I'm looking to purchase (or as they say in Texas "I'm fixin' to buy) a digital camera - still shots - we already have a video.
I'm getting confused by the number of pixels and also the prices - wow. You'd think you were buying a car!
For practical purposes what size pixel should we get and what would be considered a "reasonable" price. Remember the ol' Gracie is retired...but the SO is still working.

bhphotovideo
bhphotovideo

compare prices kodak p712 easyshare
compare prices samsung pro815

If you're looking for a camera at a price of ca. $500 the links above can perhaps be of some help.

The first two links show some cameras with good optical zoom and large/fairly large image size. That company is where one of my sisters has bought most of her photo gear. She's a professional photographer and lives in NY, and according to her it's a reliable company.

One of the cameras on that first page can seem a lot like Karen's. But at a lower price now - 435$ - it's 7MP and 12x optical zoom. I bought the Samsung Pro815 Camera myself a few days ago, after doing quite a lot of research. In the US it can be bought at $600 some places. The next links show some price comparisons for those two cameras.

Another thing, whatever you choose, i would also have bought an extra memory card - like say 512MB (about $40 or so), as most of the cameras come with too small cards.

HI MAry,

With the recent travel restrictions on carry on items, I
decided it was too much hassle to bring my good camera
(a nice nikon) on board and I didn't want to check it as baggage. There are some really good cameras from SOny, Olympus , Canon and Nikon in the 299-399 range.

You can get a good 7.1 mega pixel from each of these manufacturers for around this price range.

I decided to get the Olympus because it had a wider zoom lens range. Keeping in mind that regardless of the megapixel specs, a camera 1st starts with a good lens and a wider zoom coverage means a more flexible camera.

Anything above a 5 megpixels will blow up to 8x10s ok for casual use. I looked at the 10mp and 12mp cameras and decided that they were way too expensive for now.

Happy Shopping,

Michelle Lynn

PS a recent retail industry study showed that a full 60% of personal electronic purchases were influenced or outright started by females.....

I thanks you Frances, Karen, Sabina and Michelle you have all given me valuable information. I've started looking and you have been most helpful. Thanks again love you all.

got a new problem so new thread...

Wow you need to do some research.
The more pix the better quality the pic. But unless your a pro theres no need to go more than 5. At that they don't allways email well to large a file.
Optical zoom is better than digital. It realy makes a difference with outdoor shots. I love taking mine to the zoo.
I can zoom in & get nice detale. I have a 10x zoom lens.
I have a kodak. Cost about mid range $500. But I haven't priced them in about 3yrs.
QVC is a realy good place to shop they have a larger choise than most stores. Once you find what you want you can just go to a store & get it.