How much should i expect to spend on a digital camera that has adequate reliability and features?

Question

Any brands or models in mind?

Answer 1

Look to spend at least $200 on the camera alone for anything remotely "decent." If you can pony up $300, that's where the good cameras start.

You should look for a name brand camera, with a good lens. Good lenses will always be advertised on the front and some good ones include: Leica, Nikon, Canon, and Carl Zeiss.

Then look for an OPTICAL image stabilizer. This helps to prevent blur caused by hand movements in low light. These will always be advertised. These might also be called MegaOIS, VR, IS or OpticalSR. Don't be sold on digital, its in every camera and can make pictures noisy (like a staticy picture).

Then you need to figure out what kind of zoom range you want. Some of cameras come with 28mm wide angle lenses. This lets you fit in more people and takes pictures to what your eye actually sees. I would suggest it, but it does shorten your zoom. Maybe look for this with an ultra long zoom.

You also need to know what type of camera you want and what type of photographer you are. Are you the type who likes them big, or ultra tiny. Do you enjoy editting you photographs using applications like Photoshop, or do you want great pictures right away?

Well if you like the editing, try a Canon or Nikon. They will give  decent pictures and capture the most detail. Thus, they're great for editting. You should consider RAW image format if you like to edit pictures. Sidenote: Panasonic is great too, but you won't need to do much editing.

If you don't like to edit, then go for a Panasonic or the more expensive Nikons. They give great pictures from the get go. Not much need to edit at all. Especially if you get the Panasonics with "Intelligent Auto" which will do your scenes for you too.

Now with that said here are some models I quite like. Note that prices and availability will vary from region to region and prices here are approximate is USD/CAD. You didn't really say anything specific so they're quite general here.

Nikon S550 - Nice Price (~$250), Decent picture, but slight colour issues in mixed fluorescent lighting (can be fixed with editing).

Nikon S600 - Excellent camera. Colour problems of the S550 fixed in this model.

Panasonic FS3 - Good camera. Great price (~$200). Standard lenses.

Panasonic FX33 - Awesome pictures. Still made in Japan if I remember right. ~$300

Panasonic TZ5 - A lens to die for, wide angle and 10x zoom with it. 3 in screen and still rather small. ~$400

Panasonic FZ18 - Big, but 18x zoom and manual controls.

Panasonic LS75 - Pretty standard, but with manual controls.

Canon SD870IS - Good, but a tad overpriced in my mind.

Note that the aforementioned models all carry name brand lenses and optical image stabilizer. You need to pick for yourself what you want. You need to go to a good camera store for this. Expect a selection of over 30 cameras and knowledgeable staff. You should be able to try the camera there before you buy it. Ask about warranties as well, good places will handle the warranty on your behalf if something goes wrong.

Now a word on memory cards. Don't buy the cheap ones. It only takes one crash to lose a lifetime of memories. SanDisk and Lexar are good brands. A Higher speed card will substantially reduce waiting tie between photos. Back up photographs regularly.

You might have noticed I don't say much on mega pixels. This is simple because anything decent will have more than enough. 5 will do for nearly everyone, so you've got plenty. Image quality is more related to the camera quality, rather than pixels.

It's been quite a read, but I hope this helps. Have fun shooting (photographs, not animals =P). Update your question if you want to ask more. I visit regularly, but I don't answer often as it takes a lot of time.

.

Answer 2

If you're not getting into photography in a big way, and just take pictures once in a while, and leave camera in a draw for 2 or 3 months then inexpensive Canon should do fine. $120, $100, in that ball park. The Canon A550 or Canon A460.