Opening the floor

[ladynox25]

So....I've decided that I want to get myself a digital camera. Here's the deal: I'm on a limited budget, so I can't just get the top-of-the-line, all-the-bells-and-whistles, very expensive but also very neat model. What I want is good, solid quality, a decent amount of memory, and some zoom capability. I don't want to give up my old dinky point-and-shoot film camera in order to get a dinky point-and-shoot digital. I want something nice, in other words, but not too pricey.

So, all of y'all out there, those who have digital cameras and those who know a heck of a lot more than I do, what should I be looking at? What models are good? What's the price range I should be looking at for what I want?

The floor is yours.

Edit: I don't know if this matters or not, so y'all can tell me, but it needs to be compatable with both Mac and PC, software-wise.

Comments

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

True, but the problem is, I don't even know what price ranges are available on digital cameras. Heck, I never even had to buy my film camera; it was a birthday present many, many years ago, now.

Say <$100 and $100-$200 for two possible ranges.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

I haven't gone low-end camera-shopping for a good long while, but that price range is very much on the basic end of things. If you want a real fancy-pants camera, like one you can switch lenses and so forth, it'll run you on the order of $1000. OTOH, a basic point-and-shoot digital camera is already miles ahead of your basic point-and-shoot film camera, so unless you are looking to do art photography, you will probably do fine with something in the sub-$200 range, especially if you are willing to spend some time doing some image processing to spiff them up.

This is one of those things where the range of available products is so wide, it's hard to make a recommendation unless you have a clear idea what you want. I suggest going to a Best Buy and taking a look at what they have; that'll at least give you a better idea of where you land on the spiffiness-vs-cost curve.

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

Don't want to switch lenses. Want something like an autozoom.

And I've been to Best Buy and left very confused about what meant what, hence my post. *grin*