Advice please?

[redisbest]

I'm an 18 year old who is planning on spending next year in the Rockies and on the Pacific coast from September to December, and from January to April in South Africa.

I am by no means a photographer, but would definitely be willing to put in effort this summer to learn how to use a new camera before I leave.
While I am on my trip, I will be doing everything from hiking to mountain biking to living literally on the beach for a week in south africa, to volunteering in schools and orphanages and churches and hospitals... and of course visiting the zoo in Africa.

so basically I want a camera that will let me have excellent pictures to remember this trip, in essentially every physical setting. While hiking/biking/living on the beach i would of course have the camera in my pack, but I would need a camera that I could easily put away in a rush and wouldn't take that long to set up either.

I want pictures of nature, wild animals, good pics of friends especially... indoor pics... I want it all. A little idealistic, i know.

Does anyone have any advice on a digital camera to buy for my needs for hopefully no more than 500$ canadian? (lemmie know if you have one in mind that's more though, i don't <i>want</i> to spend a whole lot of money but would possibly be willing to).
I would prefer something closer to point-shoot than five minute adjustment for each pic... but am really looking for whatever camera you think would best meet my situation. This would most likely be the camera I would own until it broke, because I don't want to be a photographer, I just want to be skilled enough with my quality camera to take really good pictures (hopefully).

Thanks in advance! And post as many as you think I might find beneficial!

[Norm in Fujino]

You might consider the Olympus mju mini (aka Stylus Verve). It's tiny, 4 megapixels, mostly automatic, and water-resistant. Plus very stylish. In regard to your overall plans, however, you'd better think about how you're going to save photos on such a long trip. If 1 Giga XD cards are available by the time of your trip you can probably take 400+ photos at high resolution (SHQ) on one card, but after that you'll have to have a way of downloading them to a storage device while on the road, which may be difficult (unless you're taking along a laptop computer as well). Another option would be to buy two 512k cards; when one gets full, mail it home and have someone download the photos and remail the card to you at your next destination--assuming you can trust the mails where you're going. See the Verve at:

Olympus Stylus Verve (http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_product_lobbypage.asp?l=1&p=16&bc=27&product=1130)

[Rex914]

The Stylus Verve is weatherproof, but it doesn't take very good photos not to mention that it's not incredibly flexible either. He is asking for a versatile camera that can take good, memorable photos for about $350 USD.

At that price point, the A95 ($325) always seems to pop up, but its 3x zoom might be too limited for your use. A Canon S60 ($400) might be better suited for you. It's a compact camera with a bunch of nice manual features.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s60-front.jpg

Some people here like the Nikon Coolpix 5400 ($300). It's a little larger than your average compact, but it's very versatile, and it's a camera that you can grow with. And you can get it for a steal at $299 after a $200 rebate! I highly recommend this camera for your use.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/nikon/coolpix5400-front.jpg

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 ($350) is another excellent choice. It has a very versatile 12X zoom and is about as compact as the 5400. It's another all purpose camera that's still light enough to not be a burden.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_fz3-front.jpg

[gary_hendricks]

I'm an 18 year old who is planning on spending next year in the Rockies and on the Pacific coast from September to December, and from January to April in South Africa.

I am by no means a photographer, but would definitely be willing to put in effort this summer to learn how to use a new camera before I leave.
While I am on my trip, I will be doing everything from hiking to mountain biking to living literally on the beach for a week in south africa, to volunteering in schools and orphanages and churches and hospitals... and of course visiting the zoo in Africa.

so basically I want a camera that will let me have excellent pictures to remember this trip, in essentially every physical setting. While hiking/biking/living on the beach i would of course have the camera in my pack, but I would need a camera that I could easily put away in a rush and wouldn't take that long to set up either.

I want pictures of nature, wild animals, good pics of friends especially... indoor pics... I want it all. A little idealistic, i know.

Does anyone have any advice on a digital camera to buy for my needs for hopefully no more than 500$ canadian? (lemmie know if you have one in mind that's more though, i don't <i>want</i> to spend a whole lot of money but would possibly be willing to).
I would prefer something closer to point-shoot than five minute adjustment for each pic... but am really looking for whatever camera you think would best meet my situation. This would most likely be the camera I would own until it broke, because I don't want to be a photographer, I just want to be skilled enough with my quality camera to take really good pictures (hopefully).

Thanks in advance! And post as many as you think I might find beneficial!

Hi you can take a look at the following lists which I've compiled on my website:

http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/top-10-popular-digital-cameras-under-300.html
http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/top-10-ultracompact-digital-cameras.html
http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/top-10-advanced-digital-cameras.html

Best of luck! :)