Need help in looking for digital camera!

I've been doing some research on the internet about digital cameras, but I'm still not sure what features and qualities I should be looking for. Maybe you all could give me some advice?

 

Not nearly enough information.

What do you want to do with the camera? (general snapshots?, pictures for a website?, serious art or technical photography?)

Will you be viewing your images on a computer screen exclusively, or printing them? At what size?

Do you already have a 35mm SLR camera system? If so, do you want to be able to use your existing lenses and accessories with the new camera?

Do you need special features like weather/water resistance?

Does your computer have a USB or firewire interface port? A memory card slot? Which format?

How much money do you want to spend?

 

Good questions.
First of all I don't have a 35mm SLR camera system.
Secondly,I'll probably want to print the pics I take as well as posting them on the web.
I'm not planning on using the camera in inclement weather, so I probably won't need special features like that.
My computer does have a USB port, and I probably want to keep my expenses around $200.

As a footnote, I have been searching sites like Cnet and Newegg.

 

Well, the stats to look at are resolution (number of pixels - 1000 x 1000 pixels = one "megapixel") possible per shot, and the Optical Zoom of your camera. (ignore "digital zoom", it is little more than a sales gimmick!). web-posted pics rarely need to be more than 400 to 800 pixels across, but if printing, especially to A4/US Letter page size, you need 3 to 5 megpixel originals for a sharp, clear look on gloss paper.

Optical zoom (x2, x3, x 4, x 6, x 10 or even x 12 on one new Panasonic model) indicates the lens power to magnify, bringing your subject closer. Good for bird-watching or sports action shots, I guess.

Then, consider things like memory card type and size - how many shots are you likely to want to take in one hit (an outing, a holiday) before getting back to unload to your PC?

Then battery type? Will you want standard AA cells, or are you happy to have a camera that have a proprietary rechargable block cell?

Case studies:
(1) I bought the High School a "mid-high range" Kodak nearly 2 years ago, looking for high quality potential print shots but mainly intranet posted photos (4 megapixel) but got the best optical zoom I could for getting closer to sporting action (10x) - the DX 6490 has proved to be a great camera, still going strong - I got a 256Mb SD card for it (holds nearly 200 shots at the 4MP setting) and got 2 extra block batteries and an external charger (so if I'm out taking sports shots for many hours, I can do a quick battery change to a charged spare). The camera was expensive then AU$900, but similar 5MP x10 OZ cameras are much cheaper now.
(2) Last Christmas I got my daughter a 2MP 2OZ Kodak on eBay, just AU$100, uses 4 x AA and a CF memory card.
(3) This Christmas, I got my oldest son a Kodak (new, but also via eBay), AU$280, the Z700, it is a nice model, 4MP, 5 x OZ, takes 2 x AA cells (so get a few sets of rechargable NiMH batteries! Digital cameras are hungy for batteries), and uses SD-MM card memory, I got him a 128Mb card and that's plently for casual use. A camera around this range might be what you're after.

(note, AU$1 = about 70 cents USA money)

While I like name brands, and Kodak, I think Olympus and Fuji have some good models (they use xD memory cards). Look for the MegaPixel and Optical Zoom stats, and things like "modes" for "sport", "portrait", "macro" for close ups (of flowers or insects!) where adjustments are automatically made for shutter speed and aperature.

Hope my rambling helps. I take a lot of photos around the high school I work at, and for the local newspaper, and have used digital cameras since 1996!