Advice on buying a camera?

I don't own my own camera but am wishing to invest in one soon. I'm going to be travelling over Europe in a few months so I want a camera that takes amazing pictures and offers more than a simple point and shoot (maybe something like the Nikon 1). I don't know to much about cameras so any advice and information or recommendations would be appreciated!

Don't worry about MP count when camera shopping. Higher MP count does not = better image quality. Check out the Rebel T3 and NIkon D3100 & D3200. Be sure to buy a genuine spare battery so you won't run of juice.

Nikon 1 going to coist you $600 and up, for your first camera, it is kind of expensive.

I suggest Lumix 16MP with either 5X or 10X zoom, make sure get a 16GB Class 10 memory card.

p.s.: to take a picture, press shutter half, wait for green led, press shutter all the way down.

You can go with Nikon COOLPIX L25, it's a 10.1 MP Digital Camera, it provides amazing features like White Balance-Auto WB, Daylight, manual WB, Screen-3 inches TFT.

If the Nikon 1 model is the type of camera that suits your preferences and is in your price range I would suggest that you compare it to other brands with similar features. The Nikon 1 is a relatively new model classified as a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera (abbreviated MILC). Excluding the full frame Leica interchangeable lens camera models that do not have the same compact form factor (and are much more expensive) this type of camera is aimed at producing superior quality images in a more compact and lightweight digital camera design that is also less costly than a typical Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) model.

While the Nikon is an interesting camera and is getting positive reviews you may find a better selection from Olympus/Panasonic MILC models with a much wider selection of models and accessories using the Micro Four Thirds standard. Sony also has several models of MILC cameras designated NEX with a more fully developed product line.

Other than the Leica models that evolved from their 35mm film camera products, Panasonic, Olympus, Samsung and Sony (in that order) were the earliest companies to develop MILC type cameras and they are now being pursued by many other competitors but they are the leaders in this genre.

Here are links to some general information on the MILC type cameras and details on Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony products -

http://en.wikipedia.org/...ens_camera
http://en.wikipedia.org/...n_1_series
http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/body.html
http://store.sony.com/...004b07ed7c

We use one of the Olympus models for our "family" camera.

Here are a few photos of/with that camera -

Whatever camera you decide on I recommend getting at least one spare battery and buy the camera soon enough that you have 2~3 weeks to try it out and get used to using it.

In my opinion both Nikon and to some extent Sony have lost one advantage of the compact form factor when compared to Olympus and Panasonic because they have not designed compact lenses to complement their cameras.

Hope that helps. Email me if you need more details.