I am looking into purchasing a new digital camera. I currently have a 5 Megapixel Kodak Easyshare and I think it sucks. The pictures come out too dark and close-ups are really blurry. For a new camera, I am looking to spend no more than $400. This new camera will be used for my personal enjoyment to take pictures of people, such as camping trips, BBQ’s, family outings, vacations, etc. and also for landscape/scenery and close-ups of whatever interests me. I went to Hawaii over the summer and tried to take a close-up of a hibiscus flower with the Kodak camera and it came out like shit…really blurry. The most important aspect of the camera for me will be picture clarity/quality. I want to be able to take crystal-clear, detailed pictures without blurriness no matter how close I am to an object (if this is possible). I don’t really care for having a bunch of options on my camera that I will never use; however, I will use the night-vision and action-shot features. I know that I could go online to consumer reports and various other websites to read hundreds of camera reviews for suggestions, but I figured that you probably know more than any of those people anyways. I went to Best Buy yesturday and wrote down the names of a few cameras that interest me and I’m curious as to what you have to say about them and if you think that any are suitable for my needs. The only information that the woman at Best Buy gave me was which ones were in stock and which ones weren’t…not very helpful.

1) Sony H2 (6 megapixel) for $349.99
2) Canon Powershot S31S (6 megapixel) for $399.99
3) Sony Cybershot N2 (10 megapixel) for $399.99
4) Sony Cybershot (7.2 megapixel) for $349.99
5) Olympus (7.1 megapixel)…this one I didn’t see the model name on it… for $349.99

Any thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated, and if you can think of any cameras other than these that fit the criteria for what I am looking for, please share. Thanks a lot!