Is there an SLR-like camera without the SLR price?

[sinead]

Hello, all. I've been feeling the pull for a new (and more fancy) camera lately. I'm just an amateur photographer (and still pretty new at that, too), so I don't really need an SLR despite the feeling that I'd really love one.

Is there something out there that is good for the non-professional that will give me more SLR-like performance without the big SLR pricetag? I'd be going digital either way--I don't think I could go back to film now. I saw a good review for the Fujifilm S7000Z which seems to be a pretty good price, but I don't know how it is in practical use.

I'm interested in hearing whatever you wonderful ladies have to say about this. I've got a birthday coming up (and Christmas!), so maybe maybe maybe I'll be able to pull something off. :)

[MizAmyLou]

Hey there :) My Olympus C-765 Ultra zoom has all manual settings...white balance, everything, so you can learn some manual settings, and you could go fully auto, whatever the situation calls for at the time. I have a rebel now, but I still constantly grab for that olympus. For under $300, it is 4 mpx, and has a whopping 10x OPTICAL zoom. It takes beatifully sharp pictures. The shutter lag on it doesn't seem that bad either, compared to HP and other cameras I have had. It also has a continuous burst mode that you can use for action shots to keep form losing the moment due to shutter lag.

[ScrapWithNikki]

I felt the same way when I purchased my new camera this past spring. I bought the Olympus C-7000 7.1 megapixels and am very pleased with it. My photos always turn out great! It has 5x optical zoom (which with 7 mpx I dont really need to use, I can just crop), 30x seamless zoom, Quicktime movie and 2inch color lcd and all the manual settings. Walmart has it for $487, not a bad price for 7 mpx.