I'm looking to buy a somewhat inexpensive digital camera, in
the neighborhood of $200. What do you guys recommend? It
will only be used to send pics by e-mail and post pictures to
my gallery, so I don't really need an expensive camera. I'm
looking at a 2megapixel model at Best Buy for $179. They
have a Kodak model and an HP model for about that price.
I know that the higher the Megapixel number, the better the
picture and I've settled on about a 2. Any good suggestions
or experience would be appreciated.

 

I got an HP318 from Circuit City for about that price and it's great. Only complaint in there's no lens cover or case. And definitely get some rechargeable batteries and a charger.

 

I'm going with the other end of cameras. If you look at this post you will see which ones I'm looking at. The main reason is picture quality and zoom. With both, you can add telephoto lenses.

 

it's interesting to see the different pixel amounts. I have seen
some from a 2.0 and they are good enough for what I need. I
just can't justify layin' out the kind of dough on a camera that
nice. I just wouldn't use it enough. I saw some cameras that
were over $700. I'm sure the picture clarity on those is just as
good as a 35mm camera. Thanks for giving me a comparison.
I know I don't want anything less than 2megapixels.

 

Ummm, maybe as clear, but not as good. Digital image technology is 2d, lacks the 3rd dimension (depth) that you get with 35mm slr. That is why some digital photos can look like you pasted the subject on a background with photoshop... interesting feature...

One thing to check before you purchase, and it certainly depends on what you will use the camera for, is response time... Some digital cameras have a significant delay between the time you press the button to take the photo, and the photo is taken. Non-posed photo's are affected.

Some of this is due to the camera's need to focus, then shoot. And some of the delay is lessened by camera's that can be focussed with a light touch to the button so that it is ready to shoot.

 

Aren't these cameras software specific? I mean, don't
you have to pick a camera that works with your
particular software thats on your computer?

 

Most of them will ship with their own software. At most, you will just need to ensure that the software packaged with the computer is supported by your computer's operating system. (Or that you can obtain updated software from the camera manufacturer.)

 

I bought an olympus 2 mega pixel camera at best buy for mothers day for my mom. Don't even need software. I just plug the usb cable in and hook the camera up and windows creates a drive for it under which can be accessed like a hard drive. I usually open the pictures in photoshop and edit them. By the way the camera was about 200 hundred dollars. It also has an lcd screen to view the pictures you have taken.

 

I think I've made up my mind. I believe I'll get the
Kodak easyshare model. Once again, thanks for
the input fellas.