If you can afford it the DC707 is the best.I have a Cannon C30 right now which i really like but I am saving up for a 707. I would avoid the mavica as it eats batteries like no other and the disk function is only helpfull if you take very few pictures. The sony and the cannon both have microdrive capibility which means up to 1 gig backup on one drive. Very nice you can shot for a month without filling up the drive even at max resolution.

 

The Fuji 2800 is great for only $399 has 6x Optical zoom. for about twice as much ($799) the Fuji 6900 is better with 6mp and the great zoom lens...

 

Check out this link for Sony's latest:

Six megapixels!!!

Article says that samples will start out at $4500 and drop to around $750 once it goes into commercial production.

 

I love my Nikon 995. The price was even better $350 techbargains.com is now my favorite website of all time!

 

I've got a Canon S100, 2.1 megapixels. A good little camera but the battery life sucks big time. They last a disgustingly short time.

 

Speaking as someone on his 3rd. digital camera, I'd agree with a lot of what's been said. Go for at least 3 megapixels if you can. You never know when you may want to do a bigger print and that's when it becomes important. Think about spending some money if there's any spare, on a larger storage media card. This greatly extends the useability of the camera when you're out and about. Try to get one with a USB connection or a fast card reader. Connecting the camera to the CPU via a serial cable is a painfully slow way of uploading your pics.

Anyone who uses a digital camera would be well advised to invest in a set of NIMH batteries and charger which are very reasonably priced and give massive increases in battery/life, useability, compared to Nicads or Alkaline batteries.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by The Raptor
[B]I've been pleased with my Nikon Coolpix 990.

 

there are quite a bit of products out there... the best option is to go to http://www.steves-digicams.com/
I can give some advice: i'm a product engineer for digital cameras and camera x.

If you are looking for begineer/ intermediate and excellent image quality: Kodak DX4900: 4mp $399. I just got to use one at PMA in orlando (photography marketing assoc.) last month. i was impressed. 20x30 prints

if you want a more advanced camera then i would go for the nikon d1 or even the olympus e-20.
both are exceptional cameras. i'm looking at getting a e20 right now. i currently have a kodak dc4800, which i absolutely love and several un-announced products, that are going to be wicked awesome, but if i told you then i would have to kill you... lol.

have any questions, please email me and i'll see what i can do to help.