Buying my First Digital Camera, Need Help

[Dyne]

I know there's a lot of digital cameras out there, but knowing which one is the best is rather difficult. So I was curious to know if anyone could give me some pointers on what's good and what's not so good. I want to spend under $200. So if anyone has any ideas, hints, tips or suggestions, please, let me know.

Thanks!

Edit

I should note, that it's just for personal use, I'm not doing anything professional with it, at least, not yet, unless I happen to pull a "Peter Parker" and go freelance. Heh heh...

[Katsurugi]

For under $200 USD, I suggest the Canon A540. Canon's A-series is very good for casual users while allowing some flexibility with it's variety of different modes (easily accessible on a wheel) as well as some albeit limited manual mode. 6 MP and 4x optical zoom. The Nikon "equivalent" would be the Nikon Coolpix L6. 6 MP and 3x optical zoom. The main difference is that the Nikon lacks the convienent wheel for changing modes but also has a huge 2.5" screen. Canon's extra boost with the optical zoom is an added extra.

Depends on where your priorities are. It's sometimes very nice to see your pictures on a larger screen. But realize that a larger screen means higher power consumption and thus, lower battery life. I really do like Canon, but that's my own personal preference. The only reason I don't include the other brand names like Sony or Olympus or Kodak etc. is because Canon and Nikon are extremely good at making lenses. Aberrations are less apparent and there is good quality control as well. Sony lenses tend to have some purple fringing. But usually, only nitpicky people tend to notice these slight imperfections.

Also note that with any point and shoot (compact) camera, you will get some red eye. In my experience Kodak cameras are pretty good with removing red eye and have exceptional white balance, but are too simplistic in their design. (They need a sports mode at the very least!)