I want to buy a digital camera when I go to Frisco and am willing to spend 300...
 

Ill be going up to Frisco in about a month *I live in Costa Rica* and want to buy a digital camera while Im there....

I only want to invest/waste about 300 dollars....

Im not looking for anything really fancy or something that will blow my mind away, just a good nice camera that will allow me to photograph crap here in Costa Rica *which of course I will share with you nutcases* :lol:

What is the best thing you can recommend, also, are there any gadgets that I should be aware of, or little extras that I should buy?

Thanks for any and all the help you can give me.

Thank you.

If you dont want anything fancy and just want to take pictures and maybe print some of them occasionaly I recommend a 3 MP camera. According to Steves digicams the best 3 MP cameras are the Nikon Coolpix 3200, Canon Powershot A75, Pentax Optio 30, Olympus D-540 Zoom, Panasonic DMC-LC50, Fujifilm Finepix A330, Sony Cybershot DSC-P72 and the Kodak Easyshare CX6330. Now when you get to frisco check this website and compare the prices. Alternatively if you really want to get and awesome price. Go to here and search for one of those cameras. Look for the words B&M which means its at the store and not online. An example of a good deal is Canon A75 for $150 at Circuit city B&M. those cameras were regularly $300. but that deal is expired. so good luck!

I own a Fuji Finepix 3800 which Fuji has replaced with the Finepix S3000. Buy this camera! the Color Reproduction is excellent, it has a built in flash, 6x optical zoom (digital zoom is more or less worthless on most cameras) it has video capability @ a low framerate, battery life is reasonable, and it uses 4 AA batteries so if your batteries happen to die, they can be purchased anywhere and dost cost a fortune (trust me this is a huge advantage). this pic was taken w/ that cam, and is exactly as i took it, nothing has been done to it at all.
http://myweb.cableone.net/msjcichon/harris.JPG

I really like the functionality of the Konica Minota X series; they are tiny, and have a 3x optical zoom that doesn't stick out from the camera. I'm waiting for the X31, which was recently announced. Lots of options within the series (# of pixels, sound, battery type) so you can find one that should work.

Also, the Olympus D-line is very durable. My dad once dropped his, bending the lens 45 degrees to the side. He snapped it back into position, and it still works. Later, he was in an argument, and someone threw it across the street. Still works.

The Canon Powershot A80 seems to be a popular well-priced camera among photographers

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/spec.../canon_a80.asp

My Sony DSC P-8 I picked up about 2 months ago was $249 at Best Buy, and is very similiar to the DSC 972, but with a few more features. The camera is as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. Many settings are both automatic and manual, so if you want a point and shoot, you have one. I've had nothing but good experiences with mine, only downside is the battery is a lithium, and not AA's

This one gets my vote. Great web site for camera research too. Very detailed reviews.

Most importantly - Frisco is in Texas. I hope you weren't planning on seeing the Golden Gate Bridge

I really like my Nikon Coolpix

I also vote for the A80. I have an A70 and love it..

I just got an A80 and its great. It may be hard to find though because its been discontinued, they are now coming out with the A85.

At work we use Olympus cameras (although about $400-500 range) and they are great for indoors, outdoors whatever. My wife uses a Sony Cybershot (3.1 mpixel, 10X total zoom, $299 about 8 mos. ago) - awful. Wish I could send it back. Do not by a Sony Cybershot!

i have a sony dsc-p52...bought it at best buy for like 300...there is a better one out there for same price or less now...only thing i wish i would have done was get the one with the optical and digital zoom instead of just one of them...i like my sony.

i havent looked into it to see if this is a problem with the camera or my settings but i have noticed that moving pics...like say my daughter moving within say 10 feet gets kinda to really blurry depending on how much movement.

If you want small, check out the Canon S-410, it is a 4 Megapixel, with 3x zoom and is very compact. It is also very good at taking several picture very quickly. I had a S-400 before my mother inlaw dropped it in a river, and the S-410 is definately an improvement (mostly speed) over the old model.