Digital camera experts i need help & advice. I have had about 2 digital cameras in my lifetime?

i'm not complaining about them, but they've just been normal, ya know?
average. under $250 cameras.
and i am really interested in photography and i want like really high quality photos and a camera with tons of extra features.
I had a canon powershot and a kodak.
i want something a little above that, more impressive.
but let's not get too crazy. preferable nothing over $400.
any suggestions?

people i'm looking for something wonderful! not just an average $149 camera. i've already done better than that.

I recently wanted to upgrade too, and decided on the ultra-zoom class of camera. These have powerful zooms (usually 12x) and image stabilization. They also have full or partial manual controls if you are ready to leave Automatic mode behind. Some good choices ($300 to $400) are:

Sony H1 or H2
Canon S2 IS
Panasonic FZ7

I got the Sony H1 and my daughter has the Canon S2. We are very happy with both of them. I liked the Sony better because of the bigger 2.5 in. LCD.

Others at $400 to $500 are:

Sony H5
Canon S3 IS
Panasonic FZ30

I almost bought the Panasonic FZ30 because it has zoom and focus rings on the lens barrel like the d-SLR's. But it is bigger and heavier than the others. (Of course, that makes it more impressive looking!!)

You can also buy add-on convertor lenses to increase the telephoto, wide-angle or closeup performance of these cameras.

If you are interested, take a look at the following web page. It is a paper written by a pro photographer about how to use this type of camera, and all the things you can do with it. it was written about the Sony H1, but the ideas apply to all of these cameras.

http://www.aakatz.com/h1whitepaper/homep...

Good Luck

usually pentax has good quality cameras - i personally have a nikon s1 and its really super

Maybe a DSLR or SLR? I don't know the difference, but one where you can exchange the lenses? Maybe someday you'll try different lenses.

We bought one .it's a Canon Power Shot A410 Digital Camera . This one was $149.00 an we love it it takes excellent pictures.

I'm on my second Panasonic Lumix (FZ15 and FZ30), and make great prints.

I had 2 point&shot digital camera too - good enough for that moment. 1 year ago I decided to do an upgrade just because I start to like manual controls over my photos. So ...my choice was a Panasonic Lumix FZ-30. A so called superzoom class - there is allready Lumix FZ-50 = improved version. You will have all automatic feature like any point&shot (compact camera) plus all manual controls - aperture, shutter speed, 12x optical zoom, a nice lens with optical stabilizer and 8 Megapixels ( I print only few photos - 8x10" or bigger size/format). Additional you can add 55mm optical filters. I am using a tiffen circular polarizer + UV.
You can see some of my photos taken with FZ-30 at: http://picasaweb.google.com/dand370

Also you can shot in jpg, tiff or RAW file format ( the so called digital negative = the CCD).

if you want something more ...you must go to a DSLR - Canon, Nikon or Sigma.

Canon S3 IS. You'll love it and it's right in your price range. Check it out.

go to www.stevesdigicams.com
It is an excellent resource for camera and printer reviews.

HI My hubby is a photographer and he says the Fugi coolpix 500 (i think it's a 500 ) would be what ur looking for. It gives great quality and has awesome features. Hope I helped. Take care now!!~

Any one of a number of Canon cameras would be suitable and give you excellent image quality. Get one with manual controls such as aperture and shutter priority modes (AV &TV).
I would recommend either the...
Canon S3 IS...6 MP, 12X optical zoom, vari-angle (flip out & twist) LCD screen, image stabilizer.
Canon A710 IS...7 MP, 6X optical zoom, image stabilizer.
Canon A640...10 MP, 4X optical zoom, flip out & twist LCD.
Canon A630...8 MP, 4X optical zoom, flip out & twist LCD.
Even last year's A620 scored excellent reviews.
The smaller IXUS models have excellent image quality also, but have no real manual controls.
All of the above cameras have an excellent quality movie mode.
I would not recommend Panasonic (because they all seem to have problems with 'noise', even at lower ISO).

I think the Canon S3IS may be a good bet and it's in your price range. My friend just bought one.

Oh, FYI, she shopped around for a while and used this site to narrow down her choices.

http://www.mytriggers.com/electronics/br...