Seeking experienced advice:

I am planning on purchasing my first digital camera, and since I am
neither a photography expert nor intend to become one, I thought I would
see what others thought I should buy. All comments are welcome:

I would hope to purchase the camera for less than $250. Any
suggested merchants?

I believe I want an optical resolution of 10 or 12 since I feel I would
be unhappy with only taking photos at close range.

I do not intend to do anything other than family type photos and
possibly some landscape shots. Based upon this, I don't THINK I need a
lot of mega pixels. Most would never be printed larger than 5x7.

I do not intend to print my own photos. If I wanted a print I would
probably have a service print them.

I have read some reviews about digital cameras and it appears some
cameras "eat batteries." If this is an issue, and one brand or model is
better than another, this would be helpful to know.

The majority of comments seem to suggest that rechargeable batteries are
the way to go. Any comments?

I see some models for sale that are refurbished. Is there a downside to
buying such a camera?

Are there other issues I should be considering such as image
stabilization? Or is that feature just for pros?

Brand reliability? Needed memory card size? Please feel free to
suggest anything I did not mention. I just don't want to buy a camera
and find out I should have asked more questions. Thanks.

On 2008-03-11 21:09:22 -0400, Ken said:

I am planning on purchasing my first digital camera, and since I
am neither a photography expert nor intend to become one, I thought I
would see what others thought I should buy. All comments are welcome:

I would hope to purchase the camera for less than $250. Any
suggested merchants?

I believe I want an optical resolution of 10 or 12 since I feel I would
be unhappy with only taking photos at close range.

I do not intend to do anything other than family type photos and
possibly some landscape shots. Based upon this, I don't THINK I need a
lot of mega pixels. Most would never be printed larger than 5x7.

I do not intend to print my own photos. If I wanted a print I would
probably have a service print them.

I have read some reviews about digital cameras and it appears some
cameras "eat batteries." If this is an issue, and one brand or model
is better than another, this would be helpful to know.

The majority of comments seem to suggest that rechargeable batteries
are the way to go. Any comments?

I see some models for sale that are refurbished. Is there a downside
to buying such a camera?

Are there other issues I should be considering such as image
stabilization? Or is that feature just for pros?

Brand reliability? Needed memory card size? Please feel free to
suggest anything I did not mention. I just don't want to buy a camera
and find out I should have asked more questions. Thanks.

A few items from my own experience:
The only refurbished digital camera I ever bought was from Kodak and it
never worked properly and completely died in two months.
If you get double A LITHIUM (not rechargeable) batteries you will do
very well. Built in rechargeable batteries are useless if you run out
in the field. Get a camera with double As and get the Lithiums.

I have no idea what you mean by optical resolution of 10 or 12. If you
are talking megapixels you don't need anything close to that for what
you are doing. 5 to 7 is plenty. You can get a very good camera for
your needs for well under $250. If you are talking zoom range then that
is not reasonable if you mean 10X or 12X. You won't likely find it.

I don't know what you mean by "merchants" but a good photo store would
be your best starting point.

Any of the name brands would do you well: Nikon, Fuji, Canon, Olympus etc.

I use mostly film, but I bought a Nikon point and shoot digital with
7.1 megapixels and a 3X zoom for about $100 at Bj's and it does a good
job for what digital does best: passible photography done quick.
--
Michael

Michael wrote:
On 2008-03-11 21:09:22 -0400, Ken said:

I am planning on purchasing my first digital camera, and since I
am neither a photography expert nor intend to become one, I thought I
would see what others thought I should buy. All comments are welcome:

I would hope to purchase the camera for less than $250. Any
suggested merchants?

I believe I want an optical resolution of 10 or 12 since I feel I
would be unhappy with only taking photos at close range.

I do not intend to do anything other than family type photos and
possibly some landscape shots. Based upon this, I don't THINK I need
a lot of mega pixels. Most would never be printed larger than 5x7.

I do not intend to print my own photos. If I wanted a print I would
probably have a service print them.

I have read some reviews about digital cameras and it appears some
cameras "eat batteries." If this is an issue, and one brand or model
is better than another, this would be helpful to know.

The majority of comments seem to suggest that rechargeable batteries
are the way to go. Any comments?

I see some models for sale that are refurbished. Is there a downside
to buying such a camera?

Are there other issues I should be considering such as image
stabilization? Or is that feature just for pros?

Brand reliability? Needed memory card size? Please feel free to
suggest anything I did not mention. I just don't want to buy a camera
and find out I should have asked more questions. Thanks.

A few items from my own experience:
The only refurbished digital camera I ever bought was from Kodak and it
never worked properly and completely died in two months.
If you get double A LITHIUM (not rechargeable) batteries you will do
very well. Built in rechargeable batteries are useless if you run out in
the field. Get a camera with double As and get the Lithiums.

Thanks, I shall keep that in mind.

I have no idea what you mean by optical resolution of 10 or 12. If you
are talking megapixels you don't need anything close to that for what
you are doing. 5 to 7 is plenty. You can get a very good camera for your
needs for well under $250. If you are talking zoom range then that is
not reasonable if you mean 10X or 12X. You won't likely find it.

I was talking about optical magnification. Sorry for the wrong
terminology. My thoughts were a 5-7 megapixel camera would be adequate
for my purpose as well.

I don't know what you mean by "merchants" but a good photo store would
be your best starting point.

My thought was buying the camera via the Internet, that is why I used
the term merchants. I like the ability to compare prices as well as
retrieve information on the net.

Any of the name brands would do you well: Nikon, Fuji, Canon, Olympus etc.

I use mostly film, but I bought a Nikon point and shoot digital with 7.1
megapixels and a 3X zoom for about $100 at Bj's and it does a good job
for what digital does best: passible photography done quick.

Thanks.