What's the best small digital camera less than $200?

Question

I'm looking for a small digital camera for my wife. She saw a friends Pentax S and she want's one like that, and I want to know which one is the most reliable.

Answer 1

Well, Pentax cameras are far from the best so I would go with another brand. I'll make a recommendation but you should consider other factors such as how many megapixels she would want and how much zoom. My guess is that you are looking for a simple point and shoot camera for printing 4 x 6 photos and if that is the case then a 3MP to 5MP camera with a 3x zoom should be just fine.



However if you can go just a little over $200, I like the 8MP Minolta Dimage X1 for $230 which has a 3x optical zoom, it is also a very slim camera and has a 2.5 inch LCD display.



Check out Cnet reviews and Steves-Digicams for a comprehensive run down of cameras, prices and specs.

Answer 2

stay away from the pentax. they are cheap because they are made cheap, and don't work. I just bought a panasonic lumix DMC-Fx8 and its perfect. less than 1 inch thin, 3x zoom (12x total 4Xdigital) and a 2.5 inch lcd like the minolta. the best feature about this camera is the mega o.i.s which is panasonic's optical image stabilization. it makes the pictures so much better, becuase most bad pictures are because of camera shake, and not the zoom or the hardware