Plz help me buy a digital camera or camcorder?

Hey all. I wanna buy a camera and i am more intersted in photography. but the option i cant ignore is optical zoom. i found out camcorders have greater optical zoom like 40X but digital cameras have at most 15X. but the problem is photo quality by camcorders is very poor comparing to cameras.
can anyone tell me what should i choose? (i can spend $500 at this)
thank you.

know what you want.
first of all, do you want to take photos or videos?
if you want a camera with very high optical zoom, you have to get a digital SLR, which is really unnecessary if you are not a professional.
never buy a camcorder if your intention is to take still photos! that is extremely important, i cannot emphasize it enough!!

SONY DIGITAL CAMERA is your best convenience! It is compact and easy to operate compared to the camcorder...I have both and definately prefer my digital camera! The picture is definately fabulous! You can purchase a video chip to store over 200 pic's at one time!!!

Kodak, we have a kodak point & shoot. The zoom on ours are great! Very easy to use too...turned my husband into a Photographer. Find a Good, Sealed, cheap one on Ebay. We bought ours on Ebay, it came with the Warranty. I know there is alot of horror stories from there. But you never hear the success stories. There are alot of stores that sell on ebay. Sears, best buys etc. We personal buy & sell on ebay. If you have anymore questions email me.

I'm not sure about the price, but look into a camera that has detachable lens. That way you can get a separate zoom lens that would have the capabilities you want. To stay in your price range I would suggest a Kodak or Canon in the lower mid range price. Also check some of the auction sites such as Heartland America for deals on cameras as well as other interesting items. Good luck.

Minolta Konica Dimage A2 Digital Camera
The A2 has a 28-200 zoom, very nice for just about any travel photography you can imagine. The A2 has anti-shake technology, so you can use it in pretty shaky territory. It records up to 8 megapixels, so the pics from it can be large. Weight including battery is about 1.4 pounds. Those looking for a bargain can look to the A1
Doodad

you are trying to do too much with too little money. Don't buy a camcorder to take still photos, they will never look as good as a digital camera. If you are truly limited to $500, maybe consider buying a new $400 camcorder and a used digital camera. I bought a 4 megapixel Olympus on ebay for $115 and it works perfect and takes good photos. If zoom is a big issue, then in the future you could buy a telephoto lens. Panasonic sells some mini-dv camcorders with 3 chips in the $4-500 range if you shop around.

I took these with my Olympus
http://flickr.com/photos/53018807@N00/