Canon A540 to fit in that budget. I really like the 540, nice size, feel, takes great pictures, still has a manual mode if you feel creative.

the A630 that vital said is also a very nice camera if you are willing to spend a bit more. My roommate has it, so I have played with it...very nice indeed.

edit: and once again I will agree with vital that dpreview is an amazing site

i have a canon powershot, dunno the model or cost but its a pretty simple camera and give me high quality pics

shop around, good cameras have gotten MUCH cheaper....

just a tip, look for one with rechargable batteries. regular AAs can get expensive and are annoying.

i recommend anything made by canon or nikon personally. But fujifilm does have come pretty cool cameras out nowadays, i had one once and really loved it. But I would never buy another HP digital camera again, holy jees. Awful.

no no. you want AA batteries. You can get rechargable AA batteries and save money that way. The advantage is that if your camera goes dead you can get batteries anywhere and you have a camera again. if it has an internal rechargable battery and it goes dead you are SOL.

not an internal rechargeable battery!!! A Lithium Ion rechargable battery. You just slip it out, drop it in the charger, and let it charge, and if you want no downtime, which i doubt les cares about, get two, one as a backup.

But yeah, sure, you could get rechargeable AAs, but Li-On packs have a longer longevity IIRC. I have had mine for over a year and still charges and drains normally.

If it hasn't been mentioned, be sure it has MANUAL FOCUS!

I've said alot of times on here that I love my Canon A520 (or something like that) which has been updated but the Canon A series seems to be quality. As far as battery discussion goes, for mine, which takes AAs, I have rechargables. They work really well for my usual picture taking, plus I have the freedom to just go buy regular ones if ever in a bind.

Canon or Nikon. Best sensors on the market for consumer grade cameras.

I love my Panasonic DMC-FZ7. It'* a little more expensive ($275) but well worth it to me. It has 12X optical zoom and has all the manual features so I don't get the crappy overexposed sunny shots or out of focus close ups that I get with my 5 year old cheap Canon. And it does take nice pictures on the simple mode until you learn how to use the manual features.