Here's one you don't think about often: Cameras.

I have a Panasonic Lumix. (Model #'s listed on my instruction booklet are DMC - LS75, DMC -LS70 and DMC - LS60) It ran my hubby right at $300 this past Christmas. He purchased it at Wal-Mart.

It is wonderful. It has several different settings for taking pics, my favorite 2 are sunset and snow. It enhances the pics. The zoom is decent, not the best but decent. I have taken still pics and pics traveling 75 mph, it takes both pics the same.....no blur.

I have some pics on my profile here that was taken with my camera if you want to see for yourself. There are pics that I have taken standing still and driving there and you won't be able to tell a difference.


Kodak puts out a great digital camera that runs a little less than mine that is very similar to mine also. I'm not sure of style or model #s though

 

I've got one of the kodaks, I think I paid about $125.00 for it. Has a lot of bells & whistles for the price. It takes surprizingly pictures even on 1.1 mpx.

 

Mine is a sony cybershot 8.1 with a 1 gig card, it cost 220.

 

Whatever brand you get, go for the max zoom you can get for the dollar you spend.

That's lens zoom...not digital zoom. There is a HUGE differance in picture quality and scalabilty.

If you're just wanting something basic...spend $200.

 

I used to have a Konica/Minolta Dimage Z6. This was the last model made by Konica/Minolta before they went out of business. However, you can find them on ebay for less than $200. I loved the camera and thought it was well worth the $400 I paid for mine new in '06. I found out the hard way that they don't hold up to falls from the truck too well.

Here's some examples of scenery pics I took while on the road with this camera.

 

I like the Kodak V570 or V705. I have the V570 with 5.0mp, but it was later replaced by the V705 with 7.0mp. It has a panorama setting that lets you take three pics and the cam automatically merges them onto one, and does a real good job of it. It also has a wide angle lens that works in both photo and video mode. Plus it's very small, so it fits in my pocket with no problem.

The only two things that I'm not crazy about are that it takes video in Quicktime format, and its rechargable battery seems proprietary to Kodak... never seen anything like it in the stores.

 

I'm partial to my Olympus E-Volt E-500, but that was more expensive than your $300 price range - it was $800. It's a digital SLR though, so that price included two lenses which cover almost all of my needs. Olympus does make some lower cost cameras that may be worth a look.

 

looks like the some of the hills between utah and idaho

 

The first pic is coming out of Winslow, AZ headed towards Flag. The second is Mt. Shasta in NoCal headed north on I-5. The third is in WY between Casper and I-80. The fourth is UT on 1-15 south of SLC. The fifth and final is Mt. Shasta again but this time headed south on I-5