Anyone know a lot about digital cameras? I need to buy a good one...?

I was looking at walmart.com for one and I need one around $200, with more megapixels and better zoom and a faster shutter speed. Yeah, that's hard to find. But I'm confused when I look at the min shutter speed cuz on the cheap ones it's like 1 second and on the expensive ones it's like 4 seconds and I would assume it would be the other way around. The max shutter speed is better with the more expensive ones though so maybe minimum shutter speed isn't what I thought it was. Is 4 seconds better than 1 in this case? I'm confused. I also don't really know what brands are good - all I've ever been around is Olympus. My camera isn't too terrible but I could definitely use an upgrade, especially since I'm supposed to do my brother's senior pictures this year. There are a lot more specifications you can look at on walmart.com but most of them I have no idea what's good and what isn't.

The one I have now is Olympus and 5.1 megapixels with 4x digital zoom. But the shutter speed is terrible; it takes forever to take a picture. Maybe it's just cuz I have it on super high quality or something but it's annoying.

www.dpreview.com

CHeck out the Canon Powershots, they are good with good modes. I had the SD500 and you can change your shutter speed. I think now they are up to 10 megapixels for about 300 or so..

My friend this is serious advise! Get up and go to a reputable camera store (not Walmart or Best Buy or someother store in a mall) and try out all the cameras there that interest you. Ask all of your questions to the knowledgeable sales people there (that's their job). A lot of people such as you search the web with questions like yours, but in photography (film or digital) nothing beats going to the camera store and laying your hands on all those shiny new cameras. Now, Go! and have fun doing so!

In the $200 price range I doubt you'll find much better shutter speed (and I assume you'd also like better power-on time as well).
You could look around for Panasonic's FZ50 but I'm not sure you can find it in your price range otherwhere than online.

It's going to be next to impossible to get a good camera for $200. What you're looking at in shutter speed is the MAX shutter speed, and in any case 4 is better than 1 when it comes to max speed. Your minimum speeds are fractions of seconds.

Canon is the most highly thought of brand. I would look into getting a Canon Powershot, as they are the most versatile and offer the most in creative modes. Their quality is exceptional, as well.

my suggestion
go to yahoo shopping
digital cameras
digital camera GUIDE
be sure to check titles on the left side
the guide should answer your questions