Need help. Will purchase a new digital camera.

[fitmic]

I am about to buy a new digital camera and need some advice.

It has to be compact and cost less than $250.

Any suggestions?

[chubbchubb]

Hi Fitmic.

You will most likely get a lot of suggestions and here is mine: I use the Sony DSC-T100 as my everyday takealong camera. I believe it has meanwhile been replaced by another model and so you might check on the Bay. Original price was about double of your budget, but good used ones should be available for around 250$.

My top three reasons for choosing this model:

1. 5 x optical zoom (not 3x like most compact cameras) plus 10x digital
   
2. small package -> important for me because my Nikon D80 stays home often because of its size
   
3. good performance (8 Megapixel, ISO3200, steadyshot...bla,bla,bla - its all there and makes nice pictures too)
   

The sony has a nice, large screen, no outside moving lens (!), makes nice videos with sound (640 x 480 with 30 frames/Sec, no time limit) - the list goes on and on. It is a good camera. A protective cover (see lower part of the pictured camera) slides over the lens when you switch it off. It has an "auto" mode that produces good pictures or people who are not interested in setup menues (like my wife ;-).

One extra nice feature for watch lovers is the macro function. On the press of a button, you can take pictures in macro mode at 1cm (one centimetre) distance from the object. Few cameras can do THAT.