by: Brandon Layne

Digital cameras are getting smaller and smaller every year. People seem to have a fascination for very compact gadgets. Remember how bulky mobile phones used to be? I remember lugging around a bag phone the size of a woman's purse and much heavier.

Now they have models that are as small as a chapstick.

Since digital cameras are one of the most popular portable devices on the market, a lot of people are looking for the smallest digital camera they can find. If you find yourself scouring the internet and your local electronics stores with that goal, just keep in mind that one way to reduce the size of a digital camera is to include fewer features. Don't sacrifice important features just for a smaller size.

After all, what good is a small digital camera if it only has enough memory to store a few shots, or if it is a low-resolution camera that produces grainy photos?

You need to find the right balance. Find the right trade-off between small size and the important features. Let's compare some of the smallest models to illustrate what I mean.

- The Blink by StyleCam is, technically speaking, the smallest digital camera available today, but it only has a resolution of 0.3 megapixel. It's not built for serious photography. It also doesn't have any zoom function to speak of, but at a price of less than $40, it could be considered a good value digital camera.

- Sony's CyberShot DSC-U20 can also compete for the title of the smallest digital camera, but it's loaded with features to boot! It comes with a 2.0 megapixel resolution and expandable memory storage using Sony's memory stick technology.

- Casio's Exilim EX-M2 is probably the best investment when it comes to compact digital cameras. It also comes with a 2.0 megapixel resolution, but it can also play mp3 files and record voice conversations. The only thing going against the Casio Exilim EX-M2 is a price tag of almost $400.

Just because we're looking at the smallest digital cameras doesn't mean that they will also be the cheapest models. It can be expensive to shrink the best features into a tinier package. It also doesn't mean that we should settle for fewer features. Our investment can go a long, long way as long as we exercise a little caution and do a fair amount of research before making our choice of digital camera.