My budget is under 400 Need Help please!

[Ali]

I am looking for a digital camera under 400 and there are just too many options, I dont know where to start. I love to take pics of my kids, pics for work, etc. I would like to be able to produce large pics, so I have been looking at about 5 mega pixels. Also, I have been looking for something with a decent optical zoom, in case my kids were playing at the park and I wanted to zoom in on an expression or something. Also-- this is Really important, Action shots. My 35mm right now is Horrible with this, because of the delay. I ALWAYS miss the shot. So, I would love to be able to take some action shots. Thank you very much!
Ali

[PhilR.]

The list of 5mp cams under $400 is a pretty short one. I don't know what you mean by "decent optical zoom", but I don't know of any sub-$400 5mp cameras with more than a 3x optical. It shouldn't be too hard to compile a list of sub-$400 5mp cameras and pick the one with the highest zoom.

Since you put an emphasis on speed, you might consider the Sony DSC-W1.

PhilR.

[wesborland]

Like PhilR said, there is nothing under 400$ with both 5 MP and a bigger than 3x zoom. But if you are willing to lower to 4MP, the Nikon 4800 has a 8x zoom.

If you really want the 5 Megapixels, the w1 is definetly a good choice. It only has 3x zoom, but you can buy an add-on lens (from Sony) to extend it to around a 6 or an 8x optical zoom.

Hope that helps,
WesBo