I know we have some really great photographers on this board- so I'm asking for some help. We are looking to get a new digital camera soon ( before this month is over). I would like some recomendations on what to get.

We are looking to spend $300-500. I would like to have a good amount of optical zoom ( I'm thinking 10X, but maybe I dont really need that?). Dh thinks we need at least 5.0 mp, but I dont know if we need that much? Maybe high 3 or 4 would be good enough? Size isnt really an issue. We are both drawn toward the more traditional SLR style and size then the little digitals.

Most of our pictures are of the kids and our travels.

We currently have a little olympus digital point and shoot. It takes good pictures, but I hate that I cant zoom. Unless I have the option of being right next to the subject, I get to much other crap in the frame. At school functions and what not, you cant always be up close. We also have a cannon video camera that takes stills, but dh isnt happy with the color saturation and there is some noise if you try to zoom in.

So, what do you use? or what would you recomend in our price range?

We have the Olympus C-765. It is definitely in your price range. It is a 4 MP (plenty MP IMHO - 8x10's turn out great) and has 10x optical zoom. We love it but I am definitely a novice. Check it out online. There are some really great review websites such as dpreview.com, dcresource.com, Steve's Digicams, etc.

FYI, before we bought the Olympus, we purchased a Sony DSC-W1. We returned it after one week. The camera looks great and is probably a good camera for someone who isn't much of a "point and shoot" photographer. Most of our photos turned out blurry with it.

Hope this helps you out!

I have two digital olympus cameras, both have zoom and both take good pictures. One even does video, but I never use that feature. I have been VERY happy with both my olympus camers, but they are still point and shoot. I do use them all the time. I am saving up for a canon digital SLR, because I really want to get away from the point and shoot camera..:)

I'm a Sony fan. I have an old DSC-S70 (3 mp) and a DSC-V1 (5 mp). They're both very good cameras. The DSC-V1 was Sony's attempt at a "professional" point-and-shoot digital camera. It has a lot of features, and in some cases you need to use them as the "full auto" feature doesn't work well in low light.

As for a recommendation, I still would recommend Sony, they usually have a model in any price/feature range. My only complaint about them is that they're a little slow. I also recommend at least 5 megapixels. 3 mp is OK, but 5 is better. You can get some pretty good point-and-shoot digitals in your price range, all with at least 5 mp.

I'm not a camera expert--strictly a point and shoot kind of girl. I knew I wouldn't need or even understand all the gizmos on a super high-end camera--I just wanted something easy to use that would take good pictures. I'm loving the camera I got for Christmas. It's a Panasonic DMC FZ20--here's a review of it. (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz20/page2.asp)
It's got 5.0 MP and 12X zoom which is fun to play with. It also takes video clips with audio which is very cool. All the settings are easy to figure out and the results have been very good. The only downside is that it's a bigger camera than I am used to--not something I can slip in my pocket. But I'm getting used to carrying it.

My mother-in-law went out and got one like it when I started sending her pics of the grandkids with the new camera. It's extremely beginner-friendly. I got it just under 500.00 but of course the memory card is extra. :rolleyes: Sometimes places like Circut City will have good sales on memory cards, though.

BTW, the website I linked to is very cool--thanks to Alex for the link when I was checking out new cameras. You can put two candidates up side by side and compare features and read very detailed reviews of all sorts of cameras.

www.dpreview.com is a wonderful site for reviewing every possible aspect of your camera.

I of course highly recommend the Olympus 8080, but it's a wide angle camera, not a high zoom camera... but shooting at 8megapixels, I can crop out just about anything with photo editing software and still have a great image, so the end result is like zooming.

The Olympus 8080 is selling online between $400-$500 (of course you can pay more if you want to). Decent memory card is extra as is the case in almost all digital cameras. Some digitals don't come with memory at all (another thing you can find out on dpreview.com)

Unless you are willing to spend well over $1000 don't bother looking at digital SLRs. Yes you can buy them for under that amount, but the lenses are lackluster in the packages in that price range.

If you just want a point and shoot, I would suggest the Canon PowerShot. It's a great little camera. However, if you want to go into actual photography, I would go with the Canon EOS, which is an SLR. You can get into the different lens and filters. Both Cannon camera are wonderful. As far as price is concerned. Do your research for the kind of camera you want and the prices. In most cases, you can run into a sale during the holidays. Hope this helps you out :cool:

My wife has a Canon digital Rebel (SLR). It's a great camera with lots of features, but she has a small backpack devoted to it and it's lenses and attachments. On the other end of the scale, I have a Nikon Cool Pix that fits nicely in my bike jersey pocket. A lot depends on what you want to do. I almost never print pictures larger than 2x3 for a newsletter, so 2.0 MP is more than enough for my needs.

The more optical zoom, the better.
Higher resolution requires more storage space--a lot more. If you're not going to print large prints, you don't need to shoot at high resolutions.