I simply entered the features that were most important to me:

This came out with a short list of less than 10 matches. I had seriously considered the Nikon Coolpix line, but decided against them due to their non-standard battery. Of the cameras listed, the Canon A60 had the all the features I wanted at the lowest price. I then read all the reviews of this camera at that site, and found that people generally had a good impression of the camera. I settled on this camera and set out to find the best price using the Shopper.com price comparison engine, which is conveniently linked from dpreview.com.

Along with the camera, I needed to purchase batteries, a charger, and a compact flash card. I wanted to find a store where I could purchase all the items at once, and get a great price. I visited the local Best Buy and Circuit City to see if I could see the camera on display, but they did not have it in stock. After visiting multiple online stores, I made my purchase on June 30th, 2003 from NewEgg.com. NewEgg.com beats other online stores because of the copious number of images they have of nearly every product. The total amount I spent was $339. The next table lists the items I ordered and the price at the time they were purchased.