[SmokinErb]

Okay guys, thanks for stopping in and giving me a little bit of your time. I'm by no means a photographer, and am not looking for a $2000 camera with 5 lenses.

But I'm about to become a father, and I'm looking for a good camera to record him growing up (as well as shoot some lovely shots of the garden.)

So I'd like some opinions. I have no real preference as to what type of camera, as long as a novice can use it.

Personally, I was looking at the Canon S100. I know enough to play with some of the manual settings and everything I read says that this is a very capable, yet portable camera. Portability isn't a priority, but I think if I can get an excellent, very capable camera that fits in my pocket, that would probably be my choice. Now the one negative thing about this Canon S100 I keep reading, is that there's no hot shoe, but I have no idea what that is?

However, I'm also interested in maybe a more basic model DSLR if that would be the better way to go. I figure a high-end compact and a low-end DSLR are pretty similar in the price range, but how to they match up to each other, performance wise?

Picture quality is my priority followed by ease of use. I only know the very basics of photography (basic understanding of ISO and aperture - all I ever do on my camera is adjust the white balance lol) Price matters, $300-500, preferably the lower-middle end of that spectrum.

Edit: Just found out what a hot shoe is. Why the hell would you need a hot shoe on a point and shoot? Seems silly to me, but what do I know?

You need a hot shoe if you want the flash photography to be anything resembling decent, otherwise you get hot spots and shadows that make photos look awful.

I've used SLRs, TLRs, DSLRs, and now a P&S--the Panasonic Lumix. It's pretty good for the purposes you outline. Even better? It's a video recorder that's limited by the space on the card, and a 32G card can record a LOT of video.

I'm no expert in photography, but I do have access to some experts. While they have their SLRs, DSLRs, etc, they still also love and regularly use their P&S-type cameras, often moreso than the DSLRs, if for no other reason than not having to lug around different glass.

[afrocajun]

Get a Nikon.... d3200 might be in your range???

[early_bird]

If a used one is interesting, maybe an older DSLR, like Nikon D50, D70 you can get it incredible cheap on ebay.
With an older manual-focus macro lens you can take nice shots of the trichs
By the way, Flash is very important for good macro photography.

[Able Mind]

helpful thanks

[staank]

the best camera is the one you have with you. period.

so what are you willing to carry? most people have their phones with them 24x7, and there are some capable camera phones now.

[oldpink]

my preference is for Canon but for everyday work Nikon seems to be the weapon of choice
canon lenses are expensive (I don't even have one as my camera is for Astro work and my telescope is the lens)
I do know that 5 lenses is a bit much, 3 would be more practical short 18 - 28 ish and a 24 - 70 medium and a 70 - 200 tele will cover your needs unless you want to do special shooting

also a small point & click you can slip in your pocket for use whan you don't have access to your main kit
is well worth $200 esp as most can do video these days for the first step moments etc

[dirkdangle1]

cannon anything with L series glass. can't miss!!

[Jahnice]

Nikon P700 series

these are great cameras in a smaller format than SLR

lots of the bells and whistles that an SLR has but around 500 bucks.

it makes great close up shots but it does not do full macro for trichomes etc.

[Phaeton]

Canon Rebel series with 18-55 macro lens. These shots are about as close as it goes with the standard macro zoom in the kit.

Around $500 on sale.