Questions about cameras...

A question was asked on the blog today about what kind of camera someone should buy for in their purse.

My previous job was at a camera store. I worked there for 3 years, 3 years ago. And my personal preference is for Olympus, but really, the major brands, Cannon, Nikon, Fuji, they're all good.

My best pieces of advice is to ask questions, do some research, hold the cameras, and think about what you really want from your camera. Do you want something that won't get wrecked in the rain? Are you looking for something very durable? Are you klutzy? Do you want to be able to take movies? And these are all good questions for either a p&s or a dslr.

I have an Olympus that fits in my purse. It's waterproof (cause I don't want to ruin my good dslr if it starts raining) It can be dropped up to 5 feet... that camera literally lives in my purse, and I want it to be able to put up with a lot of abuse. It does take movies, but not very well. My reasoning is that if I wanted a movie camera, I'd BUY a movie camera. I want a camera for taking photos. And that's another reason why I went with Olympus for my dslr. Some of the newer Canon's and Nikon's take movies, that's not a selling feature for me at all.
Hold the camera. See if you like where the dials are. See if it's too heavy or too light. You often get what you pay for. My Olympus dslr takes BOTH xd cards AND compact flash. Love that!

There are lots of websites to go to compare cameras. dpreview.com is where I used to send customers all the time.

Olympus is just MY personal favorite brand. All of my cameras are Olympus, and I have 5. I don't have anything againest any other brands, mostly. Just ask the retailer lots of questions, it's better to go someplace knowledgeble, like a camera store, rather than a box retailer.

So I hope there's some good advice for you. If you're comparing a couple of cameras, please don't hesitate to ask my opinion. I'd be happy to help. :)
~RonniH.