Good digital camera

[Looney1a]

My dear old mother is looking for a new camera and she wants to go digital (her old camera is about 10 years old and the flash doesn't work). Anyway she isn't a pro or anything, she just looking for one for the odd family snap and holiday snaps and that sort of thing. Even though I'm a computer geek I have no idea when it comes to digital cameras so I thought you guys would be best to help me out. Anyway, enough of that and down to business. Mum and I do have a camera in mind called the Kodak Easy Share DX4330. We can get it for about AUD$699, which is about US$350, to give you a basic idea on price. The basic specs of the camera are below:

CCD resolution 3.3 megapixel
image resolution 3.1 megapiel
image quality 3.1MP - best 2.2MP - better 0.8MP good
Optical zoom 3X
digital zoom 3.3X
16mb memory with an upgrade slot
Snazzy docking bay for downloading and recharging
A whole heap of other stuff which I'm too lazy to type out form the booklet

So is this a good camera? If not, any ideas? Thanx for your help in advance!

Looney

 

[Horsepower]

Olympus has the best line IMHO

 

[Slogun]

A lot of people have a lot of different opinions about digital cameras.

At that price and resolution, I recommend Canon S30, or for a little less money, Canon has several other top digital cameras.
You can do some easy model comparisons over at dpreview.com.

One issue for digital camera neophytes is "how to get the pictures out of the camera."
The Kodak dock might be a good feature for a lot of folks.

Alternatively, I like using a card reader. I got my compact flash card reader, which needed no drivers loaded for winXP for $15 at micro center.

 

[Looney1a]

Thanx for ya replies. I looked at those websites and found other good cameras but the don't have docking bays. Because mum is not all that good with computers it will simplify the proccess for her so I think the kodak camera would be best. Also we are looking to buy it from a local shop and mum likes to have local service.

Looney

 

[dreamer]

Canon S230 is very nice, got it for girlfriend who is afraid of techno-gadgetry and she absolutely loves it.

 

[corkyg]

Been into these things for over 5 years now - have had 5 Olympus and now a Canon. They were all different in type and function, and today I have the Oly D40 as a "pocket camera" for handy quick tasks, and a Canon EOS D60 with 5 lenses for more exacting requirements. Canon, Olympus and Nikon are all excellent. Minolta is also good. You have to decide what capabilities you want and then maximize those with a given price range. Then go shopping.

 

[Dewey]

I would suggest reading the forums over at www.dpreview.com. It's the Anandtech for the digital camera geeks.