Okay....this may be an unusual question for a herp forum, but I know that you wonderfully helpful people will assist me. I am buying a digital camera, but I am truly clueless about them. Every time I start looking at them I get discouraged with conflicting information. I am looking to spend around $150 to $250. I want to be able to make quality enlargements. I LOVE snap shots of my boys! I am also truly inspired by the pics that you guys share & I want to be able to share quality pics. Do any of you have cameras that you love & would suggest purchasing? Thank you so much.

Nikon D50! Not in the price range you mentioned but I have no trouble catching my son in mid-air jumping down a inflatable slide. The shutter lag I got with a point and shoot digital meant that I missed a lot of action shoots. With the D50 I don't miss a thing! When looking ask about the shudder lag and try to get the one with the least lag. Mega pixels, the more the better! Depending on how big you are planning on making your enlargements 4.0 mp or higher will be fine for 8 X 10's and 10 X 13's. It kind of depends on what quality and size you require!

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0.1.0 Bearded Dragon (Dundee)
1.0.0 Chow/mix Dog (Simba)
1.0.0 Russian Hamster (Bear)
1.1.0 Parakeets (Little Tweet and Feathers)
0.1.0 Long hair gray calico cat (Opal)
0.0.3 Red-eared slider turtles (Mommy, Daddy, Robbie)
0.0.16 Fishy Friends - misc. tropical fish

Yeah, if you want quality you have to pay for it (its a drag, I know!) A 3.2mp camera will do fine on enlargements too and most of them already have a 3:2 ratio so 4x6 inch prints arent cropped at all when you print them where as alot of other cameras have almost a 1:1 ratio which crops a peice of the 9image out.
The d50 is a pretty pricey camera, you might look at the sony cybershot h1, its a decent pro-sumer camera that has a 5mp sensor and it has been going way down in price since the release of the h2. I've seen it for about $375.

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Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

Jcr, you won't find anything valuable in that price range unless you buy second-hand at ebay for example.

My advice is that you look closely at the Canon PowerShot S2 IS (now discontinued therefore cheaper, if you can find it) or its replacement the S3 IS.
This camera has an Image Stabilization (IS) lens feature that will help you get better shots, reducing camera movement and shaking.
It also features a 36-432mm lens which is absolutely a must when field herping because it allows you to get close up shots from a considerable distance. Another feature I love is the super-macro mode that allows you to focus at zero distance.

Anyway, last but not least, make a short list of recommend cameras and get a hands on experience of them, going to a shop where you can nag the clerks for a couple of hours to assist you.
Every shop clerk has a few favorite cameras so visit a few shops to get a better picture of your choices, pardon my pun =)

Good luck!

Btw, here's a couple of links to one of the sites with better and unbiased reviews:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons2is/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

Oh yeah the S2 is nice, it was what I was torn between getting, but I went with the H1, it had less features (features that I wasn't going to use anyways) but the H1 cost about $100 less and still gets the job done great!

__________________

Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos