Digital Camera Advice: Help Please

[a la izquierda]

Hi all:
Okay, I need some advice. I had a Samsung 5 megapixel digital camera that I bought about two years ago. It recently began acting weird: turns off in the middle of taking a shot, the images burned into the LCD screen. I can't get it to do anything at the moment, so I'm giving up. Very strange. Anyway, I'm looking for a new camera and don't want to spend more than $150. How does the Canon Powershot A590 sound, for taking simple travel photos? The reason I don't want to spend more is the subject of my next query:

I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced camera for my husband as well, for his 35th birthday. He likes taking pictures of lightning (we live in Oklahoma), our dogs and other random stuff. I was looking at the Kodak Z1012...keep in mind I don't know much about cameras and neither does he. I want a decent introductory camera for him so he can figure out how to use it and then we'll work our way up to the big guns, so to speak.

Thanks for any advice...

[ManiacJoe]

1. Similar to the Kodak Z1012

is the Nikon P80, as another data point.

[47of74]

7. I dunno about that...

My Kodak digital camera only lasted about a year before I began having problems with it and had to replace it.

[JeffR]

2. The A590 looks similar to my wife's A720, which is a great little camera

I was just using it the other day. The only things that really frustrate me about it are its size (not really friendly to large hands) and the long recycling time between shots with the flash. Otherwise, the image quality is excellent and the amount of manual control is generous.

As to the Kodak, I'm totally ignorant about it.

[a la izquierda]

3. Thanks...

I'm tiny (5'1) with little hands, so the size won't bug me much. Plus, I travel a TON, so a small camera that takes good quality pictures is certainly a bonus.

[Celebration]

4. I always look at Amazon reviews

In fact, I've been doing that lately re: cameras. I bought a different Kodak a couple of years ago and really love it. Yes, it is easy. I have read that their customer service isn't good. Fortunately, I haven't needed that.

Anyway, I am considering another Kodak now--

http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-EasyShare-Z1015IS-Digital-Stabilized/dp/B001BX6HCU/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1228267995&sr=1-17

Apparently they have fixed the one issue that some people have with it--that it took too much time between shots.

[alfredo]

5. Reviews of digital cameras

http://www.dpreview.com/

[Ms. Toad]

9. My all time favorite source for camera reviews:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

[a la izquierda]

6. Thanks for the suggestions!

I'll probably get the Canon A590 for me, as it's gotten rave reviews and I've seen my best friends pictures, which are amazing (and she's just as much an amature a photographer as I am).

I'm still debating on a camera for my husband.

[47of74]

8. Good choice

Canon's a pretty good choice. I have a Canon and I'm very happy with it.

[Fumesucker]

10. For lighting photography your husband will want a wide angle lens..

To take in the most sky at one time, he will also want a long time exposure available, 30 or 60 seconds.

I just bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC FX07 that has a 28mm wide angle setting (not many point and shoots have that wide a lens), 7 megapixels and "starry night" settings that give 30 and 60 second exposures. These cameras are available new on ebay and Amazon for well under $150 if you shop a bit, I bought used for $92 shipped off ebay. Noise performance is not great on this camera but it's possible to work around that if you experiment a bit and possibly use a noise reduction program like Neat Image or Noise Ninja in your computer.

I've heard good things about the Nikon Coolpix S600 and I've played with it in the store, kind of expensive but it has the wide angle lens and very good noise performance which will be important for lightning photos. Also has a 5x zoom which is nice.

Trusted Reviews is a pretty decent site for ranking cameras http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2008/05/08/Nikon-CoolPix-S600/p1