I’ve been out of the loop too long on digital cameras.

About six years ago, I bought myself a “prosumer” digital camera. It’s a Canon Digital Rebel, an SLR. It basically looks like the last film camera I own, which still sits on the shelf, probably with film still in it, and I haven’t touched it in, well, six years.

The Digital Rebel has been well put to use . If you see a photo illustration in one of my books, it was most likely taken by that Digital Rebel. I paid nearly $1,000 for that camera back then. It’s still my workhorse.

So imagine my shock when I went out buy a new digital camera recently. I didn’t even want a new prosumer camera: I needed just a handy digital camera to have for snapping pictures.

You see, the Epson digital camera I have, which dates from the 1990s, is really lame. Well, I like it because it runs off standard AA batteries, which makes it easy to keep charged. But the image size is something like 2.9 megapixel (MP) max. And it won’t accept any CF media card larger than 512MB. My kids hate it.

So I went shopping, and settled on a Nikon COOLPIX S4100. It’s an amazing little gizmo.

I shan’t gush about the technical specs, but — damn — I’ve been out of the digital photography loop way too long.

My Digital Rebel “prosumer” camera has a maximum resolution of 6MP (I think). The COOLPIX has a maximum resolution of 14MP.

My Digital Rebel costs me $1000 six years ago. The COOLPIX cost me $150.

Gadzooks!

I know that I’m probably owning up to being well behind the leading edge of technology here, but how fast does this stuff move forward? I’m floored.

And where does digital photography have to go? How much higher can the resolution revolution go? Will there be 28MP cameras in four years that cost $4.29?