So while in Mexico last October, my Kodak Easyshare gave up. Thankfully, it was in Mexico, and not Europe!!!!
I am considering:
--Fujifilm FinePix S5200

--Canon PowerShot A620 (has a 180* swivel
LCD, which is kinda cool

--Nikon Coolpix 7600

They are all priced about the same (less than $300) but I am hoping for your input-
I want my Italy pics to be perfect, of course! And since my Kodak died after less than 3 years of only moderate use, I am hoping to get a more durable camera
Thanks!

I took am shopping digital cameras, and the Canon A620 has me very interested. This site has been very helpful in selecting a camera.

http://www.neocamera.com/

Just before my recent trip I bought my first digital and went with the Sony P200. It took great pictures.

I've been a fan of Olympus and Fuji for several years now. I like the xD media. I just purchased a Finepix 9000S for our next trip and also a Z-1 to fit in my wife's purse. It is great for our evening dinners and such because it is so small. Good luck!

2Italy I want the 9000 series for Italy!

I have an S-5000 and my DW has the F10. We should manage in all circumstances with those two, but the 9000S would make a nice upgrade for me.

Daisy - The S5200 would actually be a great upgrade for me and especially because of the price! If you like the way that Fuji feels by all means get it. I have had great fun with my S5000.

I too like the xD media and am looking forward to those evening and low-light shots with the handy F10.

VS

I have the Canon PowerShot A620 and I love it!!! Its lightweight, easy to use and takes great photos. I have had nothing but great results with it.

I have two Nikon Coolpixes but there are other good cameras in the same range. The Sony has good cameras which have Schneider lenses. They produce superior photos-better than my last Nikon.

The main thing is the battery choice,when you're going to travelling. I would try to buy something which uses AA batteries. Many of the cameras have nice lith.-ion batteries and they're quite fine for being home. Yet, when you're on a long trip, the AA batteries are everywhere. When you're home, you can buy a couple of rechargeable batteries, to keep the prices down.

Now that you've been sorted about the batteries, there's another issue.

You want some sort of keeping your new photos. Most cameras will have some sort of memory card. Sony uses a unique memory card and it's not really found everywhere. Plus, it's more expensive than other methods. Ask your camera shop which memory card is best. I have two different models and both seem okay. You want some which have enough room to keep all of your travel photos. I have 512 megabyte cards and I have several. Then I can fill out what photos are filled on one card, I can swap to use the second card.

Again your camera shop guy to ask which size is best for a long trip. I certainly think two 512 cards are minimum for a big trip.

I hope that this has helped a bit. It might be confusing but if you talk your local camera shop, they will give you pretty good advice.

Blackduff

OK, I am no brain when it comes to cameras....but I bought my first 5 megapixel digital camera from HP.

It has 5 mp and 6.1 optical zoom,
it is great!

It is not a professional grade camera, and may not be great for super wide photos, but I got great shots when just using the 3 megapixel option.

And it is about 150 bucks.

midwestgal77-the canon is actually the one I am leaning toward, have you used the swivel lcd? how about photo capacity? It's only about 8ish ounces, right, so perfect for walking around Italy for 2 weeks (the Fuji is over 13
ounces, which could get heavy, or maybe not, I remember lugging around my Minolta SLR on many trips)Thanks to all for your replies, and keep 'em coming!

I like neocamera.com as a resource. You sort by size and then it gives you rankings of the various cameras with links to their reviews.

We'd never had a digital and just bought one prior to our recent Paris trip. For the most part, I was blown away by the quality of pictures I got. But, the price is more (aroound $500). A Konica Minolta A200. It has a range of 28-200 which is perfect for those vacation landscape/architecure and family shots. It too has a fancy flip and twist LCD, but I find that having used a film camera all these years I use the viewfinder 99% of the time.

julies and I have both recommended the same web site...please check it out. It is very useful.

I did go on that site, very very useful indeed! Quite a bit of info and education. Also found the Canon I have been looking at is very well reviewed!
Thanks for the tip!! My trip is in but 44 days , so I figure I should make my final decision, so I can practice with my new toy!
lil Miss Daisy, my spoiled yorkie, is bound to get a bout of "flash burn"
in the next few weeks! ((&amp)

Hi D,

I have a Canon with a 3:1 optical zoom. I got a 2:1 telephoto lens for it. Still not quite good enough.

I suggest that you go for a 10:1. Optical zoom is more important than Megapixels.

Although megapixels can compensate to some degree for running out of zoom range.

I set the resolution at max so I can crop the middle out of a long shot. At hi-res, I can make a decent print of a very small area of the image.

Hi Robe,

Good point, but we point and shoot types want a pic of what we want a pic of.

had the sony 2. megapixil, got fancy and went to 5., back to the 2., smaller and works just as well.

ttt anyone else with input ?

BTW, what if anything, are the differences or benefits of the Fuji's
xD media vs the SD card used by Canon??
The Fujufilm FinePix s5200 and the Canon Powershot A620 are virtually to the penny the same price. (296.65)

The camera I am waiting to buy is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1S it comes out in May, which may be too late for you, but it is a 5 megapixel camera with a 10x optical zoom with image stabilization, shutter release lag time is as little as .006 seconds, shutter interval is approximately .5 seconds and weighs 8 ounces.

It's going to be my birthday present.

Barbara, any idea of the proposed cost of that one?