I use a Kodak Easyshare Z915 and I love it. 10x zoom, 10megapixel, image stabilising (so you can get sport shots easier and it reduces camera shake. There is a sports mode, too). On Manual you can change the exposure length (from 1/1000th of a second to 16 seconds), f-stop (3.5 to 8.3), ISO (100 to 1600) and you can also add brightness/contrast. It also has great video, better than our family camcorder and you can also zoom in whilst filming which I found isn't possible with alot of the cameras I found when I was shopping for one. Battery power has seemed fine to me so far, don't know how long it lasts, but definitely long enough for me, and I also love how it looks :P. But ofcourse, it's all up to you. Make sure you check out reviews on every website you find :) and if you take photography check with your teacher to see what he/she thinks.