Good and cheap...I will refrain from the mom jokes here.

<br><br>Seriously though...<br><br>Basically you want the top 3 things everyone wants, <br>1) Adaptable lenses<br>2) Good resolution<br>3) Nice optical zoom<br><br>Forget the optical zoom. Not gonna happen. The best you can hope for, without sacrificing EVERYTHING for a specialty camera, is about 2.5 to 3. Which is decent. However if you get a camera that takes lenses, and the company is reliable, then you are all but guaranteed the option of a telephoto, of which I have 2.<br><br>Optional lenses are critical if you want to do anything interesting like Wide angle or use a filter or whatever. Because of that, I always come back to Nikon and Cannon, because they are reliable comanies with great shit and they make superior lenses, and plenty of them.<br><br>Now its the $$$ part and that is where you get creamed. I personally like the SLR body style, but if you want digital in the format, it is BIG $$$. And, for the record, in that case it is all about the Cannon D-30 series. Best on the market, bar none.<br><br>All that leaves is Nikon, which is actually a good thing because it narrows down the competition and makes the decision easier. The 800 series is cheaper than the 900 series, and in truth, if you are not a pro, you probably won't miss the features that the 800 series doesn't have (like manual f-stop and stuff). The new 800's, to my knowledge, take the same lenses as the 900 series. Which is way cool. I have a wide angle, telephoto, UV filter, NDs, polarizer...blah blah. Lots of stuff. Go and check it out.
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