Want a new digital camera but feel my head is swimming

Never go into the water alone. Ask our moderator.
I need a snorkle tube. Too many choices out there.
Kevin

Canon Powershot S2IS seems to receive a very good comment for the camera in its class and not too expensive.

I'm not going to tell you what to buy but you should at least compare a few of these..

- Nikon Coolpix 4800

- Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3

- Olympus Camedia C-740

- Fuji FinePix S5000

I'm certainly NOT a moderator but would think that any of these would be a pretty big step up from a 5y/o camera and they all have a good zoom range within your price point.

I can understand how you feel and I spent months looking and comparing. As I narrowed down the choices the one that seemed to fit those requirements turned out to be the Kyocera Finecam SL400R. It has the ability to take really great pictures, bursts of 10 and also movies. It has sound, regular and digital zoom which is outstanding and have been able to print out pics up to 24" x 30" without pixelization. I have a 1 Gb SD card in it and recently on a trip to Japan took 97 pictures, a burst of 10 and three 30 second movies and found that I still had two thirds of the card empty. After making up my mind as to what I wanted I started shopping and found that althought the camera had a $399 price tag, the street price was from $239 to $297. I then went to eBay and found two dealers who regularly deal with this camera and found a new unopened one and after bidding was able to get it for $153.01. I have since assisted 5 other friends in purchasing theirs in this same manner.

This is my 2nd dig Minolta. This time I bought Z-10 because of the zoom 8x optical & 4x digital = 32x total with rapid autofocusing. It's light weight which I like because I'm carring a grandchild and trying to take pics at the same time.

In June bought it from Willoughy's $173 w/free ship. Don't buy the camera bag it doesn't fit even though Minolta says it does.

Willoughy's even gave me a credit on my next purchase because I mentioned the price had dropped before they shipped.

I know nothing about cameras except what I got from CNET. I really like it. Marge

Canon S2IS is the best you can find today for what you are looking for. Outstanding superior camera with excellent images.
5 megapixel with great optical zoom.

Hi.
I boutght the Canon S70 last spring. Went to Europe with it. It has a lens of 28 mm; great for taking pictures of large buildings like The Coliseum, a large Cathedral etc. even if your are relatively close. Fits in a hip bag, 7.1 megapixels. But you need at least 1 GB of CF and a spare battery, all available as a bundled kit on any site at DealTime. I bought mine from BeachCamera, the only one that would ship to Canada.
Best of luck.

I completely understand what you are saying. sometimes there is too much information to absorb. Coming to this site helped me tremendously. I had a Kodak LS443 and really enjoyed it but it just quite working so I started researching. I did not want to break the bank as all electronics are going to eventually give problems and be replaced with bigger and better features. I settled on the Minolta F5. I am not a professional just a grandmother that loves taking pictures of her grandchildren. Digital cameras are fab. The Minolta cost me $468.00 with a $50.00 rebate as well as an immediate $25.00 gift card which I look on as money. Therefore, the camera actually cost me less than $400.00./ It has 5 mp, 12x optical zoom (the most on any camera at this time from what I have been told), manual or auto modes for all movement, landscape, etc. It has the anti shake feature which means that you will not get blurry pictures and the hot shoe feature which means that you can add an external flash if ever needed. I took some pictures from our dock to across our cover which my husband said were from 1500 to 1800 feet. When I transferred the pictures, I could see the people on the boat as clear as if they were standing beside me. I have taken pictures of my boxer running and they are quite clear. Good luck in your camera search. I just wanted to let you know about this particular brand.

8 MP. Anti Vibration. 10x optical zoom lens. Top-notch ED lens. $705 off of butterflyphoto.com.

http://www.butterflyphoto.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=CP-8800

Compile a short list of recommended cameras and then go and handle as many of them as you can. Part of the joy of photography is enjoying the feel of the camera in your hands and also check the the ergonomics suit you.

More megapixels is not going to help, unless you want to make very large prints (larger than 8x10.)

What you're experienceing is "shutter lag" (your camera, not your head ) This is a feature of all digital cameras, especially when you use flash: By the time the camera is ready to take the picture, your subject is somewhere else. I understand that the only way out is to spend at least $1500 on a professional camera. Somehow, I have not been able to justify such an expense, and therefore cannot verify this statement.

As far as selection is concerned, check out Kodak's offering at Kodak.com. I think they have a wider selection - especially at the low end - than anyone. And even these low priced cameras are pretty good - save the shutter lag issue.

For $350 you get an Olympus C7070 which is 7.1 megapixals, 22 to 110 35mm equivalent optical zoom, file formats of raw, tiff and two levels of jpg. and loads of features too numerous to write here. Ask yourself what size of pictures do you want to print, will you do the printing on your computer or take the cards to a local outlet such as a Walgreens drug and use the Kodac equipment. If you do it at home and can not print larger than the basic 8.5 x 11 then the megapixals on the camera can be as low as 3, but if you want to go larger you will need 5 to 6 for 11x14 and 7 plus for anything larger. If you print them at an outlet make sure you know what media their equipment can read. Not all outlets update their equipment as fast as it changes.

I know there are a lot of things to consider so you must set down and write out the features that are important to you and that you will actually use. If you don't really want to learn how to use all those settings and will just leave the camera set on the P setting (that auto program on most cameras) then don't waste your money on one with all those features. If you want to learn and be able to create shots you didn't know you could, then get the one with a learning curve, and buy a book or two. You will be pleasant surprised with what you can do if you take the time to learn.

Don't question the price of the Olympus, I got one from an internet supplier for $340. I have shot professionally in the past, and this is an excellent camera regardless of your skill level. Check out this site for excellent reviews of just about any camera out there www.steves-digicams.com, good luck.

You can get any camera with big mexapixels but without a decent lens, it means nothing. Lens's are rated by their speed ( f-stop ) a 1.2 lens is best but very expensive, anything over 3 is useless for high quality work. One other consideration is that faster lens also offer a larger aperture and collect more light faster. With regards to the digital world, the ccd register rate ( I'm not sure of the proper name) but I mean the speed that the internal CCD records the image is just as important. faster will allow a broader color spectrum and more natural looking photos under lots of conditions. You should take a picture or 2 under a low light situation to see what you will get.

You've received a lot of good suggestions here but ultimately you have to make the decision based on your specific needs. I've been doing a lot of research myself and discovered there are a lot of trade-offs in even the best cameras. Some have great zoom but no good for action shots. Many other take great pictures but have long cycle times like shutter lag and flash cycle. I suggest going to www.imaging-resource.com
It has about all the details and reviews you could possibly want. You can even compare photos side-by-side from different cameras. I myself was looking at the new Kodak Easyshare Z740 but after doing research I've switched to the Kodak Easyshare DX7590. These are selling everday on eBay around $310 to $340 plus shipping while at www.digitalliquidators.com you can get it for $299 including the docking station!
It has it's own trade-offs though, like a builtin Lithium Ion recargeable battery vs the Z740's choice of several removable battery types. But the DX7590 has the larger LCD screen at 2.2in vs 1.8in for the Z740.

I, too, have 3 boys that are involved in tee-ball and competitive rec league baseball as well as an active 4 year old. I outgrew my 3.2 2x zoom camera and was in the market for a new one. I researched for months and narrowed my choices down to an HP Photosmart 945xi and the Kodak Easyshare DX7590 5mp 10x Optical zoom camera. My family surprised me with the Kodak Easyshare DX7590 for Mother's Day. The camera arrived a week after Mother's day and so far I have taken 550 photos! This camera has everything I wanted and more. I would consider myself an experienced photographer, but not an expert just yet. There are many features that I like about this camera such as the camera dock - very handy not to have to fiddle around with a cable to transfer and charge the battery, just pop the camera on the base that stays connected to my USB port on my PC and if I want to download my photos, push a button and it downloads them to my PC. I like the rechargeable battery - I took 100 photos at a concert at night and the battery still had a charge left at the end of the concert. The zoom is amazing. I was able to zoom in on my son in center field from the 3rd baseline, between the openings of the chain link fence - it looks like he was posing right in front of me. This camera has MANY different settings - on the sports (action) setting, I was able to capture my son hitting the baseball and I caught the ball flying off the bat very clear! It has many presets for indoor parties, outdoor night shots (took a nice pix of the moon through the trees with a purple haze using a tripod), pix in snow, pix on the beach, and more that I have not used yet. The 2" LCD screen is very nice, the silent shutter is a nice plus, especially in places where shutter noise is disruptive (church, meetings, etc.). This camera also has has video capabilites that is limited only by the size of the SD card (buy a high-speed one if you want to do video). This camera also has an expensive 10x optical lens that is grooved to accept a collar so you can add other lenses and filters. The Easyshare software is nice, but be aware that to print photos from it, you must have Windows XP, it does not support Windows 2000 Pro so I must use my laptop to print photos.

My camera came from Buy.com and it retailed for $399. It was purchased through a friend at Yub.com, so we saved $4.00 and our friend earned 400 points. Kodak had a $50 mail-in rebate that came 2 weeks after sending it in, and 10 days after receiving the camera, Buy.com sent an electronic certificate for $10 worth of prints from Ofoto.com. I had never used Ofoto until I received the certificate and I was very impressed with the quality and clarity of the prints. I was able to add a sports border to my boys' baseball pix that make it look like a baseball card. They also have other borders available. The pix came in 3 days. Dell.com (Home Office store) has this camera on sale right now for $339 with free shipping. Kodak does not have the $50 mail-in rebate right now, but if you are not in a hurry to purchase one, keep an eye on their site because they do rotate this rebate, I have seen it several different times.

One more piece of advice, avoid A&M photoworld, BuyDig, and FotoConnection. They offer the lowest prices, but then they have to "verify" your order or state that you entered you credit card number wrong and call you with a high pressure sales pitch. If you don't bite, then they tell you that your camera only comes with a 15 minute battery which is a crock. If you still don't bite, they apologize and tell you the camera is in such high demand that it is on backorder for 2-4 weeks. In 2-4 weeks, you'll get another e-mail telling you that the camera is still on backorder. This is the classic "bait and switch." I tried to buy my camera from these 3 companies and got the same routine and after checking further into them, I found they were all based in Brooklyn, NY, probably all the same company with various websites. I was able to cancel my orders with these companies, but only after they became very rude and yelled at me over the phone. I calmly told them to cancel my order immediately or I was taking legal action and reporting them to the Better Business Bureau and hung up on them.

I hope this helps, good luck on your quest for a new digital camera.

The Canon Powershot S2 IS is a 5 mp camera with 12X optical zoom.
It will allow you to take videos of your children and also snap still shots while running the video feature.
It costs around $479 retail, but you can look for deals. The best deal I've seen on it so far was for $340. (A rare deal to find.) It's well worth the money spent. In my humble opinion, the Canon S2 IS is the perfect camera for capturing memories of your kids and many other subjects.