Camera opinions?

I鈥檓 trying to get my first digital camera but I hear such mixed news about them that I鈥檓 a little confused. It doesn鈥檛 help that no one at the electronics store actually knows anything at cameras. I鈥檓 willing to go as high as $200-$250 for a good quality camera. I鈥檓 looking for something compact and can be slipped in and out of the pocket. An everyday camera with ease of use.

I was looking at the Sony Cybershot S650 and the Nikon Coolpix L11 and was more impressed with the Nikon. Any suggestions would be welcomed about what to look for, problems with popular cameras, and new suggestions.

Forget the Nikon L11..
It doesn't have an optical viewfinder.. only the screen on the
back which is hard to see on a sunny day..

Buy this one instead:

The best camera for under $200 is the Canon A550

* 7.1 Megapixel
*4X Optical Zoom
* Very good photo quality, noise levels low through ISO 400 (in good light)
* Well built for the price
* Very good performance
* LCD visible in low light
* Some manual controls
* AF-assist lamp, good low light focusing
* Good movie and continuous shooting modes
* Impressive software bundle
* Uses AA batteries; great battery life
* USB 2.0 High Speed support

Go the Nikon you wont be disapointed...

I love my new cannon power shot. It's very small, and has a huge viewing screen, 3". It's very easy to use and very compact, it's almost as small as my cell phone.

In terms of megapixels, more is better. Try to get a camera that is very fast so you can take pictures of moving objects without blur, and eliminate "camera shake," a problem long ago eliminated in film cameras through the development of very high-speed films. Digital cameras have a long way to go to catch up in that area!

You really can't go wrong with Nikon or Sony. I have a couple sonys sony w50 i got for my 16 year old daughter and she loves it, and I have a fuji f10 and an older sony, real old, takes diskettes, you don't want that. if I were you, I would just go to the store, try each out a little, and select the one that was easiest to use, most comforable for you to hold and which looked the best to you aesthetically. for the casual type of shooting you have described either camera will be capable of fare more than you will ever get into. good luck and have fun.

The Nikon is a good choice. here is another one . . .
Casio Z75 or Z1050 is a great choice, nice and thin, lightweight, shoots photos and video with sound. Easy to use controls and a 2.5" screen to view.

www.besybuy.com
www.samys.com (my favorite)
ww.costco.com
Recommend a Scandisk memory card, about 2GB.
Check you Sunday paper for ad sales or coupons.

Even though I personally own this ultra compact camera, I would still like to highly recommend the purchase of a Nikon Coolpix L10 for the following reasons:

1. Besides taking well-exposed hi-quality 5 megapixel pictures, it uses a standard set of rechargeable double AA batteries which last a very long time;
2. Has a 3x optical zoom;
3. The flash setting for "red-eye" correction is on the navigator wheel and not within a submenu;
4. It's very small and light;
5. Uses inexpensive SD memory cards;
6. The digital video feature takes wonderful "sound" videos which are noise free. It records the piano very well with it's built-in microphone;
7. It comes with a USB 2.0 transfer cable which you connect to your USB computer port;
8. Has tripod mount on bottom of camera;
9. And the price is a mere $120 [sold at Samy's Camera - www.samys.com, and Staples.com.]

Good luck!