First thing would be to clearly define how involved you\'re willing to get into photography... If you\'re considering photography another hobby, or if you wish something that works very well and fast you should look into entry level D-Slrs. Otherwise, stick to compact cameras, as these are less pricy...
Overal, best cameras are often Canon and Nikon. These are in my opinion the best values for money on the market. There is also Panasonic that has a few interesting products, as well as Pentax. Probably Sony as well, although I must admit I\'m not very well informed about the three brands I quoted last. So I\'ll stick to Nikon and Canon. For the rest, you should look deeply on the Internet on sites such as
http://www.dpreview.com/. Do not overlook any drawback. I someone mentions a drawback, look it up and pay close attention to it, especially if it could influence what you\'re shooting. My first digital camera had autofocus problems in low light, and it was a real pain in the a**. I really regret having overlooked this detail when buying it... So if you\'d rather not learn the lesson the hard way keep this in mind.
General stuff now: if you wish to buy a point and shoot it\'ll need a macro function to take pictures of miniatures. Be aware that manual focusing is going to be very hard with it, if not impossible, so autofocus should work well and an AF assist lamp is something that sure is valuable. A camera cannot see anymore in the dark really fast...
Megapixels aren\'t everything. 6 is already a llot. So I don\'t think you should pay a lot for 4 more MP. Which is what ads tell you to do, but look up test pictures on dpreview (link above), there isn\'t that much difference in detail really.
High ISO abilities are valuable. On a P&S you can usually use up to 200/400 ISO. Not much more. D-Slr\'s can be used up to 800 ISO, 1600 if properly exposed, that\'s a must have in low light.
Be wary of image stabilization. That\'s really good, but only if it\'s true optical stabilization, and not very high ISO levels. Which you won\'t be able to use and get good pictures with on a P&S. The first one, on the other hand, works very well.
The optics are the most important part of a camera. They make the details. Not the megapixels. An excellent lens on a 4 megapixels camera will yield photos that print much larger that a lousy optic on a 10 megapixel camera. In good cameras, you\'re not paying for megapixels, you\'re not paying for camera modes. You\'re paying for good glass. And Nikon and Canon glass is excellent. Which is why I like these brands...
If you wish a D-Slr, these are the models I think you should look up (in no order):
- Nikon D40 w/ Kit Lens (6MP)
- Nikon D40x w/ Kit Lens (slightly upgraded functions, 10MP, higher fps rate, more expensive)
- Canon EOS 400D w/ Kit Lens (the exact same as Nikon D40x, price included. But it\'s Canon, and has a wider choice of optics. Which doesn\'t sound too relevant in your case)
With these you get an excellent camera for 550$/€ (D40) or 750$/€ (D40x/400D). It can easily be upgraded, can probably take photos of your miniatures (you\'d have to check in real life if kit lens can focus close enough). But for all purpose photography they\'ll always perform better than P&S.
I\'d advise you to go to a camera store and hold these in your hands if you wish to buy one. I prefer Nikon ergonomics and looks. That\'s personal.
You can get great macro abilities for an additional 100$ with old macro lenses on e-Bay. They\'re all manual but anyway macro is best manually focused. And for exposure, that\'s harder, but with miniatures you\'ve got all the time you need to adjust it all. And you should be doing it manual anyway.
For P&S, I don\'t know much about them. These are the models I\'ve heard good things about recently:
- Nikon P5000
- Canon A570IS
- Canon SD850IS
- Canon Powershot S5 IS
- Canon Powershot G7
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8
That\'s all I can think of, but you should look into Sony and maybe Casio as well. Most of the models I\'ve quoted above are rather pricy though and I think the three D-Slrs above are a better value for money. Especially D-40.
If you see something you like, try it in a camera store, don\'t belive the seller because he\'ll probably lie to you or won\'t be knowledgeable. Go on Internet forums (I like the dpreview one) and ask questions there, you\'ll get good answers there. And take your time to pick up something because it\'s quite an investment...
I hope this helps!
