Suggestions on new camera??

[KarmaKiller]

Hi folks! Need some help here.
My girlfriend is looking into getting a new camera. A "bridge camera". She's not to familiar with these types of cameras, and is looking for some tips or suggestions. Budget is no more then $500, but would like to keep it around $400 if possible.
Anybody have any suggestions? We really don't even know what brand to really look for. Who's got the best quality and options for the price.
Basically looking for the best camera in the price range I listed above. Looking for something that's "portable". Something that we don't have to carry 2-3 different lenses with, but something that WE still have control over.
Did I lose anyone?
Thanks in advance for any help!

[Sixpac_XP]

Sony, Canon, Fuji.. some examples of companies that make them.

Steve's Digital Camera review would be the best place to find the answers you are looking for.

The Canon Powershot S5 IS is on their recommended list.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_...anon_s5is.html

I am not sure what current pricing is like though.

[Sixpac_XP]

I would also look at the Powershot G9 if you want something more compact and don't care much about zoom.

[2monsters]

Not sure what you mean by bridge. The wife and i have been talkn about gettin a new camera too. We were looking at something like this entry level SLR:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1158323379076
I actually woked with an architect that used this camera in the field. I played with it a little bit ,but i would surely need a manual for it .It took very nice pics.

[KarmaKiller]

Ok, let me clarify this a little bit. I'm a complete camera idiot. But the g/f is not.
That's her thing really. But she really doesn't know what all the options out there are.
Basically looking for the best digital camera you can get for the $400-$500 price range. She's been looking online all day, and found one Fuji camera that she really likes, but it doesn't come out till march. And she's going on a cruise in early April, so I doubt we'll be able to get a hold of one before then.
But thanks for the link, I'm gonna pass that on to her.

[Sixpac_XP]

D40 is a DSLR.. the "Bridge" type cameras are regular digital cameras but more of a prosumer models.

DSLR's are far from being compact and you need multiple lenses to get the job done right.

I picked up a D40x and two lenses about a month ago and love it!

The G9 fits the bill for what you need I think.

[Sixpac_XP]

Wiki about bridge camera's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_digital_camera

[2monsters]

I could only tell ya that i seen pictures from that particular camera that i linked and they were amazing. I have only used compact digital point and shoot cameras myself.
I always find i want to zoom in on something , and ya really cant with them 3x or 4x lenses, unless you are already close up. I want something like if i goto a ball game or something i can zoom in and shoot a nice pic. Like a nice panoramic shot of the island from the deck of a cruise ship.
Again I to am newb when it comes to cameras.

[M_Six]

I recently bought the Panasonic DMC-FZ18. They're currently running about $323 on Amazon. Awesome camera. Very light, one lens only, but with a great zoom factor (18x), and it just won't take a bad picture. Check out my pics from Florida. The night shots and sunrise shots were all taken hand held. The image stabilization is unbelievable on this camera.

One word of warning if you buy it on Amazon; stay away from this accessory kit. The lenses and filters *do not* fit the camera without an adapter which is currently unavailable.

Get yourself a 2GB SD card you can store 500 images at full resolution. It also takes pretty decent video, even though it's not a video camera. You can't slip this into a shirt pocket like some other mini-cameras, but it's very light, so it's not hard to tote it around on your shoulder all day.

[KarmaKiller]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions so far guys. It's helping.
IDK if this link will work, but this is the list that she has compiled.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/comp...dsch9&show=all