What's the best digital camera to buy?

I'd recommend the Fuji F30... It is small, has great battery-life, and solid features. What sets it apart from the similar competitors is the low-light sensor, which means you can take night pictures without a flash and movies at night won't be black. It is very well reviewed. I have had it for about three months (after owning many digital cameras, and researching extensively) and have been very satisfied. It's also not too expensive. ($250ish right now, maybe less).

You can also get a simplified version with the same quality pictures but less features in the F20 for quite a bit less.

If you want to be a little more mainstream, the Canon series of ultra small cameras won't lead you astray... solid quality/features/price... but not the special low-light performance of the F30.

Check out dcviews.com when you're reading to start scouring all the reviews... or let me know if you have further questions.

I would use a digital camera mainly for artistic purposes. I paint, sketch, and do printmaking, and I need a quick way to download good images to my Mac (using Photoshop).

I cut off my response above accidentally-- Would the Fuji F30 be good for this purpose, or does anyone have other ideas?

I'd recommend Canon SD600/630 for point-and-shoot cameras. Read the reviews for yourself on amazon.

http://what.camera.shouldiget.com/

shameless self promotion - haven't had time to finish this site due to other projects

i would highly recommend the lumix from panasonic fx07 has a leica lens

i'm going to second the Fuji (i think it's "finepix") f30. it's awesome, and the best bang for the buck. also, you can check out

www.dpreview.com

for a great site that lets you do lots of comparisons.. it's a little hard to get used to, but it's extremely useful.

Editors' choice is Panasonic LZ3 or Canon A 630

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/digital-cameras/panasonic-lumix-dmclz3_reviews.html

a few years back i was eyeing the pentax optio - the 'altoid case' camera. it was great photos and 30 second film, and artists friends found it extremely convenient. i'm finally thinking more seriously about making the plunge to digital. does anyone know how that line compares these days? how large is the fuji f30?

Both of my daughters and I have Canon digital cameras and we all love them. I have the SD400 and it's small and compact. There are newer versions that are smaller, thinner, larger LCD screens..and I would go for that. To simplify things...if I were you I'd go for a 5 mp camera with a 3x zoom. Don't pay any attention to the 'digital zoom'...the Canon's are easy...and you can upload the pics very easily to your computer, too.

Oh my gosh...I can't stand that I used an apostrophe incorrectly by mistake! Canons** is what I meant! :))

We just did weeks of research and ended up getting the fuji F30 (on a great deal through costco). priorities for us were being able to zoom a lot and have image stabilzation (usually have to pay much more for this) so we can take photos indoor with lower light. easy to use and lots of fun.