Looking for a Great Digital Camera

Hi JB, another mom posted something similar yesterday. This was my response to her - i LOVE LOVE LOVE my camera.

I absolutely LOVE my camera. it's a Panasonic Lumix (DMC-TZ1)

i did a lot of research before buying my camera - i was really sick and tired of the batteries (this has a rechargable battery and it lasts a long time). you can take very high quality pictures - they are crisp and clear, and not pixelated. i found the factory settings are the best, though there are lots of ways to fudge around with it. it takes black and white, sepia and color photos and video with sound (though, the files are very large)! the pictures i take are easily 11 x 14 quality (some digital cameras take pictures that don't blow up well...).

if i may suggest - stay away from the cameras with a high digital zoom - you want optical zoom, and even then, to get really good pictures, don't use the zoom... get closer to the subject.

anyway, hope that helped :)

I have a digital SLR, which is probably more than you want to spend (It's a Nikon D50, FWIW). We chose ours very carefully after looking at www.dpreview.com. This is an excellent website that reviews ALL the newer and older digital cameras.

I've heard only good things about the Canon Rebel. Research which model or version. They're not that expensive, and it's so worth upgrading to better lenses from a point and shoot. My sis has one and loves it, and a professional photog friend of mine has one too. It's my next camera.

Here's a good website that compares cameras too--
http://www.dpreview.com/

I second the rec for the Panasonic Lumix. We love ours.

Hi,

I have a Canon SD450 also and love it. Is yours broken? I have often thought of getting an SD1000 but there is really no reason to spend the money because more megapixels are really only advantageous if you are planning on taking pictures and printing out larger than 8x11 like 11x13, otherwise 5 or 6 megapixels are totally sufficient.

Good luck!

H.

Hello,
You may also be interested in the Canon Rebel XT if you're looking to stay with a Canon but move up a grade in quality. I got this camera a few months ago and have been very happy with it (it was recommended to me by some pros). It has some nice automatic features, but also can work as a manual camera if you want to get more into photography in general. The lens is interchangeable, so you could experiment with different lenses in the future. I find it to be great (and fast) when taking shots of my very active daughter. I believe it was in the $550 range; not a cheap point-and-shoot, but not the high end pro cameras either. I found it at Target, as they had the best price at the time.
Hope that helps!
Jen