I would love to know the lowest priced DSLR and also if a compact digital has yet been produced that records RAW image files? All digital SLR models can record RAW. As for inexpensive point & shoot models with RAW, this camera database http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.... shows three models for under $200:
Fujifilm FinePix E550
Fujifilm FinePix F700
Olympus SP-350
They also have in-depth reviews for both of the Fuji models. This is another great site for reviews: http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_...
You should know however, that RAW is overrated. It's useful if you do extensive image editing, shoot in very tricky light, or if you want to make huge prints, but even most professional wedding photographers shoot in jpg nearly all the time. The extra file size of RAW just isn't worth it. I personally use a Nikon dSLR setup and I also shoot jpg 99% of the time. go to the panasonic site
the z8 does
I just read about it yesterday
$299 There are two for you consideration: Canon Rebel XT and Nikon D40 ... The Canon is under $500 and the Nikon under $600 (bodies only) | 