Our last digital camera walmart cheapie bit the dust less than a year after purchase.

I am looking for a new one. Anyone have any advice on a digital camera under $180.00?

I am looking at a Fuji S700.

Seth (and Becky)

http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/

Some things to consider--how easy is the user interface? Does it use a proprietary battery or something like AA? Does it have an optical viewfinder or just an LCD screen? If you're outdoors or on the water, can it take a polarizing filter?

This is a great thing to have--protects the LCD screen from scratches and shades the LCD screen in the sun.
http://www.delkin.com/products/popupshades/mini/

If you decide to get a new camera check out this site www.buydig.com. they have good the best prices. I just ordered a camera from there and I could not recomend any other place. And I worked At fry's electronics for 7 year. Also try and get more than a 3x zoom this is one of the most important features. after 5mp the picture quality is only good for poster size. Look at the canon sx1000 is a little over your price range but well worth the money. If your looking for pocket size its a little big then try the Canon PowerShot A570. Sorry I get carried away about cameras.

Get a sony point and shoot. The one they have for $199 about everywhere is like getting a $700 camera 2 years ago. And I take pictures for a living. Well sorta!

JP recommended the Olympus 790SW to me and it has been a great camera. It's very small, water proof, shock proof, freeze proof, and takes great pictures.

You can get them on the internet for around $250.00 I know it's more than you want to spend but when you consider the fact that you can stick it in a bowl of water or as in my case accidentally throw it three rows down at a Cowboy game and it still works it's worth the extra money.



Here's a picture I took with it.

Sony, Canon, or Panasonic. Sony is my favorite and is absolutely top-notch, but they use that stupid proprietary Memory Stick, and they are the only ones who do.

I am with Monty on the Olympus waterproof. My next one for the boat. I have a Kodak ZD710 we bought at W-M on Black Friday last Nov. for under $150.00 It takes great pictures. Uses SD card. A card reader for it is $9.99 at W-M.

I suggest the Sony Cybershot W80. I bought one for my daughter and it takes great pictures. It also takes great videos for posting on the internet or on a slideshow.

The Fuji S700 is an awesome camera for the money. 10x zoom, very quick startup, fast zoom, very short lapse between pictures. Actually has a very good video mode. Uses 4 AA batteries, but doesn't use much power. We got over 200 pictures on our fist set of batteries.

Very easy and simple to use. All shooting modes are explained on the LCD screen. BTW, the user can toggle between the LCD and viewfinder with a touch of a button.

Only negative thing is its 'anti shake' feature. Isn't a true antishake feature, just speeds up the shutter a notch. Still takes a quality pic.

Invest a little more in the high speed memory card. It's worth it.

Joe

Olympus 790SW, or if you don't need the waterproof feature, then go with one of the Kodak ZD710's & I know it will work for you. I've got both of these, and like them equally well. I recommend getting a camera that uses AA size batteries and then getting the Everready battery chargers and rechargable batteries. That way for very little money, you can take all the pics you ever need and not spend a fortune on batteries. Also, make sure that whatever you buy uses a regular SD memory card. That way, you can take advantage of getting them at really cheap sale prices 'cause every office supply store frequently puts them on sale as "Door-Buster Specials."