Top 10 Popular Digital Cameras Under $300
By Gary Hendricks, Fri Dec 9th

Are you on a budget but still want to buy a good digital camera?Well, that’s great because I've compiled a list of the top 10digital out there going at under $300. When choosing avalue-for-money digital camera, remember that it should offergreat features and excellent photo quality, all at a reasonableprice. That said, let’s have a look at that list of cameras.Here we go …

Nikon Coolpix 5200 The Nikon Coolpix 5200 has a 5.1 megapixelresolution and a 3x optical zoom. With its excellent picturequality, battery life and camera optics, this is one of thebest-selling out there. The body of the camera is alsovery well-designed – you’ll find that it’s very comfortable tohold it while shooting pictures.

Canon PowerShot A95 Another hot seller, the Canon PowerShot A95is a 5 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom. Photo quality isexcellent, with sharp and vivid colors. Overall, this is one ofthe best point-and-shoot digital you can buy. Highlyrecommended.

Fuji FinePix E550 The Fuji FinePix E550 is an interesting camerawith 6.3 megapixels image resolution and a 4x optical zoom.There’s a nice, big 2 inch LCD screen, though the camera bodyitself is slightly bulky. Still, a good value given its price.

Sony CyberShot DSC-W1 The Sony CyberShot DSC-W1 one of the mostpopular digital at the moment. It is compact and looksvery stylish. With a 5.1 megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoomand a very generous 2.5 inch LCD, you’ll be hard pressed to finda better camera in its price range.

Canon PowerShot S500 I currently own one of these babies. TheCanon PowerShot S500 is a wonderful point-and-shoot camera witha 5 megapixel resolution and 3x optical zoom. It’s a greatcamera for traveling and snapping pictures on the fly. What’smore, its one of the most stylish too.

Pentax Optio S5i The Pentax Optio

S5i comes with a 5 megapixelresolution and 3x optical zoom. Its capable of taking very goodpictures and there’s a surprising number of features packed intoits small, compact body.

Olympus C-765 The Olympus C-765 is a 4 megapixel camera with anamazing 10x optical zoom. There is a nice feature set, includinga wealth of white balance settings. Very good camera to buy ifyou want to avoid the standard Canon or Sony models.

Kodak EasyShare DX7630 The Kodak EasyShare DX7630 is a greatcamera with a 6.1 megapixel resolution and 3x optical zoom. Thesmall, yet feature-packed body allows you to take great picturesand video too. It also runs on rechargeable batteries, making itone of the best point-and-shoot out there.

Casio Exilim EX-Z50 With a 5 megapixel resolution and 3x opticalzoom, the Casio Exilim EX-Z50 is one of the smallest digitalcameras out there. I found that it’s got a pretty big LCDscreen, fast response time and decent battery life, Recommendedfor those who want a very small, compact camera that takes goodpictures.

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z1 This is a 3.3 megapixel resolutioncamera with a 10x optical zoom. The powerful optical zoom is abig plus – it’s tough to find a camera with a 10x zoom in thisprice range. It also runs on rechargeable batteries and shootsgreat looking pictures. I highly recommend it.

Conclusion Ok, we’ve gone through many good-value digitalcameras in the above list. Which one would I buy if I were in acamera shop? It’d be a tough choice between the Canon PowerShotS500, Kodak EasyShare DX7630 and Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z1. Whenyou head out to buy your own camera, do bear in mind thatdigital camera prices are dropping everyday. So shop around, itshould be easy to find a model that suits your needs and yetfits within your budget.

About the author:Gary Hendricks runs a hobby site atwww.basic-digital-photography.com. Read his tips on digitalphotography and learn to shoot better photos with your digicam.