I thinking of getting a new digital camera especially for travel. I want to take GREAT photos of wildlife far away as well as wonderful landscape shots. I would like something over 4 megapexals because I would like to blow them up but, would also, like to send them email. I have read tons of reviews on a lot of different cameras but, there are so many and I would like to hear of camera you have used that made you glad you bought it. I also, don't want to spend a tremendous amount of money, not over $500.00. Can anyone offer any suggestions? Thanks, in advance.

For wildlife photos, you need a long zoom. I would recommend the Olympus C750. With its 10x Optical Zoom and 40x Digital Zoom, it will get the shots that you want. It also takes nice quicktime movies if you want to take short videos. I used it in Yellowstone last summer and got some great shots.

Good advice from Otis. I just bought an olympus-same or similar model and its easy to use and has a great optical zoom (10X). It is only 3.2 megapixials though. It also came with a big memory card, although I think that the store's own promotion. Now if only I could figure out how to get those pictures from the camera to the computer and printer.

If you are really planning on blowing up your pics you need to set the camera on a very high resolution. That will mean you will need LOTS of memory.

I would not count on the digital zoom ...because that is no different from enlarging your pic. IF you use didital zoom AND then blow it up, your pics wil lose sharpness.

If you email them to friends you can alway drop the size and resolution of the pic so it transmit faster.

OKay, thanks for your advice and suggestions. Sounds like the Olympus is for me. I think it's reasonably priced as well.

Am finally considering switching from traditional to digital but VERY wary of losing speed. I often depend on a hair-trigger shutter to catch something quickly, and I often use higher film speed to catch things like water in motion. Do I have to spend more than $500 to get quick response in a digital camera? Recommendations?

soccr - I've read several reviews about Kyocera digital cameras having very fast startup time, and it can shoot continuous shoot at high fps until the memory card fills up. [Best when you use a high-speed memory card.] I think Kyocera calls it "RTune". www.kyoceraimaging.com

The cheapest model, SL300R, with 3.2MP should start below $300.

Rachel,

I've got an Olympus C-740, which sounds like the one you have. It should have come with a CD that includes a software application called CAMedia, plus a USB cable.

Install the CAMedia software. Then attach one end of the USB cable to the port inside the door on the left side of the camera, and attach the other end of the cable to a USB port on your computer. Turn the camera on, and your computer should recognize it and automatically start the CAMedia software. (If it doesn't, you can always start the CAMedia software via the Start button in Windows.) Then just click on the task you want to do (copy photos to the computer, print, whatever), and that should do it.

Hope this helps...

Instead of hooking up your cam to your computer wiht a USB cable, buy a media card reader. They are cheap(sometimes even free with rebates).

It will be much easier trasferring the images to your computer and you won't wear down your battteries.

Dick, I'm new to digital cameras. Can you explain exactly what a media card reader is and how it works?

You insert your camera's removeable media card into the card reader.

You can then view or transfer images just as they were on a separate drive.

It is much faster and more convenient to use. You can buy one for less than $20.

i have one of those media card readers that came free with my pc, but Dick is right, you can get them pretty cheap. I believe they usually read several different formats, which is great, since in my case MP3 player uses a different one than the digital camera.

I've love, love, loved my Canon Elph 4 mega pixel camera. I purchased it for a vacation, and have really used it a lot since then. I've blown up several images to 8x10s with beautiful results. The new general (5 megapixel) is now out. It has a number of cool options, and it's tiny enough to be super simple to lug with you anywhere.