Here's a few ideas for you..

Ask yourself, what do I want to do with this camera?
What type of photographs do I want to take?
How much xoom do I want?
How close do I want to get to things?

A Digital SLR will give you the most options..but, remember..lens arent cheap..

There are quite a few SLR "like" cameras that are quite nice..

My suggestion is to use the web to see what options you have..

As examples only..

I went to the websites of two major retailers here in the US

Best Buy and Circut City..What great is, they give you options to search by

So I used the under $500 price tag. I'm only suggesting these as references.

This is what I found

Circut City

[ Best Buy

](http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcat17080&type=page&qp=crootcategoryid%23%23-1%23%23-1~~q70726f63657373696e6774696d653a3e313930302d30312d3031~~cabcat0400000%23%230%23%23dh~~cabcat0401000%23%230%23%233e~~nf408%7C%7C24323530202d20243439392e3939&list=y&nrp=15&sc=abCameraCamcorderSP&sp=%2Bbrand+skuid&usc=abcat0400000)now we have something to start looking at..

You could do the same type of search at oneline retaier sites like "New Egg"

On our Community Center page under "useful external links" you find three good places to find reviews of some of the cameras you turned up in your original search.

[http://www.dpreview.com

](http://www.dpreview.com/)[http://www.steves-digicams.com/default.htm

](http://www.steves-digicams.com/default.htm)http://www.dcresource.com/

So from our intial search.. (Circut City)

Canon PowerShot S5 IS 8-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black (POWERSHOTS5IS)

Nikon CoolPix P5100 12.1-Megapixel Digital Camera – Black (COOLPIXP5100)

 

Olympus SP-550UZ 7.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black (SP-550UZ)

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7/B 8.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black (DSC-H7/B)

Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd 8-Megapixel Digital Camera – Black (FINEPIXS8000)

From best Buy

Sony - Cyber-shot 8.1MP Digital Camera - Black

Canon - PowerShot 12.1MP Digital Camera - Black

Panasonic - Lumix 10.2MP Digital Camera

New! FUJIFILM - FinePix 8.0MP Digital Camera - Black

Now you have some ideas about what you can get in that price range..You can use the resources to find out which comes best rated..

If you want to get into a Digital SLR..remember, once you start, your "married" to that brand..Any lens you buy have to work with that brand.

I did a quick seach of Beach Camera. ( bought my camera body there)

I found  the Rebel XT
http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=CNDRXT1855B

Is it the "newest model? no..is it a good camera? yes !

The Rebel XTI

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=CNDRXTI1855B

 

But we are going quite a bit above your price range

How about the Olympus Evolt E-510?

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=OMEVE510KT

and comes with a free 1GB memory card..

Nikon D40 also with a free memory card
[
http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=NKD401855

](http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=NKD401855)
Thi should give you some ideas...feel free to ask more specific questions about makes and models !!

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