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I had some budget restrictions so I bought the C-765UZ. It's pretty much almost exactly the same as the C-770. They were even announced on the same date.
The one I have is a great camera for the price. There are even extra lenses that you can buy to put on the 765 (they'll probably fit on the 770 too). The telephoto lens will give you 17X optical zoom.
But anyway, the camera alone is pretty good, especially for beginners (like I was when I bought it). Of course your not going to get quality as good as a D70 or a 20D, but the quality is pretty good, provided you shoot in the right lighting conditions, keep your ISO low, and shoot at the highest quality setting. (On the 765 it's SHQ. There is even a mode where you can shoot at 3200x2400, but it's eats up your cards fast).
PM me if you have any more questions.
Another good thing to do is to search for that particular camera in the remarks or camera field so you can see what kind of images the camera produces. Some cameras will have more megapixels but they might have a lot of grain/or they don't do colors well. Research this as much as you can.
From experience and screening, the Fuji's seem to produce quite noisy photos, I had an S602 a few years back and whilst it was a great starter, the noise began to annoy me and i found myself jumping on the DSLR bandwagon with a 300D, and now a 20D.
You could always look for a 2nd hand D30 or D60 or even 300d...if not the Oly's seem to be a good choice, and you can always whack on a TCON-17 for a bit of extra zoom.
Thanks for all the replies. I think I have narrowed it down the either the Olympus C-770 or the Kodak Z740. I have looked at pictures from both of these cams both here and at A.net and both seem to have the ability to turn out excellent images (Z740 photos by Simon A. Baskerville and C-770 from JordanD are fantastic). It looks like I can get the Kodak for about $60 less than the Oly ($260 vs. $320), and with the Kodak both newer and with more megapixels (5 vs. 4) it would seem to be the clear choice but I want to get some opinions from you experts as to which one I should go with.
Just remember than megapixels aren't everything. You could have a 7 megapixel camera and get crap images. A camera is a little like a hammer. Sure the quality of the hammer might have a little to do with the final result of what your building, but the way the hammer is used is what really decides it.
DON'T judge the quality of a camera by the photos on jp.net. Keep in mind they'll have been put through noise reduction, sharpening etc. And there's no telling how many other pics shot with the same camera failed to make it. Look for unedited photo samples on review sites such as www.dpreview.com - particularly photos of fine detail taken at long range (such as ornate building facades or cityscapes) and shots at low ISO but in low light conditions. These will enable you to judge how well a camera can capture detail and how much it suffers from noise.
Another consideration which you won't get from studio reviews like the ones at dpreview is the camera's ability to focus quickly and accurately on moving or distant objects. Going by my experience with an Olympus C-740 you can expect to lose a significant proportion of shots due to inaccurate autofocus. The best thing to do here is get in touch with jp.net photographers and ask them how their camera does.
My C-740 served me well on the whole: most of my photos here were taken with it. But I found myself spending more and more time editing each photo prior to upload because of problems with noise and halos round high-contrast areas. If I were looking around for a camera in its class today I'd consider alternatives such as the Canon S2, though I don't know how whether it fits in your budget. Of course the 770 may also be an improvement over the 740.
Just remember than megapixels aren't everything. You could have a 7 megapixel camera and get crap images. A camera is a little like a hammer. Sure the quality of the hammer might have a little to do with the final result of what your building, but the way the hammer is used is what really decides it.
Very true!!!
The Z740 handles quite well in dim weather conditions,aswel as sunny!
So i say Z740 as i have it
But it's your choice!
I was in this situation during the first part of 2005 with a similar price budget to yourself. After doing lots of research on the subject, I was left with these Cameras to choose between:
The Panasonic was the one I decided to buy. This was because, although the Olympus had many qualities, it did not have image stabilization which I really wanted. That left me with the FZ5 and the Z5. After reading many reviews and user opinions, and getting help from users, it became apparent that the Panasonic FZ5 was the one that I should purchase, as it came across as having the edge over the Konica Minolta Z5.
They are certainly Cameras I would check out.
Some sites which I found very useful for reviews and research were:
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