I've been fighting a conversion to digital photography tooth and nail over the last few years. It's recently occured to me that I've been fighting a losing battle. (I know...I'm a little slow!:nono: lol ) Anyhow, I was hoping you all could recommend some good models to start out with. Thank you for your advice!

Welcome to the world of digital photography!!!

What level of camera are you seeking? Do you want a simple point and shoot, or are you looking for a more involved camera like a SLR?

Just let me know, and I can give some recommendations!

You may want to start off with something relatively inexpensive, while you get used to the whole digital photography thing, including loading the images from the camera to your home computer, cropping images, printing copies, etc. There are a number of perfectly good "point and shoot" models under $100.00 that will do the trick, and even some that are under $50.00 at WalMart and Target that will work just fine. You can always advance to something more robust later on.

You may want to start off with something relatively inexpensive, while you get used to the whole digital photography thing.

Which point-and-shoot do you like best? Right now, I only have a digi Canon Rebel SLR. I *LOVE* it, but sometimes think it would be nice to have a point and shoot for those quick moment. Plus, I'd like to be able to just hand off my camera to anyone to snap some images for me.

I have an old camera and am ready for an upgrade soon so I am going to have to follow this thread to see what people are recommending. I still want something simple to use but with more megapixels than what I have now.

Right now I still have the first digi camera that I bought which is a Sony Cybershot 3.2 Megapixels. It's a good little camera though.

I would not know which cameras to recommend, being a novice myself, but I do have to say that I love using a digital camera. It is so convenient and easy to upload pictures and send them.

I find it necessary to carry both a compact point and shoot and a DSLR. For those times where I want to capture the moment, but the pictures don't necessarily have to be great, I take my Panasonic FX9 which is very similar in size to a Canon ELPH. I've owned a few Canon ELPHs as well, and they've always been easy to use and take great pictures.

My Nikon D50, I take with me when I need to be very fast or require high quality images. Basically, if speed and quality are requirements in your phototaking, then a DSLR is where it is at. I use it mainly for work, but when I travel, I enjoy the freedom of my compact point and shoot.

I guess you have to look at your priorities. If you tend to keep pictures, and like to have photos that you can blow up or print, then getting a good camera will give you better quality pictures. Of course, a high megapixel count isn't the whole story. The way a camera captures and processes those images is important as well. It's generally good to go with a company that manufacturers cameras as a primary business. That's why Nikon and Canon are at the top of the professional camera biz and their products are very good from their pro stuff to their consumer stuff. You really can't go wrong with a Nikon or a Canon.

My advice would be to decide what your priorities in picture taking are, then go out and try different cameras. Take note of how easy it is to take pictures and view them again. Try the different picture taking modes. Note the speed in which you can take pictures. The worse thing you can experience out there is buying a camera that is hard to use. You'll be so frustrated that you won't want to use it. Stick with the better names like Canon and Nikon. I like Panasonic as well. But just start shopping. Like a lot of things, if it doesn't feel right, or work right for you, it doesn't matter how good it is or how good a deal it is.

FWIW, in my experience, $100 cameras do not create good pictures. They just look OK in the viewfinder, but are a total and utter disappointment if you want them printed or edited, regardless of the megapixel count.

The main thing that I hate about most of the point and shoot cameras is the shutter lag time. There is nothing like pushing that button and not capturing the image you intended. Makes me MAD!

I love my Canon digi Rebel. I can capture some amazing images, and the shutterspeed is fantastic. This past weekend, I got some great shots of my son playing with the hose. You can see each water droplet! Incredible.

The main thing that I hate about most of the point and shoot cameras is the shutter lag time. There is nothing like pushing that button and not capturing the image you intended. Makes me MAD!

I love my Canon digi Rebel. I can capture some amazing images, and the shutterspeed is fantastic. This past weekend, I got some great shots of my son playing with the hose. You can see each water droplet! Incredible.

I agree. I find my carmera great but when I go to use my MIL's camera I am not used to the lag time of the shutter and I get so frusterated.

Which point-and-shoot do you like best? Right now, I only have a digi Canon Rebel SLR. I *LOVE* it, but sometimes think it would be nice to have a point and shoot for those quick moment. Plus, I'd like to be able to just hand off my camera to anyone to snap some images for me.

Umm your Canon can do Point n Shoot mode. Set it to P or any of the scene type modes and use an automatic focus ;) I love how it has a 0.2 second start up time, by the time I switch it to on and have my finder on the shutter button its good to go!

But as for someone who's looking for a Point n Shoot camera there are hundreds to choose from all with their Pros and Cons.

Manufacturers: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Kodak, HP, Pentax, Olympus would be the main ones

It really depends on what you want, do you want a slim camera, do you want one with a large LCD for viewing? Do you want a great optical zoom (like the Canon Powershot S3 with 12x Optical). most cameras are 3-4x optical.

I could seriously go on and on and on, but what I suggest is goto a camera shop and tell them what you want to do and what your budget is. I wouldn't suggest going with a $50-150 camera. That's just not right.

I'm partial to Canon ;)

Wow! Thanks for all of the great information! My head is spinning just a bit...I truly have no knowledge of digital photography what so ever! I guess my main question is; what would be a good camera to learn the basics on? Thanks for bearing with me!

We have two digital cameras - a Fuji and a Nikon. I like the Nikon better because it has some functions the Fuji doesn't. And with the prices coming down, it wasn't that much more expensive, considering we bought them 2 years apart.

My vote would be to look at either the Canon Powershot line or the Nikon Coolpix line :)