Higgy said:
Newbie here that is looking to get a nice camera in the 400-500 hundred dollar range. Going to be using it for general picture taking. Have a new grandchild coming in the family and want to take some nice photos for the rest of the family. If you guys could give me some options to consider that would be awesome. Any can't go wrong options would even be better!
Gosh, that's a bit of a broad question.
I'd consider first the practical business of how big you want the camera to be - whether you want to stick it in your pocket, carry it around in your normal bag or end up with a separate bag full of camera stuff. Especially when it comes to grandchildren I'd guess ease of carrying around comes fairly high up on the list.
The more stuff you end up with, the more expensive it all gets.
Also consider how likely (and whether) it is you'll want to get creative with your photography/shoot under unusual or difficult conditions/get professional quality results (with all the learning and hassle that can involve). The more creative the bigger bag you need, though many midrange cameras have a very good range of options these days.
Also consider whether you want interchangeable lenses (great idea but you need to carry them around and it costs a lot to buy extra ones) or whether you want one lens permanently on the camera for all the shooting you do.
At your price range I'm guessing you're somewhere in the middle - so perhaps looking at one of the Olympus PENs or a Canon Powershot or - stretching the budget a bit a Sony NEX. But there's lots of higher-end point-and-shoots and lower-end DSLRs that will fit the budget too.
So it's tricky to get down to specifics without knowing a bit more. Do you want to give us some more clues? Or popping to a local camera store and having a chat with the staff and getting your hands on a few cameras might be easier.
Incidentally, I've used a Canon Powershot for the last 8 years to good effect - my son has a new Fuji point-and-shoot thing and I'm getting to grips with a Canon DSLR. In practice for ordinary shooting the boy's camera works darn well and beats my (much more expensive) one for day-to-day practical purposes because he can stuff it in an inside pocket, though I get a significant edge in low light/long exposures/high speed stuff - so I make a point of taking him out on photography trips after dark. Less embarrassing.
Feel free to PM me if you want to chat around the possibilities without cluttering up the thread - though I am in the UK so I don't understand dollars.
