What is the best digital camera to buy at a reasonable price?

suggestions for brands, quality etc...

There are tons of choices depending on how advanced you want to go or how much tweaking and creativity you want to get out of the camera, like in terms of manual controls or expandability.

I'm going to assume you just need a point and shoot. If you have memory cards already, look for models that support that same memory card format. This is an major issue with Sonys that only use Memory Stick media. Most use SD media, but larger cameras and digital SLR cameras use Compact Flash media.

Canons, Nikons, and Sonys make some of the best ultracompact / portable point-and-shoots and have great reputations, so you can't go wrong with them. Panasonic Lumix models are also very good. I recommend you do some research at www.dpreview.com or www.steves-digicams.com They offer great reviews and in-depth testing as well as forums and input from users. Check it out!

Finepix F10... IT IS WONDERFUL!!!!! It has a rechargable battery, the screen is big, it takes high resolution pictures, its 6.3 megapixels, and I got it for only $200!! It's a great deal taking into consideration how much money you will save on batteries! I would HIGHLY recommend it. I've dropped mine before on cement and it still keeps going! I love it.

Find it at a Target or Best Buy.

you can NEVER get a great anything without forking out the bucks for it. we in trinidad have a saying "cheap thing not good and good thing not cheap". You pay for quality.

I prefer Olympus digital cameras. I have a 3.0 megapixel Olympus and has a very high resolution setting.

canon s2 is. I bought mine for $318. Has 12 optical zoom (4 digital) optical image stabilizer which helps a bit. stereo sound 640x480 30 fps movie 5 mp 13 shooting modes 1.8" "twist around screen" picbridge 4 AA batteries my 2500 mAh bats last for hundreds of pictures

I agree with mr.me - Canon S2 IS. Stay away from Kodak, Olympus and Fuji. Both Olympus and Fuji use XD Cards which slow down the camera. Also, the quality of these three cameras is not the best. Buy either a Canon or Nikon.