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Hi. Are you looking to get into digital via a digital SLR, an SLR type camera (designed to look like an SLR, but with a fixed lens and without the pentaprism of an SLR) or a compact (more akin to a compact non SLR film camera)? Each has its advantages & drawbacks, not least price!
I've been making the journey over the last 18 months, mainly to advise my children on what to buy. I'm still a 35mm slide shooter & expect to be so for another couple of years. However, I want a compact camera to carry round all the time, but which still will give me the quality to create a nice 10 x 8 inch print if I want it. In fact, even a £220 compact will give you sufficient quality for even larger prints.
The other thing to consider is whether you plan to do some post-processing on the PC or whether you intend mainly to print what comes straight out of the camera. There are a lot of software programmes out there (some cheap & some horribly expensive) that support the 'digital darkroom'. The beauty of digital is that you can print just those images you want and as many times as you want without worring about the lab losing your negatives. These days, I would tend to use an online printing service rather than print my own. 6 x 4 prints are typically 10 to 15 pence each. 8 x 10 prints are typically around the £1.20 mark. However, you also need to develop good habits when it comes to storing the digital 'images' you want to keep.
For what it's worth, thanks to Gordon's recent review of compact cameras, I am going for a Canon A620 camera. Amazon do it for around £220 including postage. You will need a couple of SD memory cards and some rechargable batteries as well. The whole lot should come in at around the £280 mark. You can spend less and also vastly more, but it seems like a good starting point for me!
Hope this helps & good luck!
Simon
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