I am new to the internet world only had my p166 for one month, but I'm not new to photography, I want a digital camera, but want to do the research first, all of the pixels and tonal things are about to confuse me, (alot), I consider myself a better than average camera person, least wise thats what everyone tells me, but I want to know what the best picks are out there, camera's with the least amount of customer complaints, and with ease of use, I don't want to have to get a rocket science degree to figure out how to use it, and load my pics in the computer. I have owned quite a few camera's in my day, ranging from nikon to canon. can you help?

-- Rebel Johnson (rebelyel@HiWAAY.net), February 09, 1999

Answers

I would suggest one of two things:

1. A Nikon Coolpix 900 or 900s - depending on your level of photography. The 900s is definitely more geared towards to professional......it has a larger MB card and an external flash extra capability. I recently purchased the 900 (and purchased a larger MB card with it) and LOVE it. I also would recommend purchasing a card reader........check out http://www.sandisk.com They act as another drive. You just pop your card in and go. The other camera on the market that is really good is the Kodak DC 260. I researched quite a bit and those two cameras are (at this time anyway) considered the top two. Of course the price is steep.

2. My other recommendation:

Evidently this month in Las Vegas there is supposed to be a camera show - new models are supposed to be introduced. You may want to wait a month or so and see if they have any newer, cheaper, better (etc) cameras becoming available. Good luck!

-- Jody Kind (kind@telisphere.com), February 10, 1999.

Rebel-

There's definitely a lot coming up that you'll probably want to wait for, especially if you have a strong photo background: The new crop of digicams are getting to be a lot more like conventional film cameras, in that more of them have shutter priority, aperture priority, etc, giving you a lot more creative control. We'll have some info posted here on some interesting cameras Tuesday and Wednesday of next week (under non-disclosure until then). Dennis Curtin has a great overview site on digital photography that could answer a lot of questions for you. It's at www.shortcourses.com. We also have some tutorial stuff posted here that may be helpful - check the "Tips and FAQs" link in the left-hand nav bar. Good Luck!

-- Dave Etchells (hotnews@imaging-resource.com), February 13, 1999.