[iroxmxinau]

1. Get around 5-6 mega pix: good enough.
2. The smaller it is, the more convinience but picture quality suffers.
3. optical image stabilizer is a lot better than digital image stabilizer.
4. definately optical zoom. Digital zoom is usually after optical zoom but quality suffer.
5. The higher the flash above the lens, the less red eye it is.
6. Use regular battery.
7. ISO can be adjust to 1600.

My wife uses Canon IS 3, I have to say it is very good for the money.

For me, I still love my film camera.

Good Luck

[Alex]

Rechargeable or normal batteries?

Rechargable regular-sized batteries. Mine uses rechargable AAs, that way I can have it both ways.
6mp or 7mp? For what you want, even 3 is enough but I dunno if they sell those anymore. More pixels helps with the digital zoom, or if you want to blow them up beyond snapshot size.
Optical zoom or digital zoom? Trade-off between image quality and compactness - decide which you want.
I have seen these, tell me which of these (if any) you would recommend, or if you have any suggestions, let me have them! Not familiar with any of them. The best review sites are Steve's digicams and DP review. FWIW, Canon seems to be the most consistently well-reviewed brand.

[exschke]

I just recently bought a digital camera and did a fairly in-depth investigation regarding the different models.
After dozens of trips to various retailers, and scouring online reviews, I found one to match my criteria which was:

*Had to have full motion vid with sound.

*Had to use San-disk or third party memory chips (Because you have more variety and more price options, as well as the ability to port it to more types of readers.)
*It had to have at least 3X optical zoom (note: Stay away from Digital zoom in most cameras..It sucks...some models have both, but I have found that the optical is the way to go.

*It had to have a rechargeable lithium battery.
Many cameras today take regular batteries and that stinks. They last like 10 minutes and it can add up in terms of extra cost. Most modern Lithium batteries can take arounf 2-300 charges before going bad.

*It had to be easy to use, but still have lots of features.

*lastly, it had to be a good value..ie..reasonably priced.
Trust me, I had my work cut out for me when I started.

And the winner was:

The HP Photosmart R827

Normally, I'm a Sony guy, but that last round of Cybershots in my price range suck big time. In fact, I never would have even looked at HP as a camera product unless my daughter had suggested it.

I've had the thing for a week, and I've been purposely been trying to find the flaws, which is has, but they are so few compared to the benefits.

And the price is good too $149.00 (don't know how much that is in clam shells or what ever they use in the UK.) J/K

But I can say that for the money, you won't find a better camera in my opinion. Believe me, I tried.
You'll be very happy with this one, is my honest opinion.
Hope it helps!

[Kolokireo]

www.dpreview.com

Great site with very extensive reviews.

[RBJamez]

Ricoh Caplio R5
or
Nikon Coolpix L12
or
Fujifilm Finepix F31FD
or
Nikon Coolpix S7c
and finally....
Samsung NV3

From your list, I'd pick the Fuji FinePix. I own the Fuji FinePix F10 myself and it takes great pictures, especially in low-light conditions, which is what you'll be shooting in about half the time. Nikon makes great DSLRs (the big 'clunky' cameras), but their point and shoots are shite, in my opinion. Ricoh makes better copiers and Samsung isn't really well known for their cameras.

I also highly recommend the DPreview.com website. My last two digital camera purchases were mainly based on the reviews and information I read off that website.

A couple more pieces of advice:

1) Buy a memory card reader for your computer. It'll be easier and faster to transfer your pictures from your camera by sticking the memory card into the reader rather than connecting your camera to your computer.

2) I recommend Flickr.com if you want to share your pictures with your mates over the web. Some of the KW posters (myself included) use Flickr to display their various kendo and iaido pictures.

[MiniBoy]

Pick any. I will look good on the pictures whichever one you buy.

[fedordzen]

Get the camera that fits your needs and don't fall for all the marketing hype. I'm assuming you basically need something for quick, no fuss, handheld snapshots with little post-processing (photoshop...etc).
More megapixels does not always mean better--3 megapixels is sufficient for most casual shooters (4x6in photos and sharing on the internet).

Apart from that, it sounds like these are the main criteria you should be spending your money on:
- compact size so you can take it anywhere
- good and fast autofocus
- Image-stabilization, so you don't get blurry images from your hand shaking
- low-light shooting performance
- good and proven processor for accurate color, detail, and depth
- at least 3x optical zoom with slightly wide-angle lower end so you can take handheld shots of yourself with a friend or two in the frame
- good battery life


I've found the compact Canon cameras to be great all-arounders that fit the criteria above. I like the Panasonics for their rich features and Leica lens, but don't like their low-light performance and sharpening algorithms--too watercolor-like. Sigma has the awesome Foveon processor, but is less user friendly. Nikon, Fuji, and Sony are very good too but I find that Sony slightly overprocesses the color to be more vivid than reality which isn't great for those of us with darker complexions.

Basically, if you stick with traditional camera namebrands you probably won't be dissapointed. If the brand also makes refrigerators, microwaves, and paper shredders, it can be a gamble.

Good luck.
-Michael

[Garry Hovard]

The Canon PowerShot SD (Digital IXUS in your part of the world) line are the most popular and generally well-reviewed point and shoot cameras as Neil and Michael have pointed out. You can't go wrong with even the least expensive Digital IXUS model. Canon makes great DSLRs and lenses too.