Hi, I have been very happy with my Samsung point and shoot. ($150 -200) They are less expensive than some of the others, but the quality of pics and durability is great. I would not personally spend the extra $$ for more than 4 pixels unless you are planning to print poster size prints from you trip. Even a 3.2 pixel makes excellent 11X14 prints. Spend the extra $$ on the memory stick, and purchase the largest possible, unless you plan to dump them onto a laptop or CD partway thru the trip. Due to the likelyhood of having it end up in the saltwater, I am bringing the least expensive one we have! 🙂 I know that I will wish I had the SLR, but can't risk ruining it.
I do recommend one with a little zoom to the lens, as those without just leave a lot to be desired when you are trying to frame the picture. Hope this helps!

I had heard there's some tricks to getting digital cameras thru airport security. But, I don't remember what they were. I haven't flown for 18 years, so I am out of touch. I sure would like to bring my good camera along, but is that a bad idea?

hi islandtime, i've been doing research on this myself. i've heard that 5 mega pics. is really all a person needs. as long as your not looking for alot of 8 by 10 stuff. it will handle that to though. and i hear/think canon is very good. also look for one that has high optical zoom.[zoom times 10] they come with both optical and digital zoom. and also look for a user friendly, not hard to operate one. i would not buy the printer with it though. if you have a good printer with your computer thats all you need. hope this helps. scooby

islandtime

Nothing less than 5 megapixels.
Look for higher optical zoom rather than digital only. The digital zoom is an electrical manipulation of the data rather than a physical change of the view so the quality can suffer under certain conditions. If you have two similar cameras and one offers higher optical zoom, choose it over the other.
Smaller is not better (size does matter) but make sure you like the feel of the camera and where the buttons are.
Screens are often an issue in bright sun light as they become harder to see if you are using it to view the shot before taking the picture.
Be aware there is a delay from the time you press the buton to the time it 'takes' the shot. If you move the camera shortly after pressing the button, you will get a differnet picture than what you expected.
The only issue with digital through airports is they may want you to turn the camera on if they do a search.
Printer packages are just a way to get money back by tieing you to their ink cartridges. If you have a high quality printer, that will work fine. The only down side is you mut work through the computer and some newer printers now offer some computerless limited picture modification and printing.

I did the same research a while ago, and I guess it really depends on what you're going to use the camera for. Are you a professional photographer? I don't think so, or you'd not be asking these questions. I used to have a really nice Nikon SLR, except my wife didn't like fiddling with it. I found a cheap Nikon point-and-shoot at a garage sale for $25 and honest to goodness, it took pics as good as my $500 SLR!. After the garage-sale Nikon took a terminal bath in the Atlantic, I replaced it with an equally-as-simple Canon. And it works equally as well. When I went digital, I looked at the options. I'm not a pro. I like to take snapshots. I don't do portraits or fancy stuff. I ended up buying an Olympus digital camera with 3.2 Megapixel resolution and a 3X optical zoom on Ebay for less than $100 including shipping. It was sold by Olympus, said it was "refurbished", but I really don't think it had been, I suspect it was just no longer "cutting-edge", and it works great! Takes good pics, simple to use, and cheap. I'd suggest something with an OPTICAL zoom (not digital). And you really don't need a printer "bundle", most manufacturer's are almost giving away printers now so that they can sell the overpriced ink cartriges, and most people don't print pics, they keep 'em stored in electronic format. Hope this helps.

I have 2 digitals and love them both. We have a Kodak 4.0 megapixel with the printer base. We love having the printer option. We use it a parties and family get togethers. It is great when you take a picture that others may want a copy of and they are not computer savy or have email. The printer dock is also a great charger. We liked it so much that we purchased a second (the first was a 3.2 Megapixel Kodak). We gave the first to my mother in law who was expecting her first grandchild. She has taken several pictures of the baby and printed them. She knows how to delete the ones she doesn't like and how to print the ones she does like. She is not computer or electronically savy and she learned to use it very quickly. It is easy to use and the printer is a nice feature.

I also have an Olympus Verve. I bought this camera so that I could have a digital that isn't very expensive with an underwater housing to use when snorkeling. So far I like the land pictures that it takes. Will let you know in about 2 weeks how the underwater housing works. We took it to a Nascar race and used the video and took some stills and they came out good. It wasn't very expensive and the housing was rather inexpensive as well.

Cant go wrong with the Canon Powershot series. Always at the top of the list with Consumer Reports etc.

Among current models, the A610 with 4x optical zoom and S1 IS with 10x optical zoom (both ~$250) both have a very cool feature which is the "vari-angle" LCD screen. This means the LCD can swing out from the camera enabling you to hold the camera low (for interesting angles) or high (shoot over people for example) and still see what you are framing in the shot by angling the LCD screen to you.

This can be practical in a crowd but is also much fun to play with and brings out your creative side (eye level shots of your pet, macro shots of low flowers, etc.)

Regarding prints, you may find printing your own gets tiresome and expensive with better photo paper and photo ink. Easier to send them to on line printer like shutterfly.com and have 'em show up in the mail a couple days later or send them to Walgreens.com and go pick them up in a few hours.

Or the coolest of all, create a photo album on line with shutterfly or mypublisher.com and have a beautiful hard cover bound vacation album come in mail a few days later for the price of getting 3-4 rolls of film developed. This will astound your friends and family and look great your coffee table.

We have a kodak 6.1 megapixel and we wouldn't recommend Kodak if you don't have to. The reason being we have sent it back twice since we bought it in February for the menu selector sticking. They now have a tiny joystick type thing on the back that tends to set stuck! Their repairs were good and they replaced the entire back of the camera but I'm wondering how long it will be til it sticks again.

I haven't owned any other brand so I can't vouch for others but I would not buy anything more then a 4-5 megapixel if you are just using it for regular shots. We use ours for our paranormal investigations (yeah we do that LOL) with our team and the pics are clearer being it's a larger megapixel.

Helen
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As a photographer I would highly recommend the Canon EOS Rebel Digital camera. It is a bit more than you want to spend but will be well worth the extra expense in capturing the quality images you can get with it. The higher the megapixels the better.

No do not buy a printer/camera package. The best line of photo (as well as day to day printing) printers is the Epson Photo printer line. The CA84 is only $99. and prints fantastic photos.

Ex - Island Paul

I just got a canon rebel camera (not digital)...how is that as far as photos go? It came with a 200 zoom lense too and another one (I don't know the zoom on). I got it on ebay for 200.00. I have to get a new battery for it and try it out. Just curious if you have used one of these?

Island time, Like jay said I don't think you can beat the powershot series. I own two (A40 and A85) and am getting ready to buy A S1IS before they change or drop the series. When I bought the A40 consumer reports gave it a highest rating for the lower price range (said it took pictures clearer than others 3.2 and some 4 MP cameras. I now use it for work and it is still going strong. The powershots use AA batteries so I always have a spare set Of NIMH's charged and ready to go. If I don't I can buy some alkaline batterias to get by. Check consumer reports. and shop the web. I saw the S1IS for about $210 last week and Refurb A80 or A85's for $165. Not a bad deal.

Rick

Island Time, as is mentioned in Scubado's note, digital cameras eat up batteries, so have at least 2 sets of rechargeable NIMH's and a quick recharger. My experience is one set of batteries per 50 - 75 pics. I swap batteries everytime I dump the pics into the comp. I also agree with the others, skip the printer package, and either send them electronically to a discount printer, or use any newer color printer. My preference is with Canon if you decide to buy one.
My question: Do any of the Internet cafe's have CD burners, so we don't have to bring a laptop? I tend to fill memory sticks pretty fast!

I'm not an avid photographer, but before I buy almost anything, especially something expensive like a camera, I do alot of research - and I don't mean the Sunday papers. I suggest you do a Google search on "digital cameras", "reviews" and "ratings" and look over a few of the sites offering advise. Get a copy of the Nov issue of Consumer Reports -it has some good information, as well as web sites such as PCWorld, PCMag, CNET, etc.. You should be able to get a nice camera for about $300. If you want to get very serious about your pictures, then think $1000 and a digital SLR.
Bottom line is you have to figure out what you want out of your camera. The options are many! Personally, I'm a "point & shoot snapshot" photographer and don't want to fuss with manual controls. The pictures I take are usually printed in 4x6 size ( Using the Shutterfly print service) and I wanted a camera that I could carry in a shirt pocket. I opted for a Canon S100 a few years back and it has served me well. My son has the Canon S400 and he loves it but the S line has has been discontinued. Be sure to look at their new line of cameras - they are usually pretty well rated.
What-ever you decide, be sure to buy 1 or 2 extra batteries and a larger memory card than what normally comes with the camera. I also suggest you buy your camera before your trip, and get to know it. Even the simple ones take some time to get used to. One thing nice about a digital that takes some getting used to is the capability to take several shots of what you want taken. Then, review what you took and erase the bad ones.
P.S We'll be in STT some of the time you will - Maybe Sue and I will run into you at the Nov 7th Dessert Reception, or over at Robert's or Donna's - along with "Linda".

Tree
I have had no problems getting my camera through security. All they ask if they do ask is to have a battery in it so they can see if it is a camera. I always put the smallest memory stick I have just in case they want to work it. So far they just look at it if that. Now I have just jinxed myself lol. Husband has taken his to Iraq with him & Pakistan & no worries. He goes through Heathrow or through Frankfurt when traveling & they just look at it & ask you to turn it on but not always.

hi hkolln, i have had a canon rebel for some time now, always had good luck with it, and it takes great pictures. i also invested in the long range zoom lens and love it, even though it cost about as much as the camara. if you take it near saltwater they say to have it cleaned afterwards. i suppose thats with any regular camara, don't know about the digitals, anyone else know about cleaning digitals? or don't you have to? scooby

Thanks for th info. Leaving for airport in a couple of hours! Yahoo! see ya when I get back.

To all,

Thanks for all of the good advise, this will certainly help in our quest for a digital cam.

16 days to go !!! 🙂