Best digital camera for under $600

I don't know where to start, any advice?

[Craig_F]

I've put it off long enough we are finally gonna get a digital camera, but which one?

I'm willing to spend $600 max.

The only things I care about (or know to care about) are:

- I'm no photographer, so good point and shoot results are needed
- I'd like it to be pretty easy to travel with
- We tend to do a good bit of zooming in, so it must do that well

That's it. As you can see I need some help here, anyone?

[Dreamquick]

To be honest the best way to do what you want is to walk into a specialist camera store that sells digital cameras and ask for advice - they do this for a living and since most stock a variety of makes & models you should be able to get reasonably impartial advice.

I did that a few years ago and came out with a camera that lasted me until last xmas when I decided it was time to upgrade.

For the sort of prices you are looking at paying most digital cameras will be simple point and click affairs, over here you're looking at around £500 before you even start to get into the properly configurable cameras.

My little tip is not to be fooled by "digital zoom" as being a replacement for a decent optical zoom - digital zoom simply magnifies the image the same way as any image manipulation package does.

- Tony

[AmericanBulldog]

I recently bought a Fuji Finepix 2800, 2 megapixel, 6x optical zoom.

Nice quality, easy to use, $250 USD

[georgeek]

There was a sort of related thread a few days ago which may help [webmasterworld.com...]

[AAnnAArchy]

I have an Olympus 4040 Zoom and I love it. I had the D-360 before that and really liked that one too, but I wanted better quality.

[DrCool]

I have had my eye on the Olympus C720 or C730. They both have good optical zooms (digital zoom is worthless) and I have had great luck with Olympus cameras in the past.

[TheDave]

I use a sony DSC-717 and it takes very nice pictures in 2048 x something resolution. Its got lots of professional features, such as exposure and apature adjustment. How it compares to other cameras I really couldnt tell you - since my first mavica I've upgraded with other sony cameras. I have however heard that the Olympus is also very good, and I considered one at last upgrade but decided to stick with what I know.