Yeah i got an open box camera, it as normally $299 for the camera alone, i got the camera a 2GB SD card, and they gave me a $30 gift card to the store all for like $326 after tax..

And personally, from my experience with Kodak cameras and Olympus cameras, they suck, now that is my experience, so others may have better luck with them. but IMO if getting a camera it is Canon for low end, and Canon or Nikon for high end cameras(only cause Nikon doesn't seem to make many cameras in the <$300 range).

 

Nikon makes a few decent sub-$300 cameras. The L12 is pretty good all around and the S200/S500 ones have really nice features for such small, pocket sized cameras.

Kodak and Olympus and a few others that used to make -great- film cameras really haven't done well in the digital camera market. Kodak tries to go too user friendly and majorly skimps on features and quality. Olympus had some decent digital cameras years ago but got overrun by better quality Canon, Nikon, and Sony cameras. Minolta is another one that just hasn't done digital cameras right at all.

The biggest let down for me so far has been the Panasonic Lumix cameras. The cameras physically look great and they use Leica lenses which are some of the best lenses, but the cameras just don't perform well at all. Was really hyped to use one then I was just majorly let down.