Cheap Digital Cameras Review

Evaluating budget digital cameras

If you're planning to buy your first digital camera on the cheap, a basic point-and-shoot with automatic settings is a good choice. These digital cameras, which cost $200 or less, offer plenty of features that make taking photos and sharing them online a snap and are ideal for first-time buyers and kids.

Cheap cameras aren't as tiny as some cutting-edge cameras, but their larger size makes them easier to handle for children or anyone who doesn't like tiny buttons. Likewise, budget digital cameras often don't offer a lot of features, nor are they designed for specialized photography. If you're planning to snap a lot of faraway or close-up shots, fast-action photos or want to work under diverse lighting conditions, you'll probably be better off spending more.

This ConsumerSearch report looks at the best-reviewed digital cameras under $200. ConsumerSearch has companion reports on ultra-zoom digital cameras and DSLR cameras. The best compact cameras overall, ranging from about $300 to $600, are covered in our digital camera report.

While there are lots of reviewers that discuss digital cameras, it's a bit harder to find reviews of budget models. ConsumerReports.org reviews a wide range of point-and-shoot cameras on an ongoing basis, including some sub-$200 models. Easy-to-read rating charts with side-by-side lists of test results make it easy to see how cameras compare. Individual product discussion, however, is limited at best, and many discontinued cameras remain in its comparison chart. Photography websites, on the other hand, conduct thorough testing paired with standalone, lengthy reviews. Imaging-Resource.com, DCResource.com, DigitalCameraInfo.com, DigitalCamera-HQ.com, PhotographyBlog.com and Steves-Digicams.com are some of the best photography sites for point-and-shoot cameras, although presentation varies, and the latter two sources haven't updated their budget camera sections recently.

Consumer electronics publications such as CNET, PCMag.com and PC World also evaluate budget digital cameras. Products receive a rating on a scale of 1 to 5, with the best performers earning special recognition. The sites often have sorting filters for comparing products by rating, features, brand and price. User reviews at Amazon.com help to confirm expert findings and reveal potential problems with extended use.

Expert tests prove that you can find a decent digital camera for about $100 -- but go much cheaper than that, and you might be sorry. In one reliable test of more than 100 cameras, the worst failure -- by far -- is also one of the cheapest: the Kodak EasyShare Sport C123 (*Est. $75) , a penny-pinching waterproof camera that disappoints testers with its sluggish response time, shaky photos, poor video and a subpar LCD screen.

It's "priced like a toy, and it operates like one," PCMag.com's David Pierce says. "It comes inside a shrink-wrapped package, lending it the appearance of something you'd place next to the action figures or Skittles in a Target or Walmart." Pierce and DigitalCameraReview.com's Mark Calley agree that the ruggedized Kodak C123 could appeal to someone on a tiny budget who tends to destroy cameras -- a kid, for example. "I knocked it around a bit during the review and submerged it in plenty of bodies of water, and it's still photographing as well as it ever was," Calley writes. "It's just unfortunate that that's not saying too much."