Good Camera for a Beginner?

[Wired]

Ok well I am new to photography and I am not to sure on how far I want to pursue it. Right now I am using this camera... http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-locale=en_US&pq-path=6547 I got it about 1 year ago. But I have had other people say that this camera may limit my ability to take good pictures and such. So I was wondering what would be a pretty cheap camera that has a good amount of features and is user friendly. What I mean by cheap is probaly 100.00 to 250.00 max.Thanks in Advance

 

[YoungPic]

i don't think you'll find a better camera than what you have for only $100 - $200, digital that is, if you want a solid camera that will teach you something and give you results, you can easily go on ebay and buy something like a pentax spotmatic and 2-3 lenses for under 120 including shipping, so do some research and my suggestion is to use film first to learn things about photography like shutter speed, ISO, and apeture

 

[DSLR noob]

My girlfriend who got me into photography has that camera. She has been using it for bout 2 years and I have been using my D Rebel XT for about 5 months. Her pictures (in some cases) are still better than mine. Proving that experience is key. Now, 9 times out of 10, if we are both in the same place, at the same time, and we both take a picture (her in auto on her camera, me in Program AE on my camera) my picture comes out better. Because although she loves lighting, angles, composition etc. she for some reason refuses to pick up on the technical terms needed to go into manual mode. Anyway, point is, you can go really far on a camera. Yes that camera has a ton of limitations over an SLR, but it also has a 35mm equivalent of 38-385 focal lengths. Which cost a fortune for us to cover.
An SLR is easily superior, and is upgradable, but costs much more.

 

[Wired]

Oh ok thans you guys. I used to use the auto on my camera but I now I am messing around in the manual mode and try to use that more.

 

[schumionbike]

Hey, I have the Z710 from Kodak and it's pretty similar to that camera with a few minor different. The Z710 is a little cheaper too. Anyways, I took over 1200 pictures with it in the last few months and it's doing fine. I feel like the camera was very user friendly and make it easier to learn photography with the manual mode that it has. Good luck.