Budgeting your allocation for camera and accessories are really important in my point of view. Low price, low Quality is not always rite. Most "budget" camera in today's market are by large manufacture by a few OEM company mainly Sanyo, Chinnon and few more others. Therefore quality are up to par as a decent happy photo shapper. Kodak, Canon, Sony, Nikon and others famous brand all have budget camera in their range for the reason of capturing market share.
Most low price camera are of course made of plastic, uses AA batteries and design are not so slim. Quality are not a issue at all. So buy with confidence !!!


Well.... its actually toooo subjective. Some will like Jolie, some like Avril. But most like it slim and steady.
In this topic, I guess most will want a slim metal body camera. Most likely smaller than a pack of cigratte.
But keep in mind that the slimmer it gets, the smaller the sensor size it be. Camera today had indeed become more fashion oriented, pretty face alway sells!!! But do that note that some design might effect the picture quality as we cannot do away with the law of physics. Will tell u in length afterward.
Camera design issue link very much to the function and feature of the camera. Please read on.


I would say "gone are the days of heritage brands". Not many company in the industry have not suffer the transition from analogue to digital. Agfa photo, Konica, Minolta, Yashica, Contax are no longer with us today. Leica, Zeiss had being injected with funds from Sony and Panasonic. Olympus is losing money, Kodak is refocusing it core business.
To survive the storm, most compact camera had shift their manufacturer plants to China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. China making up 70 - 80% of the market. Made in JAPAN product are very rare. "Made in Japan" is more expansive but it doesnt mean it have a longer life span. Most part are from Taiwan and China but finish in JAPAN. So goes to the extend to tell u only " Made by Samsung" - where the hell its from actually???
In these days, a good brand does not mean the entire range of camera it have is good in quality. Some brand have OEM model in the budget range, and manufacture only the high end model. So be very sure to test the model u want to buy and compare it with others brand at the similiar price range. So far, I think only Canon and Samsung have the entire range of camera are made by themselve.
So DO NOT TRUST a particular brand, but go for a particular model. Always test it and see the image in a Laptop or PC or print out. DO NOT see whats on the LCD only, what u c is not what u get.


Well, too much need to be say here. As to ease things up. I try to short it up. Buy according to your needs.
Less function less money. Dont ask anymore if digicam have video? All 2008 model have video recording with audio. Most will have at least DVD (640x480) video at 30fps. Cheaper model will have at least 15fps.
Things that i like u to consider before buying:-

• big LCD at least a 2.5"
• 5 MP above
• Must have optical zoom (3x is good enough)
• AA batteris or Lithium-ion (will discuss in length)
  
• Built in mechanical Anti-shake/Vibration reduction

Others than the above, I would say " U can live without it !!! "
Let pick a current HOT model as an example:- Canon Ixus 80/Powershot SD 1100is

Feature in brief:-

• A good DiGiC processor
• 3x optical zoom
• Optical Image stabilizer
• 8 megapixels
• 2.5" Pure color LCD

       Review in brief:-

• On the camera and u notice how nice the LCD and accurate the color is. How nice!!
• Zoom was ok to me cause i need not to photograph a lion.
• The autofocus is sharp but relatively abit slow as compare to Casio or Sony.
• Face dection is fastest i have tested, but its not useful. Why? It make no sense when 1 is in front and the others is 10 feet behind. Which to focus???
• Function are easy to navigate and the command is clear.
• Then u would come across SCENE mode. What the hell is that?  Well its actually a simplified SLR function. Speed, aperture, ISO, color are control by the different scene mode used. Its useless if u know how to set it to manual. And it really take time to find the SCENE mode u need. So, most the time u will use only AUTO MODE.
• Video mode is eay to get in. And it offer DVD like Quality, but its a damn old format, avi...!!! Making a 2GB card looks like a 512MB on H.264 format video. 2GB only have 16minute, come on, please change a better format. It like Hummer drinking gas !!!
• Finish video and photograph, time to c the result. Well, image is very good, low noise (due to the good DiGiC processor it have) it could be better if the sensor is a bit larger in size. Chromatic abbreation is well contain, sharpness can be seen almost edge to edge.
  VERY GOOD IMAGE QUALITY !!
• For ebay user, please that note that this camera have a good close up. A good stabilizer enable u to shoot item for auction without the use of flash to give it a natural and well exposure image.
• Well, like all my customer say, "Its MADE IN JAPAN".
• Perhaps the only down side of this camera is the PRICE. In Malaysia, its at RM 999 or about USD 315. RM 300 more than the nearest rival NIKON CoolPix S520 which offer relative the same performance (made in Indonesia). And for this particular reason, I will choose a NIKON. I can live without the "MADE IN JAPAN" word.
  

Therefore in my conclusion, I found 3 type of consumer.

1. I need a good compact in decent price, point and shoot, no rubbish
2. I just need to have one, its stylish
3. I gadget madness, more feature, more punch.

Type 1 person : Buy a budget camera with at least 5MP, 3x zoom, and with AV cable connection. Get a decent brand, pick and go, there will be no regret. KODAK, CANON, NIKON, SONY etc.
Type 2 person : Buy the expansive model with colors to choose. SONY, CANON and perhaps SAMSUNG will make a good deal.
Type 3 person : Buy the latest model at all time, check out dpreview for the latest new and report on camera launching. NIKON, OLYMPUS, CANON, SONY, SAMSUNG and PANASONIC high end model should do the job for u.

Should u needs more technical data and in depth reviews, kindly log in to dpreview.com. This web page had being my Guru all this while. If u are type 1 and 2 person, you need not to read the technical data....coz I wont understand it !!!