digital camera help!

[hAppy]

hey guys my dad is looking to buy our first digicam
and we dont know what to look for

can someone help me...

-what brand to get? what brand to stay away from?
-how do you know what specs are good, like pixels and junk (pixels is the ONLY thing i know about cams, and i dont know what is "good")

someone give me general info, any will be great, thanks!

[Barfly]

2 megapixels is fine for almost everything, unless you want to make huge prints. Check out http://www.steves-digicams.com/ if you want good info on digi cams. I just got a minolta dimage X20, it is a small camera, so takes ok pictures inside, but the flash sucks, so you get dark spots at the corners. If I could do it all over again I would get the canon powershot A60. I am selling my RT Pro, but these are pictures I took with my Digi cam http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...SSE%3AIT&rd=1. It does all of the lighting and exposure crap automatically, because I am retarded and don't want to mess with it.

[DaosBeoulve]

I swear by Canon, but some of the Olympus ones are nice as well.

I personally have a Canon Powershot G3 (it's a 4.0 megapixel with loads of features), and I became such a fan on the Canon line because of how nice it was I bought my mom a Powershot A70 for Christmas. It's a good bit smaller than my G3 and still has a great number of things it can do. Both take absolutely great pictures, and they allow you to do just about anything picture wise (including taking 3 minute videos).

My uncle has an olympus (and I curse myself for not remembering exactly which one it is at the moment..) that he showed off to me when I was trying to decide which digicam to get myself. It was a 3.2 or 3.0 megapixel, and took absolutely great pictures too. Didn't quite have the zoom the G3 had though, or quite as many neat features, which is why I settled on the Canon.

[impostal22]

i refer you to these very helpful threads..

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=112217

and

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=122132

[Restola]

My first digi camera was the kodak dx4900. Was way way more than I would ever need (turned out the free camera on my plam is just right).

Ask yourself exactly what you need the camera for before you spend hundreds of dollars.

[bunkermaster10]

I gotta Nikon Coolpix 4300. It takes 4 megapixels. Its a bit pricey but I love the thing. I take pics all the time w/ it, its great. They should have them at best buy.

[hAppy]

i just need a camera in general, for like family use

thanks to everyone who contributed!

[PyRo]

I have an HP 720, its 3.2 Mega Pixels, but I always keep it on the lowest quality setting. The first one I got broke, but HP was really good with the warrenty, and sent me a new one then had me send them the broken one. I just like it because my camera gets thrown around alot, and its heavy and rubercoated and doesn't feel like it will break if you hold it to hard. Oh, and I also discovered its flame resistant

[felony]

I have a canon powershot A6. i think it is the mid-range powershot and I LOVE IT!

i have seem more expensive cameras provide nothing more then fancy buttons that do jack.

My mom actually got the step above the a6 and i see no picture difference.

With my camera, it came with a connection firewire to the PC, all software and everything you can think of. It is perfect for taking closeups and other stuff relativly close. At longer distances you may need a extra lense or a nice camera, but i sure dont

dan