Camera Suggestions

I "like" My Nikon Coolpix...but I don't love it. My Canon 35 mm takes way better photos and (yes regular film is expensive) takes them faster, and has better zoom with my zoom lens for sports shots. Drives my hubby nuts because of $$$...but I much prefer 35 mm film to digital.

I am a professional photographer and have my own on-location photography business. I have done a lot of research and have bought Panasonic Lumix's twice now. My first point and shoot lasted about 3.5 years until the LCD screen went dead but I probably took about 50,000 photos with it. If you read the manual and learn a bit about the settings, they are great cameras. I got mine online for a little over $200.

I have heard to stay away from the Nikon's and Canon's for point and shoots. Just my opinion but I love my new Panasonic and did weeks of research on them.

I must say that my professional camera is great but with 3 kids always on the move, I need a good, fast point and shoot. Love the settings and clarity in my photos. Contact me if you want the model number. Don't have it in front of me. There are many that are similar though and they all seem to be very good. My last one was compact but my new one is pretty small too. Like that they fit in a pocket/purse and are light.

I have an Olympus camera...not sure of the model, but I LOVE it!! It's one of the shockproof/waterproof cameras and it has come in handy so many times. I dropped it on a cement sidewalk 3 times just last week, and nothing happened to it. We took it to the beach a few times last summer and to my parent's house and took fun pictures under water. It takes great pictures...you can either put it on the automatic setting or choose the setting/environment where you will be taking pictures. I got it at Best Buy and it was about $250 three years ago. I have talked so many of my friends into getting this camera...its great!

Last year I bought a sumsung 10X zoom, 12 MP and it was just around $225. I love this camera. I had a canon before that - it wasn't bad but not great - it ran through batteries like water.

This samsung has a lithium ion battery so it has to be charged by plugging it in - but the charge seems to last forever. Since the battery is so small the camera is small and light - but not tiny.

Picture quality is very, very good - the only drawback is that the flash is not powerful enough if you're zooming in quite a lot. So inside photos in the house, or at parties come out great, indoor pictures of the kids on stage, or in the gym come out dark. From what I've seen of cameras in general - unless you're going in to the $500 - $750 price range this is going to be an issue.

Other than the zoom/flash issue we are very very pleased with our samsung camera. Lots of different settings that make most all of our photos come out great.

Good luck!

Just don't get the Kodak Easyshare M580! I got that one since I had an older version of the Easyshare that I loved, but it is not the same quality. It totally sucks, and leaves me in a lurch when the moment is important!

I have a Panasonic Lumix. I've had it about 2 years and it works great. I think it has a 10x zoom. I think I paid around $250?? It also has what most refer to as the "dummy" setting, which will take good pictures if you don't want to spend the time practicing and reading the manual.

Before that I had a Sony. The Sony was also a great camera. What I don't like about Sony is they have a special sized memory chip.

I have a Nikon D40. It's a bigger camera, not just a point and shoot. I absolutely love it. It is my favorite investment. It takes fantastic pictures! They don't make the camera anymore, but I have read that many camera enthusiasts view this as their favorite everyday camera. I would search for one on ebay!

Nikon is the best in my opinion. I've had a couple of Cannons but just purchased my first Nikon (D3100 showcased on Oprah's fav. things!) and it is amazing! It is a bigger camera and has so many options and I have way better pics than I've ever had. I've learned to shoot on a manual setting and it is so fun and you get way better pics than just the auto setting. We just bought the Cannon powershoot that we use when we can't take our big camera but the pics don't even compare. My parents are professional photographers and only shoot with Nikon!

I have the cannon powershot sx123 IS, It has 10x optical zoom and 10.0 mega pixels. I love it. It cost under $200 and takes awsome pictures. It has lots of functions that are easy to figure out. I got it to take pictures of my fast moving little girls. It has a funtion for taking pictures of kids and with the flash on it takes the best pictures. When you push down the button part way to take the picture it zoom in on the face in the picture so you can see it better inlarged and see if they are blinking. then just press the button all the way down and it takes the picture. Nice feature. It also lets you set it up manually if your into that. Personally i just like the aim and shoot. I love this camera. Have fun.

Canon is usually really good, I have a canon powershot and a canon Rebel, the Rebel has no delay at all, the powershot sometimes does but I still think it is really good for that price range. If you really want a good camera though, you have to spend a little more for the rebel. When you do research, make sure it has an action shot option, then you can set it to that when you are taking pics of the kids because they are moving around so much... hope you find something you like.

I really think that nowadays, most point-and-shoot cameras are all the same. You just have to choose what features are important to you--do you want a big zoom for macro shots? Do you want a lot of megapixels so you can print large prints?Also consider:

How large of a view screen do you want?
Do you want a viewfinder option (where you hold the camera up to your eye)?
Do you want a camera small enough that you can carry it in your pocket?
Do you have a preference on types of memory cards?
Do you want a camera that will attach to a tripod?

I think as long as you stick with a well-known brand like Nikon, Olympus, Kodak, etc, you'll get a quality camera.

For a Point and Shoot the Canon Power Shot is great! I have had mine for about 2 years now. It's been dropped and handled by the kids numerous times and still works great. I really wanted a DSLR camera to take good pics of my kids. My husband got me the NikonD3100 for Christmas and I LOVE it! The pictures are amazing and it takes HD video which is great. Canon and Nikon's are both great camera's!

I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3. It is a couple of years old so I don't remember how much it cost but overall it is a good camera. I use the "dummy" setting most often. The only thing that I don't like is that in certain indoor places, my pictures come out very yellow looking. I don't know if that's the type of lighting that is affecting the picture but it bothers me. It is also a little heavy to carry with me all the time. Since I want to carry my camera with me I asked for a new "purse" camera for Christmas. Hubby got a Nikon (can't remember which version but it was $200). The screen looked so pixely (sp?) while looking at what you were taking a picture of that I thought there was something wrong with it and had him return it. He then got the Olympus Stylus 3000 Tough (waterproof/shockproof). Still heavier than I wanted but I just started taking pics with it so I don't know what the prints look like yet. Short battery life is also a common complaint I've read.

We got a Kodak M580 for Christmas (when I last bought a camera, it was a Canon Cybershot and I returned it because the pictures weren't good and crisp even though it was of a higher MP than my previous 3.1 Kodak. I went back to using the Kodak 3.1 mp camera for a few more years until we got this 14(!!) mp and 8x optical zoom Kodak camera for Christmas.)

Updated

We got a Kodak M580 for Christmas (when I last bought a camera, it was a Canon Cybershot and I returned it because the pictures weren't good and crisp even though it was of a higher MP than my previous 3.1 Kodak. I went back to using the Kodak 3.1 mp camera for a few more years until we got this 14(!!) mp and 8x optical zoom Kodak camera for Christmas.)

I bought my husband a Canon Powershot SX20 for his bday. He absolutely loves it. It has a great sports shot setting on it so you can take a series of pictures by holding down the button. This setting has been great for catching elusive smiles from our 2 month old. It also takes HD video which has been nice. I think it was about $400 with the memory card.