I need a new camera

[Drayven]

Photography is always one of those things I've wanted to get into but for one reason or another I've never really followed through on it. I have quite a bit of time to kill these days and need a project so that I don't go crazy sitting around the house so I think now is the time to make an effort at it. Right now I have a Panasonic DMC-FZ20 which I'm sure is a pretty low end camera by alot of standards but it works for me. The only issue I have is that it's kinda big so it's not something I can throw in my pocket when I'm just going out for a walk or whatever. I'd really like to look into getting a decent pocket sized digital camera and was hoping some of you might have a recommendation. I really can't afford to invest too much money into it right now though so I'd really like to find something right around the $200 mark or less. Hopefully something that gets recommended will still be in stock at the Circuit City down the street ;)

[Felonous]

From experience, it's not the camera in your hands that makes a good picture, it's the person behind the camera. I can show you flickr streams of people that take the most amazing shots with the camera in their cell phones, and you wouldn't know it was a cell phone camera unless I had told you.

My photography really took off when I just started taking pictures every day and started reading up on it. Practice what you read and you'll get an eye for interesting shots of your own.

There are lots of DSLR cameras on Ebay that you can get for $200. I sold my Olympus E-20N package for $300 recently.

[Alatheia]

There are two zoom types on a digital camera: optical and digital.

Digital zoom is fine for typical uses but optical zoom is the one you want if you're going to start messing around with photography.

I suggest getting a brand you trust with the highest optical zoom you can find within your price range :)

[Spectre-7]

Digital zoom is fine for typical uses but optical zoom is the one you want if you're going to start messing around with photography.

To offer a slightly more extreme opinion on that... digital zoom is crap, and never worth using. All it's doing is blowing up your pixels (something you could easily do on your own in a graphics package later if you so desire), and it tends to make chunky hamburger of everything. If your camera has a digital zoom function, disable it with utmost haste.

All IMO, of course, and your mileage may vary.

Edit: Oh yeah... recommendations. I recently nabbed a Canon A590IS, (http://www.steves-digicams.com/2008_reviews/canon_a590is.html) which is a nifty little camera available for around $100 if you hunt around for deals. It might be a tad large for most pockets, but it fits just dandy in mine... then again, I'm a fat bastard.

[Alatheia]

To offer a slightly more extreme opinion on that... digital zoom is crap, and never worth using. All it's doing is blowing up your pixels (something you could easily do on your own in a graphics package later if you so desire), and it tends to make chunky hamburger of everything. If your camera has a digital zoom function, disable it with utmost haste.

All IMO, of course, and your mileage may vary.

Edit: Oh yeah... recommendations. I recently nabbed a Canon A590IS, (http://www.steves-digicams.com/2008_reviews/canon_a590is.html) which is a nifty little camera available for around $100 if you hunt around for deals. It might be a tad large for most pockets, but it fits just dandy in mine... then again, I'm a fat bastard.

I didn't want to offend people that like digital zoom :p

Plus, for people that don't know any better... it works fine.

[Spectre-7]

Those poor, poor souls. ;)

[Ancalagon]

I've got a Panasonic Lumix TZ5, pretty compact but very good. 10x optical zoom, 9.1 Megapixels.

Also, I'm by no means a good photographer, but when I read up on cameras to buy the one above, I discovered what I refer to as the Megapixel Myth. A lot of camera manufacturers just increase the megapixel rating as a marketing exercise, since its easy to do and people like it. But higher megapixels doesnt mean better pictures, in fact some times it can lead to worse pictures (depending...).

The reason for that, is that what actually matters is your sensor size. High end DSLR cameras have very large sensors that capture a lot of light, while cellphone cameras have tiny ones. The larger the sensor, the more light available for each pixel, so the more accurate each pixel will be. However, if you increase the megapixel rating, you subdivide your sensor more, so there is less light for each pixel. Consequently, you can get more noise in your photo.

tl;dr dont be fooled by cameras with lots of megapixels. Read reviews on it and see what kind of pictures it actually produces. That will tell you a lot more than the megapixel rating.

[Chris_D]

Yeah, I heard about that too. Something to be wary of.

[fitbabits]

Digital zoom sucks balls. Stay away from it if you can.

And, as mentioned already, a good photographer is a good photographer - it's as much to do with the person as it is his/her camera.

[axion]

Digital Camera Reviews. (http://dpreview.com/)

[Slack3r78]

Can't go wrong with Canon or Nikon, IMO.

The biggest thing is that electronics can shrink, but you can't shrink light -- smaller size is a direct trade off for image quality. Smaller lenses and sensors just can't produce the same results as larger units.

[Jackel]

If you can't grab a DSLR, look into getting a Canon and then installing the CHDK firmware. It gives you a bit more control over some of the settings.

[Drayven]

i ended up ordering a Canon Powershot SD1100 which should be here later this week. All the reviews seemed pretty good. I found it interesting that when looking at it at Circuit City during it's liquidation sale it was still cheaper to order from Amazon. I wonder why they're going out of business....