Whats a good camera?

i want to buy my girlfriend a nice camera for christmas, i want one that's slim high mega pixel like 7.2 or something, takes pictures quickly, and also has really good zoom, optic zoom, can anybody help me, i dont know much about cameras, i dont want to spend 700$ and if you dont know a specific digital camera, maybe you can suggest a brand to go with?

If you are looking for small size/portability rather than functionality, I would recommend the Canon IXUS range. They are small, pocket-sized and have fairly large LCD screens. However these cameras suffer in the feature set department, as they lack a dedicated shutter-speed priority/aperture-priority mode. But in general, these cameras are targeted towards users who use Auto mode anyway, so if your girlfriend is someone who isn't proficient at photography specifics.. this probably won't be a huge deal. Zoom will rarely be high however with cameras of this size due to the small body factor. The body needs to be bigger for a camera to accommodate a bigger lens (for higher optical zoom).

If you want a camera which has more features, such as full manual, try the Canon A series range. A current model which I would highly recommend would be the A710IS. This model also has an image stabiliser, which helps to prevent image blur at slower shutter speeds.

Also don't buy into the megapixel myth. Megapixels are an indicator of image size, not quality. 7.2 megapixels = 7,200,000 pixels per image (i.e size). Image quality is determined more so by the sensor quality of the digital camera as well as the lens. Because digital point and shoot cameras tend to have small sensors, it can even be argued that a higher megapixel sensor in these cameras tend to produce more noise, which is a bad thing.

Brand-wise, many good companies make decent pocket-sized cameras under $700. This includes Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, Kodak, Fuji etc.

Also remember to include add-on costs such as a memory card. Camera manufacturers typically include a memory card with the camera, however they are usually very low capacity (16MB or 32MB). You will want something bigger like 512MB/1GB/2GB.

i have a casio exilim camara and when i bought it it was super expensive because it had just came out, but now its like $200, or 300, and it is a really good camara and it is very slim...i love it!

Hi,
I shop a lot and I always use cheapest prices search engine for all they offer. Almost every regular store and online merchants is listed there, lots of consumer reviews and a lot of other ways to save time and money.
I hope I helped you and good luck to you.

p.s. check out the consumer written reviews, they should really help you!

I also have the casio exlium...great camera....there is a kodak digital camera with x10 optical lens...Its not a zoom lens, just a all or nothing system, it looks like it might be worth checking out.

If you want a camera to impress the girlfriend, consider either a Canon Powershot SD600 or SD800-IS. Sleek. The main difference is that the SD800-IS adds image stabilization, which is shown in all the commercials now.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_...

Don't forget to include a decent memory card so she won;'t be angry that she has to spend the money herself. I recommend a genuine Sandisk Ultra II (60X) or Extreme III (133X) of at least 1GB for either camera. Lexar is another excellent card supplier and they have the "Professional" 133X as well as the Platinum 80X to choose from. Both Lexar and Sandisk come with image recovery software and limited lifetime warranties.

id stick with canon or kodak