Digital Cameras in Classrooms

I had never thought about using digital cameras in my future classroom until I saw the post on Wikispaces mentioning it. I always thought of using digital cameras as a hobby or to save memories. It never occured to me that digital cameras could be use as an educational tool outside of photography classes. I think the use of digital cameras would be fun for students because it allows them to capture in a picture what they are learning about and would enhance their learning experience. The downfall to using digital cameras would be that I know how expensive they are and know how they can easily break. Therefore I don't know if I would want my 1st or 2nd grade students to be handling them.