Camera recommendations please.

[lozdesign7]

I use a Nikon Coolpix AW120 point and shoot... Then photoshop does the rest.

With regards to camera phones.... See clip below for some ideas...

Lawrie

[video=youtube;yj3aBi2ihDI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj3aBi2ihDI[/video]

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

Hmmm Rockwell must be taken with a grain of salt. Famous web Rockwellism below...

-Sure, Ken Rockwell deletes a bad photo or two. Other people call these Pulitzers.
-Ken Rockwell doesn't use flash ever since the Nagasaki incident.
-Ken Rockwell doesn't color correct. He adjusts your world to match his.
-Ken Rockwell doesn't wait for the light when he shoots a landscape - the light waits for him.
-Ken Rockwell's nudes were fully clothed at the time of exposure
-Ken Rockwell never produces awful work, only work too advanced for the viewer
- Ken Rockwell's digital files consist of 0's, 1's AND 2's.
-Ken Rockwell once designed a zoom lens. You know it as the Hubble SpaceTelescope.
-Ken Rockwell doesn't adjust his focus, he changes space-time.

Ken Rockwell must know chuck Norris

 

[Andy the Aussie]

Nikon1 ! I am using a factory refurb (my guess is just old stock not refurb) V1 I got as I wont be able to carry my D7200 in my pack in NZ next year yet I can't bring myself not to have a decent camera. If it capturing kids that you most desire you will want something that is fast to start up and focus with the least "shutter" lag. Generally (not always but generally) the cheaper the camera the slower these can be. The Nikon1 has impressed me greatly (my version is the oldest of the V series so they and the J series have probably become better again.

 

[RobStanley]

If your budget is under $250 I'd be sticking with your phone. The cameras in modern phones are pretty good, providing you have good light. You can even get cool lens attachments for them for different looks and styles. So I'd recommend learning about lighting and composition first and foremost. The camera will never do the work for you. You could spend $20K on a top DSLR and lenses, and still take crap photos.