There are many types of camera available, but only two of major interest here, other than video. Even with video, for holiday purposes, the smaller cameras have to be an advantage. Polaroid may be fun, but they are big, expensive to run and it is difficult to get reprints. Best left at home. The dying formats - disc and pocket instamatic are best left alone. The latter are still available, but the negative size is so tiny that, even with the best technique, results are, at best, 'adequate'. You should be looking at a 35 mm compact or a Single Lens reflex - SLR. Medium format SLR's are superb for quality but are BIG ! COMPACTS.... There are very many to choose from and even the cheapest can give good results, as does the Canon shown here. you get what you pay for, and the most important feature is a good lens - difficult to be sure unless you pay in excess of £100. Most basic cameras are fitted with a wide angle lens. This is to help people get results in focus as wide angle lenses have massive depth of field. Auto focus helps but MUST be used correctly - the subject kept in the little autofocus window in the center of the viewfinder and/or the focus lock facility used - usually the first pressure on the shutter button. Even autofocus may not help much as the cheaper cameras may only have 2 or 3 autofocus presets. More expensive cameras may have 200 or more - they may even be continuous as are autofocus SLRs. Built in wind, rewind and auto flash all help, and if you can afford a zoom lens - even a short one, it will help your composition enormously. The great beauty of the compact is that it is - compact ! All you need is the camera and plenty of film ! THE SLR... More the enthusiasts camera, but also very common and widely used. Modern units have all the compact features PLUS interchangeable lenses. For anyone doing more than just family snaps, the SLR is a must. The extremely accurate metering and focus systems mean that pictures should always be sharp and well exposed. Poor results are the photographers fault. Modern cameras are also quite small - usually - some are huge ! If you want a bit more control, plus the chance to handle a wider range of subjects, take an SLR with short zoom - my 35/135 covers most jobs - and zoom quality is now little short of prime lenses. You may need a flash, but you will, once more, need lots of film.