All the above advice is excellent but you may have got a bit confused with some of the technical terms.
Basically you have 2 main types of camera and they will both take excellent photos.
You have the pocket camera which most people hold at arms length and view the screen on the rear to compose the photo. These are excellent value for money and will take cracking photos. The two main disadvantages are that at arms length they wobble about a lot and the small lens is always going to struggle if you are looking for much more than a snapshot. Mostly these will work automatically if you don’t want to fiddle with the settings.
The second type of camera is the SLR (single lens reflex). Here you look through a view finder and a mirror and prism enable you to look through the actual lens which will take the photograph. While these cameras are larger and more expensive they do have many advantages. You can change lenses for ultra close up or telephoto work. Holding the camera against your nose is a great aid to steadiness. You can manually focus which can be a help especially on close up work. The SLR’s do tend to be more expensive as you would expect. These will operate automatically if you wish or you can usually take charge of the settings manually to add that personal touch.
There are also a number of hybrid designs where you normally look through a view finder but the image you see is projected from a small LCD screen.
I think you need to decide on which type you want to go for, make sure it has adequate megapixels, 8 – 12 should be OK, check it can get up close (macro facility) and then look for one which feels good in your hands and represents good value for money.
Best of luck.
