Digital Camera

Daemon_Aconis

Hello everyone,

Looking to get a little xmas gift for myself in the form of a digital camera. I have a budget of about $700 for the basics (i.e. not worried about a full set of extra lenses, case, etc. Just the body, the base lens and a small mem card).

I want something that can be used by an amateur photographer who is beyond point-and-click autofocus cameras with only digital zoom (god those are terrible), but not to the point of requiring memorizing lighting and color charts. It has to have optical zoom options, and preferably the ability to change/replace lenses.

Basically, i'm a bit lost. If you have advice, or can point me at sites with reviews that are trustworthy and not jargon laden, I would appreciate it.

Sheri

If you're looking for a dSLR, the Canon Rebel XT/XTi or Nikon D50 or D70 can all be found for somewhere in those price ranges (depending on if it's body only or with a lens or whatever).

If you want a fancy-style point-and-shoot with a good manual mode (teaches you the basics of photography, but it's still a point-and-shoot), the Canon Powershot S3 is a nice one. There are adapters for different lenses and such, but I'd still recommend the step to a dSLR, if you have the money to spare.

Good reviews can be found at www.dpreview.com and some good user-based reviews can be found at www.fredmiranda.com