Digital camera buying?

This summer I'm going to be traveling a lot, and I want to buy a good quality digital camera. I want one with really awesome zoom and focus. My Vivitar camera, if I even so much as take a breath, my picture is blurry. So a camera that isn't so sensitive to movement would be great. I was looking into Kodak, and Nikon. Which one is more reliable? Which one has better quality pictures? Which one is better for people with shaky hands?

Nikon is a MUCH better brand than Kodak. Of course different models are different, but in general Nikon and Canon are the better brands.

You want to look for 'Image Stabilization'. A camera with this feature will make clearer pictures because it cancels out 'camera shake' up to a point. I think most decent cameras have this nowadays. When I got my first camera with 'IS', I thought it was just a gimmick, a sales thing, but I'm very impressed with it. Effectively it lets you take pictures in lower light, because at lower light the shutter has to stay open longer so you are more susceptible to the camera moving.

They do not make "shaky hands" cameras. Be sure you know how to set your ISO high enough. I use IS0 200 for all my outside pictures. But some people might prefer an ISO of 400 which will give you a faster shutter speed.

And most important you might read your manual and set your camera for shutter priority. Which means you set the shutter speed using a speed high enough to stop the action and compensate for "shaky hands".

I agree it is probably time to move up from the Vivtar camera.may I suggest Fuji Finepix S4200 @$150.00 on amazon. You might get familar with the "TV" setting which allows you to shoot with almost any shutter speed and the camera chooses the correct lens (f/stop) opening for the exposure. With my camera I have found that the "P" setting gives better saturated color. Most of us on this forum do not recommend the "A" setting. Try shooting on the different "letter" designations and see for yourself which gives you the best image in your LCD screen.