Help with purchase of Point & Shoot Camera

[photographymom517]

I would like to purchase a new "point and shoot" camera with part of my tax return money (the rest goes to paying for local & county taxes...bummer!)

I used to have a Kodak V1073 and now I have a Nikon Coolpix S220. I bought the Nikon because I've always wanted to own a Nikon camera...well it turns out that I miss my Kodak & wish I could buy another, but that model is no longer being made. In addition, my Kodak was dropped ONCE and completely quit working (the lens wouldn't go in or out anymore). I have dropped my Nikon multiple times & it still works fine. I am obsessive about taking care of my electronics (especially because I don't have money to fix or replace them!) but the truth is with kids, things like dropping your camera cannot always be avoided! I try my best to take care of it, but accidents do occur.

I also used to own a Fujifilm S2 Pro with a Nikon 33-100mm lens and had a bunch of different lens & accessories for it...but had to sell it due to being unemployed. I also didn't use it as much as I would have liked to because I just don't have the room on my computer for storage of those types of photos.

Anyway, my question is...which camera do you suggest? I am looking in the "under $150 range" if possible. I would consider going up to around $180 or so but really would prefer to be closer to $150 or even under that. Features that I am looking for are:
* a good zoom
* at least 7-10 MP (I don't need 12 or more)
* camera that takes pics in poor lighting conditions
* camera that takes pics in sunny lighting conditions
* camera that can take close-ups
* timer (most have this feature but I really need it)
* prefer something at the level of my previous cameras...or better!

I would welcome any advice & if you could please state your reasons for suggesting a particular camera, that would be great! Also, if you have pictures that you've taken with the camera you suggest, that would be even better yet!!! I definitely would like to see pics you've taken in poor lighting conditions. My Nikon takes pics perfectly if you're outdoors, but indoors the lighting has to be perfectly even or else the photos are a mess!

I am open to any suggestions...a few that I've started researching myself are the Kodak Easyshare Z915, Kodak Easyshare Z712 IS, and Canon Powershot A1100 IS. Any pros or cons of any of these models?

I appreciate any suggestions!

 

[disneyboy2003]

Anyway, my question is...which camera do you suggest? I am looking in the "under $150 range" if possible. I would consider going up to around $180 or so but really would prefer to be closer to $150 or even under that. Features that I am looking for are:
* a good zoom
* at least 7-10 MP (I don't need 12 or more)
* camera that takes pics in poor lighting conditions
* camera that takes pics in sunny lighting conditions
* camera that can take close-ups
* timer (most have this feature but I really need it)
* prefer something at the level of my previous cameras...or better!

Seems like a lot to ask of a $150 point-and-shoot camera.

Actually, the one feature that'll be very very very hard to get with a $150 camera is the "pics in poor lighting conditions" feature. It's already tough enough for a $500 camera to do this well.

If this feature is very important for you, then a DSLR would be the way to go. The advantage is that a DSLR has a much much larger sensor and lets you switch lenses that are better for low-light conditions. Of course, the down-side of DSLR is the higher price, more $$$$ to spend on lenses, and LOTS to learn before folks can get comfortable taking low-light photos with a DSLR.

Otherwise, I think the other features you ask for are pretty standard in today's $150 cameras.