Bruins, the camera you are satisfied with will be more personal preference than anything else. Just make sure you buy it from somewhere you can return it if not satisfied. Don't buy it over the internet because you are stuck paying more to ship it back if you don't like it. Also, keep in mind you will probably spend close to $100 more for external stuff once you have bought the camera, so if you are strict on the $400, you probably need to find a camera for around $300. If you have some expertise on picture taking the Sony DSC-P71 might be good for you. I don't know much about photography yet, so I was looking for something that will do well for just point and shoot, but yet had the ability to set stuff. The Sony took fantastic pictures in good light situations, but for anything inside the digital noise was incredible, but chances are that could have been made better by going off auto mode and doing some settings. It's also a small camera, but still had 3X zoom and as a big plus took AA batteries. It's currently selling for around $299.
Something you can try is pricematching somewhere with places off the internet. Saved me about $350 on a camera last night, granted the camera was 3X what I originally started out wanting to pay, but such is life as a gadget geek. :-D
Facebook
Twitter