An available input port. Most cameras connect to you pc by either USB or firewire connection. A few use PC cards to store photos and can make them directly available to a laptop computer or desktop machine with a card reader.

A software driver for the camera. This is a program that runs on your PC and allows you to transfer photos from your camera to the computer. Some cameras come with stand-alone programs to handle this chore; others rely on industry-standard TWAIN drivers. A TWAIN driver act as extension of your operating system, allowing you to import images directly into your graphics software, desktop publishing program or word processor from a digital camera or scanner. Drivers are always being improved, so check with your camera manufacturer after you buy to make sure you have the latest version.

Photo editing software. Many cameras come packaged with software that lets you edit your photos on the screen. Some are bare-bones programs that allow you to crop the photo and change brightness, contrast and color balance -- but not much else. Others come with more sophisticated programs that give you the power to edit every pixel in the photo. They may also include electronic "dodging" and "burning" tools borrowed from the real darkroom that allow you to selectively lighten or darken certain areas of the picture. Once you've finished touching up your photos you can use them in and desktop publishing or page design programs, or with kids' software such as Print Shop.

If you're doing anything more than casual shooting, you'll definitely want a powerful picture editing program. Adobe Photoshop is the professional standard in this league, but there are less expensive programs that will give you almost as much control, including JASC's shareware PaintShop Pro, Adobe PhotoDeluxe and Softkey's PhotoFinish. If you have kids or you're interested in artistic photo projects -- albums, collages, calendars, baby announcements and the like -- take a look at Microsoft's Picture It, LivePicture's LivePix, DogByte's Frame-It and similar programs.

A color printer. What good is taking great digital photos if you can't share them with other people? A good color ink jet printer, using special coated paper, can deliver quality that looks almost as good as a photo finisher. And you don't have to wait. If you frequently have to take head shots of people for name badges or ID cards, you might want to look at small-format specialty photo printers designed specifically for that job.

Extra memory modules. Most digital cameras store their photos on compact flash memory cards or the type of industry-standard PC card used for laptop modems and other devices. If you expect to be taking more than 20 or 30 pictures at a time, you'd better buy extra storage capacity, because when you've exhausted your storage, you can't take more pictures until you transfer your photos to the computer.

Add-on lenses. Most inexpensive cameras come with fixed-focus lenses, but you may be able to buy screw-on attachment lenses for a wide angle or telephoto work. These won't provide the quality of their counterparts in cameras with true interchangeable lenses or zoom lenses, but they can be useful. Check with your manufacturer.