my 1st digital camera but which one to buy

[BumbleB]

Sorry Jane, but I did find out the hard way - I was in South Africa and trying to take photographs of giraffe and antelope and I just couldn't see a thing!!!  It was literally a case of point, click and hope for the best!  The only way I managed to get any photographs of my friend's garden out there was to stand under a tree so that I could see what I was looking at!  Had the same problem trying to take photos of memorials on Spion Kop - not a cat in hell's chance. But, no, we don't need viewfinders    like h.ll we don't!

BumbleB

[Indaloman]

I spent weeks comparing one camera against another and finally chose a Ricoh R10, a brilliant camera

[jane l]

showing my age now -but .....yrs ago we didn't have this trouble you only had 1 or 2 choices of things -where as now you have 100+ 
jane

[stevieuk]

Given your specs and needs.

I`d suggest this camera.

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/80065/show.html

It has a viewfinder.

It is a 12 MP camera.

It is from a quality Camera company.

It uses standard easily available Memory cards SD cards.

It use AA batteries... cheap NiMH batteries are available everywhere, chargers are equally cheap.

It has audio recording and Movie mode so I`d take that as video?

It fits your budget.

The only downside is CHDK doesn`t support it yet (most folks won`t require/need/understand what I mean).

I have a A530, had it for a fair few years and its still works, been bashed about, uses AA batteries, SD cards and CHDK works brilliantly.

It should be top of your list.

Regards.

Steve

[jane l]

thanks Steve- I know what CHDK is [ i googled it] looks interesting
jane

[Lloydy]

Just to add......I've got a Kodak and it's brilliant! Takes great photos

[cathaldus]

I have a small 4 mega pixel Olympus and generally speaking I am absolutely delighted with it.  I've had it some 5yrs/ now and like other contributors on this thread I use Lithium batteries.  The only complaint I have about the smaller digital cameras is that they do not have a "view finder".  Oh! I know they all have a small LCD screen, which for most of the time is OK,  but they are useless when trying to shoot against the sun.   The much more expensive SLR type do have a view finder so they are OK,  but sometimes it just isn't possible to use the smaller camera,  simply because one cannot see the "picture"

Bill

[jane l]

thanks LLoydy and Bill- my list is getting longer  but a veiw finder is looking like a Must 
jane

[john_w]

My advice, as a very amateur amateur would be to make sure it's got a viewfinder (and that's not easy or cheap)!!  It's all very well having these screens on the rear of the camera for indoor photographs, but outdoor photography is horrendous if that is the only view you have of the subject, and especially so if the sun happens to be shining, you can't see a thing via the screen!!

Good point. The other option is to see if the camera has variable brightness for the rear screen. My  LZ10 has that facility  and it is some years old.

The screen automatically varies the brightness so that it can be seen clearly even in tropical sunlight. It also has a High Angle setting to make it easy to see the screen when the camera is held overhead.