I know next to nothing: please help!

[ojennyo]

:confused:

I'd appreciate anyone's advice on my first purchase of a digital camera......my preferences:

Budget: Under $250 US

Size: small to mid size, appropriate for a traveller

Megapixels: a friend told me at least 4

Optical zoom: I assume standard, I'm a novice

imgage quality: 7.5 - 9

useage:
mostly travel shots: landscapes and people.... and "standard everyday use" birthday parties, at the beach, holidays etc

big prints? rarely if at all

low light: i figure i'll encounter a pretty decent amount of indoor/low light photo ops

action shots: probably not much

brands: my dad says cannon, olympus or fuji....someone told me HP isnt bad for novices

basically, i want simplicity, reliability and quality for cheap....is that possible? i dont know anything about memory/batteries in cameras, but I'd like something that will hold a good # of pics and whose battery will last a decent amount of time

thanks for your help!!!!!!

[dyablohunter]

I think you should look up two cameras...first one: The Fujifilm Finepix E550. The second: HP Photosmart R707 or R717. Here's two links for them:
www.steves-digicams.com and www.dpreview.com, it's pretty easy to find them. At steves clik on camera reviews and then select the model you like to view; at dpreview clik on the cameras menu and select the brand to view.
There are also best prices from where to buy there...I myself would prefer the fuji E550. goodluck

[timmciglobal]

The Fuji F10 is a great camera. A few more dollars then you want to spend but it may be worth it in long run for excelent photos. (afterall how many times do you get to take picture of your newborn nephew (hehe, well ok but your poor sister has to go threw that everytime just to get new pictures!)

:)

Tim