Seeking Recommendations for New Digital Camera

Hi C.! Totally depends on what you will use your camera for. I had a Cannon that had on 3x zoom. Hated it. My girls ages (6 and 9) are in gymnastics and my eldest in dance and has actual performances in a story type play. This year was Ferngully. She was on stage and I was in the audience. I took pictures as if I was in her face. They came out great. Her costumes were beautiful and came out looking even better. I also have an advanced sports shooting that you can take action shots. This has been a fun thing to play with. I put the advance shot on and the continuous shooting, and wow the pictures I get are amazing. I used it at a waterpark and my daughter and husband were on the surfing ride. I got great shots out of that! I am a scrapbooker and love to take pictures. My camera, I chose very carefully. I have a sony cybershot 8.1 pixels and my optical zoom is 15x. It takes awesome pictures.

C. -

I found this website incredibly helpful with my decision in purchasing a camera:

http://www.myproductadvisor.com/mpa/camera/inputSummary.do

It asks you a few questions and recommends a camera best suited for your needs, based on the answers you give. When I was in the market for a camera last year, it actually recommended the same camera that I was considering purchasing anyway (a Kodak Z812iS). You don't have to join anything to use the questionnaire.

Hope this helps! Check it out!

The most recent consumer report magazine had ratings on cameras. For Subcompact camera(that fit in your purse). They recommended: Nikon Coolpix s610 $220 10mega and 4 x zoom, Canon Powershot SD1100 IS Elph and a Pentax Optimo M50.

For a superzoom they suggest Canon POwershot sx110 IS. Which they say is $210 and 9 megapixels and 10 x zoom or Canon Powershot sx10 IS for $350, 10 megapixels and 20x zoom. They have recommendations for Compacts too. If you want more info, just email me.
I hope that helps.

I've found you can never have too much zoom, but often have too little. I always go for the max I can get. I have a Canon G9 and I really like it. (The G10 is out now so that's probably a better bet) Here's some pics I took with it last summer:
http://www.bellarepaints.com/Mackinac.htm

I got my hubby a Panasonic TZ5 for Christmas and it takes good pictures as well. Just do a little research:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/default.htm

http://www.dpreview.com/

and you'll start seeing what kinds of bells and whistles are important to you, like taking quick pictures of moving kids, face focus and more than one point focusing :)

Don't believe everything a salesman tells you. I checked out which ones I liked then went and found them in the stores to make sure I liked the menu's and feel, then I check online prices and order something online. Good luck and have fun!

Hi C.,
I just replaced my Canon Powershot with a Nikon Coolpix S630. It was the next step up from the Canon. It has a 7x zoom, 12 megapixels, vibration reduction and a 2.7" screen, and it's more compact. I love it! It was $279 at Best Buy.

FYI - the next step up from this zoom wise is to go with a more traditional looking digital with removable lens.

I really like Nikon. They have a line of cameras.... coolpix that are really great. The coolpix come in a variety of prices with all the bells and whistles to go along with each price point.

The thing with zoom: there is digital zoom and optical zoom. Digital zoom will zoom into a picture already taken. Like what you can do in photoshop and such. It has it's benefits and limitations.

Optical zoom actually extends out the lens and brings the object closer before you take the picture. The nice thing with an optical zoom is that once you take the picture you can digitally zoom even further and not sacrifice clarity.

It's not just all about zoom. Your pixels are important as well. The higher the pixels, the better clarity and the more flexibility you have with your digital zoom.

Nikons new coolpix S630 typically retails under $300. It has 12.0 Megapixels and 7x zoom.

A 3x zoom will work for most of your needs I would imagine, particularly if you are above 7 Megapixels (which the coolpix does have a few of those). It's just a matter of what you want the camera for and what will meet your needs.

The best thing to do is go to a store and play around with them. Find which one feels the best and does what you want it to do.

While it's a little over your price range, I just wanted to put this camera out there. It's definitely not one of the smaller cameras out there but it performs like no other of it's size. I did a TON of research and decided on this one for Christmas this year. My dad played with it and used it a few times and HAD to get one for himself too even though he has 3 other digital cameras. It's quality is awesome for not being an SLR. It's about the size of my fist, maybe a little wider. I just love that it takes descent shots INDOORS as well as out. The indoor shots were SOOOO hard to get with my old compact camera. It's worth looking at anyways:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-DSC-H10-Digital-Opti...

Oh, and another plus is that the shot-to-shot time and the time from when you push the button to when the actual picture is taken is really fast for a non-SLR camera. It makes getting quick shots of your kids easier!