Brand recommendations

Better than listening to me about model and brand is to visit DP Review and Steve's Digicams. They have a wealth of information on nearly every digital camera worth buying.

However, I know that not everyone wants to read a few hundred reviews. Some of you want to know how to avoid a bad decision. Here is my attempt at steering you to the better brands.

Be somewhat skeptical of this list. Camera models change, and frankly I do not keep up with every camera on the market. If you use this list, you may miss today's very best deal, but you will not be far from it. It is my own rather biased perspective distilled from reading quite a few camera reviews and comments posted on Usenet groups.

Olympus, Nikon, Canon. These companies have along history of making fine 35 mm cameras and lenses. They have translated this expertise nicely into digital cameras. I recommend the whole line of Olympus and Nikon cameras. I do NOT like the slow lenses on the cute tiny Canon cameras. The high end Canons are great. Just check the aperture and you will be fine.
Fuji. When someone asks about the best cameras under $300, Fuji's name is often heard.
I prefer not to include Sony as a general recommendation because, while the have some cameras I would recommend, they have many others I would not. If you are willing to do enough homework to figure out which is which, you don't need to hear my recommendation. Kodak has some happy owners, too. I just know the above brands better and have more confidence in them.

Here are a few suggestions as of January 2007. What you should get depends on how much you want to spend, whether you want a camera you can carry in your pocket, and whether you are going to want to make 8x10 prints or larger. The hot links in the list below take you to the Steve's Digicams review of the model, which includes photos and an extensive description of features.

Canon Powershot SD40. Ultracompact 6 Megapixel, f/3.2 - f/5.4, 2.4x zoom. $300.
Canon S3-IS. Superzoom (12X), 6 Megapixels, image stabilization, f/2.7 - f/3.5. Great superzoom. $320.
Nikon D80. Digital SLR, 10 Megapixels. $1300 with 18 - 135 mm zoom.
Look in more detail at all the above at Steve's Digicams.