What kind of camera should I get? Going on a trip to Arizona?

Hi!

So I will be in Sedona, AZ mid-May. I want to know what kind of camera I should buy so that I can take high quality nature shots. I don't know if I should buy an SLR digital or a regular digital. Please help me make a choice and also what brands are good?

MoniKa

i consider myself a higher level photographer. i have a lot of very nice, very expensive equipment but here how i think about vacation photos: do you really want to lug around a big, bulky, heavy camera? and do you really want to spend your entire vacation looking through the tiny little viewfinder of the camera?
no matter how good your camera is it can never replace the real thing, viz., seeing it firsthand with your own eyes. when i go on vacation i take the smallest, cheapest point and shoot digital (sometimes film) camera i can find. it fits in my pocket, it holds a lot of pictures and i can shoot from the hip quickly and accurate.
it's ultimately up to you but personally i like to enjoy my vacation with my own 2 eyes.

Well, since you can buy a good Nikon or Canon 35mm SLR with lens for under $200, that may be the way to go ... later when you have some extra cash you can always buy the DSLR that supports the lens or lenses you have for your 35mm camera. If you start out with a DSLR, you are looking at a minimum of $500 for a entry level Nikon D40 with 18-55mm lens (about a 28 to 83mm equivalent lens on a 35mm SLR) You can see you can buy a lot of film and processing for the difference in price. Just be sure to run a roll of film through your camera to make sure you understand how to use the meter and other features like aperture priority, shutter priority, etc.

Look on craigslist in a city near you for good deals on great used cameras

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/pho/628106...
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/pho/620672...

If you can find one with a zoom that starts at 24mm, you will be able to capture some amazing landscapes of the Sedona, Red Rock and Oak Canyon vistas.

I took a Nikon D100 and three lenses on a nine and a half week sailing trip through the Caribbean ... there is no way a tiny point and shoot camera would have captured the grandeur of scenes found all along the 1600 mile sail. A typical P&S sensor is 1/15 the size of a DSLR sensor and 1/30th the size of a 35mm film frame.