I have $400 to blow on a digital camera and wanted to know what you guys thought was the best thing going.

I've used two different Fuji cameras and liked both, but I have no experience with any of the other cameras on the market.  

What do you guys think is the best I can get for that price?  

I'm an unabashed, clearly biased Nikon freak, so I'll just send you here:  http://www.dpreview.com

Well the best that money can buy as far as picture quality is a Sony DSC-F707.  Price, Retail $999.00 in Jan 2002.  Probably hasn't come down any since it's the only 5.2 Megapixel camera on the market as of right now (I believe).  In the $400.00 range the best you could do is probably a 3.3 Megapixel camera if you're wanting new (I recommend new over refurbished).  Two that come to mind are the HP Photosmart 715 and the Toshiba PDR-M71.  I personally would go for the Toshiba due to the more extensive manual features as well as the auto features.  Also it has an 'audio' capability if you choose to use it as a video cam, either hooked to a 'puter' or using a memory card.  Good luck.  Karl.

S O N Y-M A V I C A Hands Down!

[x]

I'm a dedicated Canon fan when it comes to larger cameras, but in the pocket digitals, the Nikon is a cut above the rest!  Canon are slightly crisper and better made, but for the money, the Nikon's are the best bang for the buck.  I have a Nikon 775 and absolutely love it.  Keep in mind that you'll still need to pick up EXTRA batteries, memory cards ($100 for 256mb) and a card reader to speed things up.  

I have a sony DSC-S50 GREAT CAMERA.
2.1 mega-pixel, takes memorystick, it does little video clips with sound too (great for precious short moments...

The DSC-S75 is similar with 3 Megapixels IIRC...

That sony is $950 at B&H [url]www.bhphotovideo.com[/url]

They actually have 6.17Mpixel cameras (fuji) that can interpolate up to 12Mpixel... so the sony is far from the top of the line.

At the $400 price range... [url]http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh1.sph/FrameWork.class?FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist_html___260792___FUFP3800___REG___CatID=1082___SID=F14AC24AB40[/url]

They sell that one for 399.99, it has a 6x optical zoom, and 3.2Mpixels.

The things I'd suggest to look for:

1) optical zoom... this is what the lens itself will be able to zoom in on. Digital zoom is roughly the same thing as blowing up a picture in photoshop (digital zoom degrades or pixelates the image).

2) Megapixels... depending on what you want to use this for, this may or may not be a factor. Higher resolution (as shown by Mpixesl) will allow for larger and better photos (which can be later downsized as needed).

3) Accessories... Unfortunately, at that price range, there wont be any cameras that have interchangeable lenses, flashes, etc... so this is really not going to be much of an issue for you.

Hope this helps,

Good luck!

The Kodak 4.0 megapixel with 3x optical/2xdigital zoom is available for about $400.  Does anybody know if they are any good?

I just bought a Sony Cybershot blah, blah, 2.1 megapixel and it's awesome.  I got it for $259.  It plugged right in to my XP laptop via USB with no hassles.  The quality is nice and it's simple to use.

Unless you're looking to do VERY high quality pix, 2-3 MP is plenty.  If you're a pro or a graphic artist, anything more is overkill in my opinion.  Hey, at this rate, 4 and 5 megapixel cameras will be in the $400 range in 6 months if you want to wait.  Otherwise, 2-3 should be fine.

My humble opinion.

MustangMan

I own Canon Powershot S10 (no longer available) which I bought 3 or 4 years ago.  No problem what so ever!  It has very good battery life.
Picture quality is very good to excellent.  I know two guys that own Fuji digital camera.  They are always complaining about short battery life. One of them told me Fuji broke for no reason.   If you look at the Nov 2002 issue of Consumer Reports magazine, Sony ranked the top in terms of reliability.  Followed by Canon, Olympus, Fuji/Fuji Film, HP, Kodak, Nikon, Epson, and Polaroid.  For $400 and under, Consumer Reports mag recommends Kodak EasyShare DX3600 Zoom and Nikon Coolpix 2500 for their ability to produce images that rivaled higher megapixel models.  These two cameras are 2-megapixels.

I still prefer the Fuji's

Sony now has the DSC-F717, which improves on the DSC-F707. Canon also now has the PowerShot G3, which improves on the PowerShot G2.

But those cameras are $$$. I know you can get a good 3.1 megapixal camera for $400 these days.

I've bought stuff from Focus Camera before. They are okay, but jam you on shipping.

[url]www.focuscamera.com[/url]

Actually, for $600 you can now get the Canon PowerShot G2, which is pretty good considering it was $800 just a couple of months ago.

[url]www.ecost.com[/url] is a great source for high quality, low cost digicams.

I recently bought an Olympus C4000, 4.0 megapixel, zoom that I am very happy with.  I see it is available on mYSimon.com for around $365 plus shipping.

Here are a couple things I learned that are not covered. Make sure the on/off switch will not turn on when you put it in your pocket. I hate when I pull out my camera and the batteries are dead. Give it a smack to make sure the battery holder doesn't fall out.

Look for optical quality and zoom capabilities, over the MP count.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.  I'm currently the most interested in the Nikon Coolpix 4300 (thanks Paul); it seems to have the most features for the money.  And it's 4 megapixels!