On another note, if you buy online and use price search engines like Pricegrabber or Google Shopping, be careful. There are quite a few unethical types that will list a camera for $50 to $200 cheaper than the going price for a camera. Don't fall for it. What usually happens is they'll call you and tell you that you need to buy an "upgrade" like a bigger memory card and then try to charge you $80-100 for a $10 4GB SD card. If you say no then they either cancel your order or bill you and send the camera 3 months later or longer.

That's why I usually buy cameras and equipment from B&H Photo or Adorama online. Newegg and Buy.com are also good places with good deals or free shipping. But for what you're looking for you can probably find it locally for that price.

Just an fyi...

Sam's club seems to have good prices on cameras.

Right after I bought my last camera, I found one there for less $$$.

KEH.com sells used and discontinued cameras. You can sometimes get some pretty killer deals there.

One of the cheapest places I've found so far has been Radio Shack. Sam's is also pretty cheap

I'm not sure if you are looking at point and shoots or something with interchangeable lenses. A camera you can change lenses with is far superior to one that doesn't. There seems to be a lot of Canon guys on here and I'm not going to debate the whole Nikon vs Canon issue. It's been done for years and each brand has it's good and bad points. If you are looking for changeable lenses I don't think you will get it in the $200 range,around $500 seems about right.

Take a look at this Nikon D3000, very easy to use and will grow with the shooter. Has full program, full manual, shutter and aperture priority and 6 scene modes. Can be had at Best Buy with an 18-55 zoom for around $450.

I have been shooting for about 30 years and started out with Mamiya went to Canon and now Nikon. I don't claim to be any kind of genius or guru but I do think I have some decent advice if you have any questions

Best thing to do is figure out what features you want and go from there regardless of brand. Hope this helps.

http://nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Digital-SLR/25462/D3000.html