I'm circling the camera displays,

[Bald Eagle]

I take lots of 35mm pictures of wildlife and outdoor scenes. But, like most good photographers instruct us to do, I take many crappy shots to get one or two good ones. This gets somewhat expensive to have the film processed. And sometimes I just can't force myself to throw away the lousy ones.

I have narrowed my search for a new digital camera down to:
1. Compact
2. 2 to 3 mega-pixels
3. 6x to 10x zoom (forget about digital zoom)
4. SD storage (I have several little thingies that use SD and I want to standardize 'cause those suckers are expensive)
5. My budget will only allow a $350 purchase

My zoom requirement is a throwback from my telephoto lenses on my 35mm equipment. I have noticed that most of the digitals in my price range are limited to 3x or 4x. what are your thoughts on this?

I have talked to several photographers about the resolution I would want. Every one of them advised me to stay away from anything higher than 3 megapix. One told me to not go higher than 2 megapix. Their reasoning is that for my purposes anything higher than 3 is a waste of money. And the file size grows tremendously with pixel count. They say that for typical 6x4 (I think) print-outs 2 megapix is all that is required. Of course there are those who insist on having the biggest and best no mater what.

Could you folks offer suggestions and comments to help me make my selection?

 

[PowDuck]

no help here on the camera but on the Mpx thing. I went 4 in case I wanted larger pics. You can set the camera for lower resolution if you want to.

 

[Lan-Lord]

I don't know if you are going to find 6x-10x optical zoom on a cam with anything less than 4MP. Camera makers just dont market them that way today.

 

[coyotebandit]

One thing nice about a higher megapixel camera is you can crop it down a lot and still have a picture that prints out great at 4x6. I think you can get an Olympus C-740 (3 MP 10x Zoom) for around $350, but they take XD cards, so it would only meet 4 of your 5 requirements. I think you will have a hard time finding what your looking for unless you give up at least one of your requirements.