I'm not a big picture taking person. I don't even own a photo album. So I have no interest in spending several hundred dollars on a high-end digital camera.

But sometimes I do find myself wishing I had pics to post online, when words alone just don't suffice. What sort of price range are we talking about to get decent quality pics without any bells & whistles?

I use to have a very nice Sony camera that cost $600.00 when digitals first came out. It quickly became obsolete as all computer stuff does. I now have a Fuji FinPix A500, it cost less then $100.00 and takes better pictures then my sony did. It runs on 2 AA batteries, the Sony ran on an internal rechargeable that cost $70.00.

The Fuji came with software, it easily plugs into the computer through a USB port and uploads pictures very easily. And it’s smaller, it will fit in a shirt pocket. The Sony was big and I found I would not take it with me because of this. The Fuji I take with me all the time.


Bottom line is that I think any name brand camera will do a good job for you. No need to spend more then $100.00 for casual pictures.

As far as picture quality, If you want to see, look at any of my post that have pictures, they were taken with the $100.00 Fuji camera.

Perhaps you should check out the FujiFilm Finepix S700 7.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom.

http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-Finepix-D...3026&sr=8-1

I started out with a $1500 5 Megapixel Sony F707 prosumer camera (good optics) about 7 years ago. The FujiFilm S700 gives some really nice results as well especially considering the asking price. I still use the F707 for digital Infra Red photography though.

I also have a little Casio 10MP camera for occasions where the S700 is too much to carry around although the photos it takes aren't as good as the Fuji S700 due to the Fuji's better optics despite the increased Mega Pixels.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Casio-EX-Z1080BK-Compact-Digital-Camera/dp/B000SQIT0E

What I find impressive about these camera's is also their ability to take some impressive quality video as well especially considering the price of these cameras. With the high capacity 8 and 16 GB SDHC memory cards now avialable these camera's can now record hours of very good quality video.

IMO Canon has the most intuitive interface and is more consistent across the model line(s) than most other manufacturers.

The SD750 that BigDaddyTX mentioned is good. Most of the Canon A Series and PowerShot series are pretty solid. I checked BuyDig and they have the A590 IS for $144.90 shipped. BuyDig wants $169 shipped. Those would both be very solid entry level cameras.

Digital Photography Review (www.dpreview.com) has good reviews if you want to check a few out online.

Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD 10MP Digital Camera
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0808/08081201fujifilms2000hd.asp

10 Megapixel and True 720 line HDTV video capture for $300 Wow!!

http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-FinePix-S...2781&sr=8-1

I recently bought a olympus stylus 790SW, which is a 7.1 Megapixel camera that is shock resistent (S) and waterproof (W) to 10 meters. First camera I've owned that the recommended cleaning method after using in a dusty or salty environment is to rinse it off under a water faucet.

-Tommy

I had bought a Panasonic DMC-TZ5K from new egg with a 16 gig sd card and so far this is been the best camera I own for a point and shoot. It has a 67x digital zoom at 3 MP and a 40x digital zoom at 9 mp and a 10x optical zoom. I took over 600 pictures plus HD movies with it and still couldn't fill the card up on my latest trip. The only draw back to it in low light you will need a picture editor or movie editor to correct for the low light. (Read the comments from New Egg).
Other than that, it replaced my Cannon S50 and I carried the Panasonic in my cargo pants pocket the whole trip and I've been very happy with the pics.

Panasonic DMC-TZ5K Black 9.0 MP $269.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830180146



Sample pics





Before Zoom



After Zoom




Small Zoom


more zoom but it can go a lot closer than this

NASA called. They want their Hubble Telescope back.

I have a Canon film SLR, a Nikon digital SLR (probably more camera than you want), and both Nikon and Kodak point-and-shoot digital cameras.

From lots of reading and my experience with my cameras and those of friends I've come to the generalization that:

-Nikon makes the best digital SLR (though other brands are very nice) and ...

-Canon makes the best point-and-shoot digital cameras (though some other brands are very nice).

You can't go wrong looking through these types/brands and find the one with the features that suits your needs.

If your a serious photographer and want a "proper" pocket camera then a Ricoh GX200.

For non-camera minded folks, try a Fuji.

For software use Photoshop Elements. Version 3 or later as they have a downloader/organiser built in that's a lot more user friendly than most of the come-with-camera software packages.

One word of warning: Photography is addictive.

And expensive..........