I am so bummed. My camera broke, after seven glorious years.
So, I have to buy a new one. My blog depends on it. :teehee:
Anyone have any recommendations?
I don’t want uber-expensive, but I don’t want something without any features either.
I’m looking to buy something this week because I’m going out of town on Thursday.
What kind do you have, and do you like it?
Thanks a bunch!
We have a Nikon Coolpix and I like it. It cost I think $200 (give or take a little) and it has a neat feature that auto-steadies the picture which is good for us because hubby has shaky hands. The only drawback of it is that I don’t think you can take action shots… pretty much the subject of the picture has to be holding perfectly still or it will be blurry. Works out fine for us because we don’t do a lot of candid picture taking but I can see how it would be a downside for some people. You might be able to turn off the auto-focus but I’m not sure how.
Hmmm…interesting. My daughter plays soccer, and that’s why I travel so much. So, that camera would definitely not work. Thanks for the feedback. 
My husband and I both have Olympus cameras. We’ve been very happy with them and they have 20+ scene modes from snow to fireworks to shooting through glass as well as action. They’ve been very reliable as well, mine goes hiking, biking, x-country skiing and kayaking with me. Hubby’s travels all over the US in his computer bag, he never leaves home without it.
I have a canon powershot and I love it.
I also have a Canon Powershot, the S2IS and I really like it. I don’t know if the S2IS is still available, I’ve had it for a couple years, but, I think there’s a newer model available now. When hubby bought it for me it was around $300 and I think it’s worth the investment. It’s super easy to learn and has a ton of features.
We have the Sony Cyber-shot. Tiny little thing, but takes great pics. 7.2megapixels, with “super steady shot” (whatever that is).
I also really like the rechargeable battery that comes with. Very long lasting with a small charger that folds flat.
I’m the king of cheap. I have a Canon A560 that I like.
It does point and click but also has some real settings if you like that. I mainly wanted it for the macro.
It does take a while to auto focus but doesn’t auto steady. It has a preset for action, I don’t know how that works with the auto focus but it says it’s so you don’t miss motion shots. And there’s some way to set it so it will take multiple pictures as long as you hold the button.
I was not at all happy with the previous camera, a Vivitar.
I LOVE my camera (though on my blog you’ll see pics from my camera phone because my camera was boxed up for moving)!! I have an HP R series. But as of last Christmas, HP stopped producing cameras altogether. It has alot of features and was really inexpensive. My BIL has a Canon Powershot 10MP camera and raves about it. He says it’s the best camera he’s ever purchased.
Question…
What does the macro feature do on a camera? I’m kind of a point and click kind of gal, but I’m curious.
Thanks, all for the suggestions. I’m going to print out everything and go shopping either tomorrow or Wednesday.
My camera broke on me last month…I had no clue about cameras 'cause I just point and shoot myself…although my pictures never turn out very well…
so for our anniversary my dh went camera shopping and he got me a Canon Powershot A650IS (the link is a digital camera review which is how he made his selection)…the pictures turn out great and would turn out better if I would stop long enough to read my book. It’s still easy enough for me to use but makes me feel like I have neat camera 
Most point and shoot cameras will only focus at a certain distance away from your subject. The macro feature allows you to get close-up to your subject and still be in focus.
Just how close depends on the camera you choose.
We have a Nikon SLR that I LOVE, but it’s kind of expensive and I don’t think it’s what you wanted to begin with. It does have an auto focus feature (which I use exclusively) and you get to pick what to focus on. It also has an action setting, but I don’t use that yet.
My mom bought her first digital camera last month. It’s a Canon. It’s actually what I wanted before hubby bought the SLR! She’s very impressed with it and she’s not techno-savvy so that’s pretty impressive! She did take pics of my nephews’ soccer games so it does action shots well.
Have you checked out sites like epinions.com? I’ve gathered quite a lot of information from them! You do have to be careful though. Take everything with a grain of salt 
Kelly
I have a Cannon A530. It’s a couple of years old but I really like it. It has a ton of features I never use. I like it because I can hand it to someone and they can get a decent picture w/ out me spending half the day explaining how to use the camera.
We own KODAK, NIKON, and CANON ‘point-and-shoots’.
I use my [B]KODAK[/B] the most. User friendly! Great photos, too, for a point-and-shoot!
Wild mountain roses:
Unexpected visitor!
Surprise! May snow!
As it melts off our snowroof on Nighthawk Summit!
The caterpillar picture is macro. I think I can get 2" away and still focus. But I found I can fill the screen with a single diamond if I get 1’ away and zoom (they call it telephoto in that instance but I have no idea what all that stuff means).
The Vivitar’s “macro” had to be 1’ and it had no zoom. I need the close shots for jewelry, the last straw was a custom job for Christmas I couldn’t get a good picture of.
Plus the Vivitar ate batteries. I’d get like 3 flash pictures before it would kill a set of alkalines. Then when you changed batteries it would lose all your settings. Same thing when you change the memory card.
I don’t know about all the PowerShots but mine does do good on the batteries and it has a wafer battery so it holds all its settings when you open the battery/memory card compartment.
The bad thing about my PowerShot is it’s not compatible with Windows 98, which means I have to use a card reader to get my pictures. And if it has any movie editing software I wouldn’t know.
I imagine because of MicroSoft trying to force people to buy new computers every few years all new cameras will have that problem.
I have a Canon Powershot A710 IS. I like it and it has lots of options. I find it a problem sometimes at night, but that is probably part of the learning curve.
Here are a site that I find very helpful when researching cameras.
Click the “find the best camera for you” link on the left to get some ideas. If click “Dave’s Picks” you get a page where you can select cameras by various things like who you are, how you use it, etc.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/
I have a Sony Cyber-shot and DH has an HP. We love the Sony, easy to use (even all the features), small, great battery, easy to download, could go on and on. We don’t like the HP. DH used it for two weeks at a conference and it is already not working. Anytime we ever need to replace a camera we will go to Sony (unless I finally get my SLR, and then its going to be the Nikon).
I have an older Kodak camera, which has been a super, wonderful point 'n shoot camera for me-not so great at the action shots though, even if I have it set for that, but that just may be me :teehee:
In the July issue of Consumer Reports, their two highest rated subcompact camera is the Sony Cybershot DSC-W200 ($300) and the Sony Cybershot DSC-T70 ($280). For Compact cameras, the two highest are the Canon PowerShot A650 IS ($350) and the Canon PowerShot A720 IS ($180, the is also a CR best buy)
For Super Zoom cameras both of these models are CR best buys the Sony Cybershot DSC-H3 ($250) and the Canon PowerShot SX100 IS ($230).
Hope this helps!
I’ve been using my Olympus D-380 for the last 5 years and love it. However, I’ve had the use of DS’s Olympus 720 and love it even more. It has more zoom and features. I recently took this photo of my black capped conure with it and it is the best I have of Poncho.
Don’t know what it cost or what I’ll do when I have to give it back.