How To Buy A Camera - updated, November 2012
Always check to see if there is a way for you to borrow or rent a particular model before you buy it. At the very least, try to talk to a person who owns the camera you are considering. That way you will have a true sense of the abilities and limitations of that camera.
Write down your total budget for the camera. Remember to research and include prices of any bags, accessories, card readers, memory cards, batteries or chargers you might need in your final cost.
Figure out what functions you really need from the camera. The minimum for this class is a camera with a manual mode and at least a 10x optical zoom lens. A digital zoom, which is often the advertised zoom, is not the same thing. You may also want to consider if the camera you are considering shoots video, too. A separate video camera is nice, but sometimes it is good to have one camera that does both.
Go to http://dpreview.com/ for information on all the digital cameras available for purchase. Sunny Schick, in downtown Fort Wayne, can also be very helpful in selecting a camera. Prices are competitive with other stores in town and the staff is very knowledgeable. If you buy online, make sure you use a reputable dealer with a good return policy. bhphotovideo.com and adorama.com are both very good. Adorama sometimes has refurbished models that are more reasonable in cost than buying brand-new. If you buy online, be sure to factor shipping costs into your budget.
Possible Cameras (all of these shoot video as well as stills):
Canon PowerShot SX160 IS
Nikon Coolpix P500
Olympus E-PM2 (interchangeable lenses)
Canon EOS Rebel (interchangeable lenses)
Nikon D3100 (interchangeable lenses)
