I've got about $350 for a digi-cam...which one?

[Tekk]

Hey Im in the market for a digi cam now and as I put I've got about $350 to spend. MAX I can afford is prolly $400 so lets try to keep it under. Im looking for a camera with the normal lot of good features (whatever those may be...thats where you camera guru's help me out ). I'd like a zoom feature at least 3x and Im looking for a camera that I'll be able to print out at least 3"x5" or 5"x7" pictures at super quality (as close to film quality as possible).

So I was thinking maybe a 3.x megapixel one should do that size photos pretty well if I take em to a camera shop. I dont have a good enough printer to do it myself and the shots that I would want a hard copy of would be few so I dont mind paying for a quality camera place to print em out for me.

Also, any brands I should stay away from? I have had experience with a very expensive Olympus camera and that thing was grrrreat so I trust that brand. I've used Kodak digicams and wasn't impressed....they seemed flimsy.

Thanks in advance!

[RADAR1797]

Tekk,

I have had a Fuji Finepix 1400 for over 2 years now and love it. Of coarse I would not recommend it now because the technology has improved so much, but I would recommend Fuji digital cameras. Buydig has the Finepix F401 for $309 shipped.

Steve's Digital Camera Reviews has more info.

As for 5X7 and 3X5, anything above 1.3 mega-pixel will do fine for most photos. Of course more is better. I would suggest later on getting a $100 HP color inkjet photo printer and you will be very happy with the results.

-RADAR

[Tekk]

No other suggestions?

[MDS]

take a look at this thread