The best cheap digital cameras can, however, yield photos of good quality for using on the Internet and for making small prints. Thanks to technological advancements, today's inexpensive digital cameras have more power than you might think. Here are the some of the best cheap digital cameras for less than $100, listed in alphabetical order.
1. Canon PowerShot A2200
Canon
Canon's PowerShot A2200 digital camera isn't going to provide features that will overly impress you, but it does have a nice set of basic features that compare well to other cameras in its price range. The A2200 includes several easy-to-use features, including what Canon calls "Smart Auto," which attempts to simplify photography, while improving the camera's accuracy in automatic mode.
With this camera, you'll find 14.1 megapixels of resolution, a 2.7-inch LCD, 720p HD video capabilities, and a 4X optical zoom lens. The PowerShot A2200 is available in four body colors: Blue, black, red, or silver.
2. Canon PowerShot A800
Canon
Beginners looking for an easy-to-use, inexpensive digital camera don't have to settle for a used model or one that was released a few years ago. Instead, they can consider the recently released Canon PowerShot A800 digital camera, which carries an MSRP of only $89.99. You'll find the A800 in red, black, blue, and silver body colors.
The PowerShot A800 doesn't contain specifications that will rival other, more expensive new cameras. The A800 offers 10.0 megapixels of resolution, a 3.3X optical zoom lens, a 2.5-inch LCD screen, and motion JPEG video capabilities.
3. Digital Blue U-Turn Children's Camera
Digital Blue
Even though the Digital Blue U-Turn Camera is a children's camera, parents might find themselves borrowing the U-Turn from time to time, just because it is such a fun camera to use. The U-Turn has a cool morphing feature, and its camera body can twist to allow easy self-portraits.
4. Fujifilm FinePix Z900EXR
Fujifilm
If you're looking for a touch screen LCD camera, one of the best that's available is the Fujifilm FinePix Z900EXR, which also features a colorful camera body.
The Z900EXR, which is known as the Z909EXR in some areas of the world, includes an EXR CMOS image sensor, which is especially strong in low light.
It offers 16MP of resolution. The 3.5-inch touch screen LCD is large and impressive. You'll find a 5X optical zoom lens with the Z900EXR, and it can shoot 1080p HD video at 30 frames per second. The Z900EXR is available in black, blue, silver, red, pink, or white camera bodies.
5. GE Create by Jason Wu
GE
You'll find some good and some bad in the stylish Jason Wu Create camera from General Imaging, the photography division of GE. With a maximum 12.2 megapixels of resolution, the Jason Wu Create camera shoots sharp and vibrant photos and is easy to use. If you want a sharp-looking camera that has an amazing number of cool accessories and interesting body colors, the Jason Wu Create will meet your needs. GE offers the camera in 10 different body colors, all of which are trimmed in silver. You'll find black, blue, gold, green, red, white, and yellow metal finish colors and black, gray, and white leather finish colors with this camera. You'll find versions with either 4GB or 2GB of built-in memory. The 2GB version costs a little less.
6. Kodak EasyShare Touch (M5370)
Kodak
Kodak is known for its easy-to-use cameras -- after all, they place "easy" in the name of their beginner-level cameras. But the touch-screen LCD Kodak has included with its recently announced EasyShare Touch digital camera potentially makes the Touch the easiest-to-use Kodak camera yet.
The Touch's 3.0-inch touch-screen LCD offers a higher resolution screen than most Kodak cameras. As with most Kodak cameras, the Touch makes it easy to upload your photos and videos to Facebook or YouTube.
In addition, the Touch offers 14 megapixels of resolution, a 5X optical zoom lens, and 720p HD video capabilities.
7. Nikon Coolpix S80
Nikon
The Coolpix S80 includes a 3.5-inch OLED touch screen display. The high-resolution screen has a wide viewing angle of about 180 degrees. Users can add art effects to their photos or can rate their photos for easy sorting by using touch commands on the S80's display.
You'll find 14.1 megapixels of resolution, a 5X optical zoom lens, and 720p HD video capabilities with the S80. The S80's color combinations include: Black, blue, gold, red, light pink/dark pink, and silver/brown.
8. Olympus VG-160
Olympus
Among sub-$100 cameras, the Olympus VG-160 carries one of the better specification lists that you're going to find.
Granted, the VG-160's features aren't going to stand up well against most of the other cameras introduced in 2012, but this model does compare strongly against other cameras in this price range, thanks in particular to a really good performance with flash photos.
You'll find 14 megapixels of resolution, a 3.0-inch LCD, a 5X optical zoom lens, and 720p HD video capabilities with this model. Olympus is offering the VG-160 in red, orange, black, and silver body colors.
9. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH7 (FS22)
Panasonic
Panasonic has touted the Lumix DMC-FH7 -- called the Lumix FS22 in some parts of the world -- as a great point and shoot camera for portrait photography and, thanks to this camera's "cosmetic" modes, it does work well for portraits of people.
In addition, you'll find a touch screen LCD with the FH7, which isn't common in the sub-$200 price range. These two features alone make the FH7 a pretty good camera.
I found in my FH7 review that this camera's image quality in indoor photos isn't as good as it could be, as images are a bit flat, but this thin camera compares well versus others in this price point.
10. Panasonic Lumix DMC-S2
Panasonic
Although the low-priced Panasonic Lumix DMC-S2 point and shoot camera hasn't been around more than a few months, it's already seen a price drop, placing it in the sub-$100 price point. That places a pretty impressive set of features in a low-priced model.
The Panasonic S2, which measures only 0.81 inches in thickness, offers 14.1 megapixels of resolution, a 4X optical zoom lens, a 2.7-inch LCD, and 720p HD video. It's available in violet, red, or black camera bodies.
11. Samsung ST76
Samsung
It wasn't too many years ago that imagining a thin digital camera with 16 megapixels of resolution seemed almost impossible. Now, you can find that type of camera for less than $100.
The recently released Samsung ST76 measures only 0.67 inches in thickness, while including 16.1 megapixels of resolution.
Outside of the resolution, there aren't a lot of high-end features on this camera, as it has a 5X optical zoom lens, a 2.7-inch LCD screen, and can shoot only at 720p HD video quality, but that's still a great price for a 16MP camera. The ST76 is only available in black.
12. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W620
Sony
Sony has always done a nice job with thin and stylish digital cameras, and now the company is offering a few really inexpensive models, including the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W620.
You won't find a lot of top-of-the-line features with the W620, as it offers a 5X optical zoom lens, 14.1 megapixels of resolution, 720p HD video, and a 2.7-inch LCD. It measures 0.78 inches in thickness. Look for the W620 in black, red, or silver camera bodies with silver lens housings.
