what camera would you reccommend in the price range of 250-350 that has a great zoom,

like 10-12x, and high image quality, beneficial for taking pictures of artwork, slightly professional, where i can print large without the pixelated quality

Hi Court,

There are several cameras that I can recommend in this range. In fact, there's a whole group of "ultrazoom" cameras that fit your criteria almost perfectly.

Among them are: the Canon S3 IS (~$370) (and the slightly older S2 IS [~$280]), the Sony H5 ($390), the Panasonic FZ7 (~$300) and FZ50 (~$500), and the Kodak P712 (~$380).

These are all fine cameras. I personally own the S2 IS and love it a lot. It's generally rated a little better than the S3 IS (it's pretty much the same camera, specs-wise, with the major addition of one extra megapixel). Users also seem to really like the Sony H5, but I personally have no experience with it.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Most of the prior recommendations were either at the top of or above your price range. Try the Kodak Z712. It is at the bottom of your range, which would allow you to buy a larger memory card, tripod, and case. It will do 99% of what the pricier P712 will do, and is even a little smaller. I started with a Kodak DX6490 (4MP), which I loved; went to a Panasonic Lumix TZ1 (5MP), which I didn't like, and now I'm using a Kodak P712 (7MP). When you are shopping and your choices for the same price are more zoom or more megapixels, go for more zoom. The 4MP 6490 made great prints, even 8x10. Today's megazoom digitals will do everything normal people need. Make sure that you get optical image stabilization, which you should find within your price range. It will help make the big zoom much more useable.