Inspired by Bernhardt's recent thread about MP3 players, I've been thinking about posting this one for weeks before that. Do you have a digital camera? Is it a digital point-and-shoot, professional D-SLR, or are you old-school film? Are you brand loyal? Describe!

I have four cameras, one that does not work, and two others I purchased because of opportunistic deals. You might notice I'm a tad brand loyal to Sony's cameras even though I've looked around, Sony has matched my criteria for usage.

My preferences; style, a darn good picture/good processor, image stablization, megapixels aren't an issue as long as its 5M or higher, ability to stow away in my pocket (and take out without causing too much a ruckus in public places where I like to shoot). Oh, and it must be black colored because black is mean...

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7/Silver 
My first digital camera, dropped it one too many times and is broken now (color display/RGB is messed up, everything else works fine). Served me well throughout.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T10/Black
Has taken up most harddrive space on my computer since last Fall, a spectacular little camera.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T30/Black
Picked it up because I loved the T10 but wanted "upgrades" despite this one releasing before the T10; bigger 3 inch screen, double battery life. Oh yeah, I also wanted it because it's identical (only difference is that the T30 doesn't have annoying touch-screen) to the T50 used in Casino Royale. Was a little disappointed the body is plastic, not gunmetalish like the T10.

Sony Cyber-shot H2
Wanted super-high 12x zoom (not a creep), liked the design and ergonomics of it and when I found it at Best Buy open box, I swooped in. Sadly, it's missing just about everything that came with it due to the poor bastard to sent it back.

My next camera in the far-off future could be another Sony, but I've wanted to give Canon's SD or A series (with image stable) a shot. I'm still years off for a D-SLR, if I do I've always wanted to go for a Canon Rebel. I love pocket cameras, so I'm not eager for the power of a pro camera yet.

My first camera back when I was in high school was a 35mm Pentax film camera.  I only used a few times, and then never touched it again.  I recently found it and donated to a goodwill store.

Later, I got a Olympus D350 Zoom point-and-shoot digital camera.  I used this a few times, but AA battery-life usage was shorter than other cameras of its class.

Then, I went to a Nikon D50 DSLR.  At this point, I got tired of shutter-lag, limited flash, limited zoom range, and limited ISO capabilities from most point-and-shoot cameras.  The higher-end superzoom point-and-shoot cameras were priced close to the lower-end DSLRs, so I just went with a DSLR.  At this point, I could have chosen either Nikon or Canon.  I chose Nikon, because I liked how the camera body felt and how easy it was to reach and read the controls.

My current camera is a Nikon D200 DSLR.  I traded in the Nikon D50 for it.

XISMZERO, if you didn't know already, Sony now has a DSLR: the alpha 100.  An Alpha 700 is expected soon.

I don't have a digital camera, thing is I should. When I was in trade school the members of our class were given a camera (the school said they were "free" but they weren't as they tacked it on you bill like those "free" laptops for the other programs, lol) except me. Why? Well, when the camera's came the school screwed up all my financal records and in there data base I had no "money" when I actually did. I could have made a real big stink over getting screwed but I honestly didn't have the energy to start anything and just let it go.

Still, since I've started to sell things on the boards and eBay I really do need my own camera instead of relying on my friends for theirs. I'll probably get one for christmas since I've no interest in any gaming consoles and have no plans in getting a better mp3 player yet.

Sry, double post... my internet disconnects every five flippin seconds so doing anything is a hassle. Verizon can go screw themselves, I was dicking around on the phoine with them for 2 1/2 hours and all I got was a headache... talked to three freakin people and none of them could speak English worth a @#^*

I have this camera still, although I don't use it. The battery life wasn't good at all. I had rechargable batteries (even worse), and I would get about 10-15 minutes of use before the camera would die out. It's also really bulky and a hassle to take anywhere.

I currently have a Sony Cybershot DSC-W55, and it's great for what I use it for - casual pics, some arty stuff and eBay auctions. It's small, reliable and works exactly how I need it to work, so I have no complaints at all. 5-stars for this model from me.

Yes, Sony has a very limited range of SLRs (two out right now). I've read reviews on their A100 and found that the competition has them largely beat on many sectors. Sony just released the second in line, the A700 (at around $1,200 -- a typical Sony price tag). I'd go with [an older] Nikon or Canon before I went to Sony for DSLRs. Sony can champ the P-n-S market (which they have over Nikon in many respects), but they've got a little ways to go to compete with the pros. Canon seems to be the all-around best in the eyes of most camera buffs (don't mean to marginalize Fuji, Pentax or the rest but they don't share the notoriety in the digital market like Sony, Nikon and Canon).

And Ashley Winchester, damn good point-and-shoot cameras are quite affordable in this day and age with most superb models at under $200. No more does one have to spend $400 and $500 for a decent model. Don't be afraid to explore some histories before you buy off the 2006 and 2007 heaps in stores now. Personally, I think most features in the 2007 year-end models are useless (8~12 Megapixels, "Face Detection," and other unnecessary consumer lures).

The W55 Zane has is a widely acclaimed model; simple, affordable (under $200), gets the basic jobs done and does it well.

I didn't mean to come off/sound poor there, I was honestly going to buy a camera (because as you said they are definately more afforable now) but the one day I was going to actually buy a camera my sister told me to hold off because my mother had already purchased one as an Xmas gift.

I had the same problem with that Olympus model using rechargeable batteries as well.  I found one small reference on a review that the camera was designed poorly, so batteries were drained much more easily.  I don't think that camera sold particularly well, as a very short battery life probably would have been reported more often.

Nikon is mediocre with point-and-shoot (P&S) cameras.  Canon Powershots and Casio Exims seem to do well in this area.

Canon has generally better marketing than Nikon and is able to leverage lessons and infrastructure from its other technology divisions.  Since they also make printers and other electronic items, they have a nice "vertical integration" business going on there.    Fuji's S5, a DSLR, uses a Nikon D200 body, so they don't have a large presence.

At this point the big players are
#1 Canon
#2 Nikon (a distant #2)
#3 Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax (I hear that they compete for the bottom 10% of the DSLR market)

Well yes, in our circle everyone has a Canon (variably Digital IXUS and PowerShot). Canon (no matter what model or generation which makes them easy to suggest without going too much into technical details) is the best at getting authentic colours regardless of the circumstances and especially at dim lighting without flash and without manual white balancing.

After keeping an eye on that model series for I personally got a Fujifilm FinePix S5700 as when it came out three quarter a year ago it was one of the cheapest 7.1 mega pixel cameras available while boasting stuff like 1cm macro zoom (which prompted the buy as that's what was needed for a work), up to 1600 iso sensitivity, 10x optical zoom behind a solid case (so no movable parts on the outside, preventing getting a spanner in the works like rather easily happens with Canon cams) and finally SD card support instead only the proprietary xD card crap all other FinePix cams go with (Sony is also a no-go area for me due to their proprietary Memory Sticks). Cons are as a semi-professional cam it's rather big (my next cam will need to be in the smallest possible form factor), it offers no image stabilisation (except for movies, I might use it as a movie cam for EDTV resolution movies as its surprisingly good at that), and I still find Canon gets better colours.

The only camera I own is the crappy digital one that's built into my cell phone.  If I had to guess, I'd say 1 MP is its resolution.  I rarely ever use it and the last time I went on vacation I just bought a bunch of those disposable film cameras.