Kimberly, There are 3 great cameras right now that are great.

Canon G9

Canon Powershot S51S

Olympus 570 UZ

You can check the specs out here and read the reviews on them.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/best_cameras.html

I have the G9.

Have Fun!!

Maggie

I was actually thinking about the G9! how funny! ok, it must take Excellent clear photos as your scraps! ox

I was at Costco, today and saw a nikoon with 14.7 mpx!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes!! anyone know about this camera's performance???? TY

Kimberly, the Nikon you mentioned is probably the S710. I haven't read any reviews on it yet, but did read the specs. It has NO shutter/aperture control, NO viewfinder. It's zoom is aimed at the wide angle as opposed to the telephoto. It's basically a point and shoot camera. Unless you are going to crop out the very middle portion of a larger picture, or blow up the photos to poster or billboard size, you won't need 14 MPs.
You can look up camera reviews and specs here. They have a complete data base of digital cameras:

http://www.dpreview.com/

Happy Hunting!!

I've heard very good things about the G9.
I have canon xti, and very pleased.
m

I used to work for a camera store and a good friend is now the store She told me never to buy first generation, wait until the bugs are worked out. I love my Pentax K10D, and paid less for it then I would have a Cannon or a Nikon. I honestly, after years of professionally processing prints, don't see any difference in quality between Cannon, Nikon, and Pentax. If you currently have DSLR, I would stick with the brand you currently have because all your lenses will work with your new camera and save you a ton of money.

Good luck!!

The difference between various cameras of different price ranges is not so much the quality of a 4 x 6 print, but the configurations of the camera itself. It enables a photographer to take a digital photo file and do many more things with it....cropping for one. Camera technology changes daily. All name brands take comparable photographs. By the time they work out the bugs in one camera, they have upgraded the camera to something faster with newer technology. My suggestion is buy the best you can afford and stick to your best brands.

thank you ladies! since this post I have done extensive research, this is what I found out:
>there are saturation wars between Canon and Nikon users. In my opinion, stick with the one you Love.
>>Sony has the IS built into the BODY where as None of the other DSLR's do, including Nikon, Canon, Oly...etc.
>>>Since the Sony has the IS built into the BODY you are Free to Use ANY Lense from ANY other Camera totally making this camera Cost effective.
However, I 'm still torn as far as the Sony seems to be grainy. does the mpx matter? is 14.2mpx good for quality of the photos??
thank you again for your comments! ox

Yes, MP do matter, but not unless you do a lot of extreme cropping, or do large blow ups. Remember, Sony is primarily a video corporation.....Whereas Nikon and Canon have specialized in single shot photography for much of their existence. Image Stabilization doesn't work miracles. Remember it's your lens that gives you your image quality....your camera just gives you the mechanics to take the picture. Thus always buy a camera for it's lens first. So if you buy a Nikon camera, then buy a tamron lens (as an example) you will not get a nikon quality photograph. You will get a Tamron quality. Most lens brands are good, but they are not as good as a camera and matching lens brand together. Bottom line....you get what you pay for!!

I now use a Canon Rebel XT... but my old point and shoot camera (which by the sounds of it is what you are looking for) was a Kodak 6mp with a 12x zoom on it. It was a WONDERFUL camera with a lot of added features. The zoom was terrific! Be sure to focus on "optical zoom" and not "digital zoom" when looking for a camera. The optical zoom is the same as using a telephoto lens on a DSLR camera, whereas the digital zoom is like cropping a part of the photo, thus you lose a lot of quality. I had many people ask me if I was a professional photographer when I was still shooting with my Kodak... and I shot weddings with it (and got paid!) LOL

My bf's little Sony Cybershot 7.2 mp camera takes awesome shots. It was under $200. What I personally looked for was a camera that had it's own battery, not one where I had to use double AAs, etc. I hate that... every camera I have ever had that took batteries ran out fast, was slow, and drove me bonkers. My bf made sure he got me one that had a battery I can just plug into the wall and charge. I have taken 100 photos on it already and it's still got 80% battery life.. That's what I like haha.

I don't know if it's too late for my 2-cents, but my adorable husband bought me a Sony Alpha last year for Christmas and I am totally in love! (with my husband, too LOL). I love the pictures it takes, there is absolutely no hesitation and I can swap the lenses from my old Minolta SLR. It has all the simple to use features I need (as I am not a professional photographer...yet) but still lets me take great photos of friends and family.