Affordable digital cameras

Just thought I'd point out this website as well: http://www.dpreview.com/ If your lookin at a specific camera, you may wanna check what kinda reviews its gotten here.

I have just got the Kodak DX6490 4mp 10xoptical zoom plus a macro mode that gets as low as 1". A very impressive camera, however from ebay you could not go past a Kodak DC290, excellent camera and my mainstay until upgrading to the DX6490

Cheers

Mike

Thanks for all the advice! ( in the USA here, btw)

I love my Canon PowerShot A70, and it was only about 34,000 yen (about $323 USD).
It's over a year old now, so I think you can get them even cheaper.
It's got a great macro focus feature, and takes really good up-close model shots (even with a ham-fisted gorilla like me using it).

You need to tell us which country you're in, the price of cameras varies enormously. I recently got a Panasonic Lumix 5 & it's just great. It was about AUS$900 in Oz but we have some outrageous duties & taxes on such things, so I think it'd be much cheaper if you're in the US. It has a Leica lens w. 12x optical zoom, which is huge. All of the good overrides available if you want to tweak the shot.

For what you're willing to spend, you should be able to find a VERY good mid-range camera. Depending whether it's US or CAD currency, ofcourse. Either way, I can suggest taking a look at Canon and Kodak, as IMHO they have some very good digicams and are 'affordable'.
WHat you want is a minimum of 3 megapixels, and some decent onboard memory. Also, take a look at what kind of memory peripherals the camera will take. For example, Sony camera's use Sony's own proprietary memory sticks, which is a good way to rob you of even more money, so go with a camera that takes generic standards memory.

I have several Nikon CoolPix cameras and after breaking the latest one, I decided to purchase my first: CoolPix 775. You will not find it in the shops, but e-Bay will provide you with one for around $70. It's a fantastic little camera, perfect for web photos, giving great results on a screen and provided you have a decent printer, gives fantastic prints. Only 2 megapix but I'm not certain more is required if you are only using pics for web purposes... It features a 3X optical zoom which I find good enough for my braille scale models.

I bought a Kodak cx6330 about a year ago for $180 cdn, its 3.2 megapixels, 3x optical zoom and I've seen better cameras recently for the same price. If your just looking for a point and shoot camera, something similar should be fine. I've found Kodak digital cameras are very user-friendly compared to other brands.