Digital Camera - What should I get?

Canon

Compact: Ixus Series

If you want something little better and more complex

PowerShot Series

If you want a "real" cam

go for dslr series (such as EOS XXXD or XXD Series)

Pentax

hi i would recommend you a canon eos 300D. it is a good start for beginners. you should get a cheap one at ebay or other people who want to upgrade to the new 400D.

you should get a eos300D for less then 300$ now. not brand new of course. but it will offer you a lot of cool features to dig into photography.

the possibility to change lenses is one of the best features a camera can offer you. all those small cameras have a build in lense which maybe zooms like 2x

the eos cameras will allow you any focal length without a quality loss.

check these images:

http://www.thomashess.net/why_eos_rocks.jpg

http://www.thomashess.net/why_small_cameras_suck.jpg

the next thing is:

eos allows you to work semi professional. this means you have lots more of options to tweak your images. for example it supports raw data or you can get in really high ISO levels. (eos 300 is iso 1600 or iso 3200 if you hack your firmware)

If you go DSLR i would recommend buying a 350D - i know, it's more expensive but the 350D made a heavy improvement chip wise.

The best thing about not compact cameras is that you can use a big bunch of lenses -> and can zoom even harder than what hessi showed up (the eos 300 d can use lenses as well )

so - take a breath and start running to next photoshop - test out cams they have there and have a look which one fits you most.

keep in mind: a cam might be expensiv - but if you learn mastering it it will become your best technical friend

i mostly agree to efreak, but as he said he is a beginner i wouldnt invest that much money into a beginner camera. maybe he quits and sits on his camera.

with a 300 he can save money and if he reaches the technical limits he can upgrade to a 350 or a 400 in one year or two.

mh that's right - so - go with the 300D (not the 30D ) and try the girl out.

you may also just use the 300D as much as possible and then write what "hurts" you about the cam so we may give advise on which cam could be next or what lenses would be good

For a beginner DSLR i suggest a used Olympus e-10, e-20 or higher (depends on your budget). They are usualy a few hundret bucks cheaper then comparable canon slr cams but image quality is close to them.

example pics from the e-10 (its the cheapest one, you get it used complete with lots of extras, lense, memory etc. for around 300 Euro):

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a shot similar to hessis tower:

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