DSLR cameras vs normal cameras...

Check out Olympus and Sony mirrorless lines if you're not ready to make the jump to DSLR. But the Nikon 3200/3300 come with a great "guide mode" that's really handy with an entry level DSLR. Be sure to get another lens beyond your default 18-55 as well, I recommend a 55-200 or 55-300 for a nice second lens.

Solved the first one so have a bump, I don't have the CV for anything though so I stopped after fiddling with the second for a little while. Unfortunately I don't know anything about cameras!

A DSLR camera is great, if you plan on getting a few different lenses to do different things. Long distance shots, close up shots and stuff like that. They are also good because if I remember right, DSLRs have far more options for controlling stuff like shutter speed, exposure length and all that kind of stuff. DSLRs will also usually do stuff like burst mode where you can just hold down the button and it will take lots of shots in a row. Non-DSLRs can do this too, but they are usually not as fast and/or limited to 3 to 10 in a row and thats it. Burst mode is really good for trying to get a picture something moving fast, like a car going by, or trying to get a really good shot of lightning in the sky. There is also generally far more attachments that can hook up to DSLRs.

Generally a regular camera will do just fine for most people. You can get up pretty close and get some decent pictures, you can take some decent long distance shots though not too long distance. Many also have little rings just around the lens which allows you to screw on other lenses which allows the optical zoom to be better, or put on some sort of filter.

I've got a Kodak easyshare z712is. Its older and only 7mega pixel but it takes some nice pictures. It also has the little rings on the outside of the lens to attach some extra lenses though I have not bought any myself.

I would suggest going to a store for a hands on look at the cameras and see if they have the little rings on them.

Just remember these things. The higher the megapixel the better. I believe 14 to 20 MP is actually common now (been a while since I looked at cameras). Optical zoom is better then digital zoom so the higher it is the better zooming in on stuff will be. Check to see what kind of batteries it takes either AA or special expensive ones, or both. My camera can actually take both AA and the special batteries. Most cameras take SD cards I believe, and the larger it takes the better, also you can get some SD cards that can take data from the camera really fast, you will pay more for them, but if your camera can take the size it will be better in the long run. Pretty much all cameras will now take 1080p 30fps video too.

Hope this helps at little and just didn't make things more confusing.

You sound unsure, I am a photographer, as great as DSLR's are some P&S are pretty amazing, examples:

DSLR
DSLR
DSLR

P&S
P&S
P&S

It's more about what YOU can do, then what the camera can do, the DSLR gives you better grip, better depth of field usually, bit more clarity due to lenses(More choices also) size, etc...

I am sure the P&S here is probably under 200 bucks by now, it was 500 years ago when I got it, the dslr i use you can grab for 300 and chnage on ebay, don't be afraid to buy used, just ask for a shutter count to make sure its not super used.

Ask yourself what do you want to do.

Are you interested in photography and want to learn more about it, make lots of photos, edit and retouch them? Basically, is it going to be your hobby? If so, get a DSLR.

Do you need high quality and lots of control for something particular, like a job of some kind (journalism, doing on-site photo documentation)? Get a DSLR or a mirrorless camera.

If you want to just snap some pics here and there, have something better than a camera phone to take on vacation, get a good point&shoot. If you already know that P&S are too crappy for you for this purpose, get a mirrorless.

It takes a lot of time and practice to master a DSLR.

If you just need pictures then a normal camera is good.
On the other hand, if you need great quality pictures, you'll have to be patient and learn all the manual controls of the DSLR.

A DSLR on auto mode is slightly better than normal so not worth the extra cost.

Bump for solved!

/casually laughs at "normal cameras"
/cries because dslrs aren't the norm

I have a dslr, a canon eos 700d I bought it as a gift to my father but pretty much sits in there untouched. The picture quality is actually great even if I can barely use it, much better than a samsung compact camera I have (duh, really? never thought about that!).
If you want to buy one as a hobby or just to play around I'd suggest you to get a good one it will last quite a lot, look on the internet usually there are great prices (here in stores the price difference can be even more than 200€ than buying it on amazon), there are a lo of nice entry level ones: canon eos 600d, eos 700d, eos 1100d, nikon 3200/3300, nikon 5200, pentax k50, etc.

Some pic I took: click1, click2
Yeah I suck :p