I want to buy my parents a digital camera for christmas but I don't know anything about them. Can anyone offer any advice on what to look for or the one you have and if you like it. Thanks.
My advice is go with a company that is known for making cameras both film and digital - Nikon, Canon, Olympus and stay away from the Computer company cameras (some work and some don't). Higher megapixels are better and you want more optical zoom than digital (digital zoom is blurry).
I have the Canon powershot A95 and I love it. Not sure what the price on it is. Its a 5 megapixel with a 3.0 optical zoom and a 12 digital zoom which i never use. I can email you a link to look at some pictures I've taken with it if you are interested. Just pm me your email - I can't remember if I still have it.
I'm not an electronics buff by any means, so I have no advice as far as what to look for when you're buying a digital camera. However, I just bought a new one last week (now I just have to work up the courage to post in thread style) so I thought I'd share. I got the Canon Power Shot A520, recommended by the guy at Best Buy. It has 4.0 megapixels and 4x optical zoom ( not sure what that stuff means), and cost about $250. This is a picture I took in New York yesterday... I don't know if it's high enough quality for you, but I'm satisfied
I am looking too. This is what I have found: I agree with the above posts about zoom and brands. I like canon but they cost a little more, I think I am deciding it is worth it. I was told you don't need over 4 megapixels unless you want to make posters or very large pics. I liked the sony because it is so easy to use. The canon has a lot of features that I like as well.
The optical zoom is like a standard film camera's zoom. Its when the lense shoots out of the camera sorta. Digital zoom is like when you are editing pics at home on the computer and you try to zoom in and after a certain point it gets blurry and hard to make out.
Higher megapixels means sharper images. They can make a difference with your pics but I think you are safe if you go with a 4 or higher.
I think my Canon was totally worth it. i really wanted a Nikon but they were even pricer than the canon.
I don't know much about sony's cameras except my brother has a digital and it lasted 2 years before it malfunctioned. It will cost more to send it in for repair (to sony) than to buy a new one at the store which is riduculous!! Something inside the camera came loose so you have to tap the bottom to get the view finder window to turn on (the big screen on the back of the camera) and if its not on it won't capture the thing you are taking a pic of.