Digital camera advice?

[pbray]

My 35mm camera is showing signs of age, so I'm thinking about breaking down and getting a digital camera for next month's bike trip. I've never owned a digital camera before, so this is new territory for me.

Any suggestions on makes/models? Good brands or brands to stay away from? I'm looking to spend less than $200, since there's a real possibility that the camera will die an untimely death as it bounces out of the front pack, I use it to break my fall while hiking, I wipe out in gravel, etc.

Thanks.

Comments

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

My husband says that most digital cameras are fragile and not built for the wilderness, but for some extra money places like Comp. USA, Circuit City or Best Buy sell replacement plans.
He also says "Get a really good, sturdy case."

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Some more input from my husband:

1) Get a Battery Charger and 2 Sets of charger batteries. Also carry a spare in your case of regular batteries for an emergency. Cameras eat batteries like candy, after an event, always switch out the batteries.

2) For posting pics on the internet, a 3 megapixels camera is perfect.

3) If you want to print pictures like 6X4 or 8X10 go for at LEAST a 4 megapixel camera.

4) If you're editing pictures on the computer, pay for MORE pixels and ignore features on the camera that duplicate what you can do on the computer.

5) Get a camera with removable memory as opposed to on hand memory. You'll always want/need more. Also some places will print you pictures from a memory stick, so that is always useful to have. Also get a card reader for your computer.

6) Some cameras do movies with/without sound. If you don't plan on using this or don't have the storage for it (large hard drive on your computer), you can save money and not get it.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the excellent suggestions, I've printed these off.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Good thought on the case. I don't plan on dropping it, but things happen, and I'd rather not spend the trip worrying about my camera.