Looking for some help deciding

[Biddy]

I'm looking to buy a a nice little camera for my wife for christmas (for me too ) ...



anyways, we like the 'ultra compact' cameras, but I fear lack of battery life and not being able to just throw some AA's in there when needed.....but on the other hand I read the Casio I was looking at could take like 400+ pics on one charge.



Anyways.....price range is 150-300, newegg has some nice deals, I was thinking of going to circuit city to look at in person. I want it to be small, easy to use...but able to take great pictures for an amateur-novice user.



any tips are appreciated, and suggestions...thanks in advance.

[mtclimber]

Biddy-

There is a wide choice in this price range. You could go with the simplictiy of the Kodak C-743 all the way to the Fuj F-20 and F-30 cameras that have a rebate on them right now. The Fuji F-20 and F-30 do better on the batteries as you might guess.

Perhaps a bit more info about the kind of photos you both take would be helpful.

MT/Sarah

[Wirraway]

As MT/Sarah say's the choice is vast.

You said " I want it to be small, easy to use...but able to take great pictures for an amateur-novice user"

If your not prepared to process your photo's with a image editor I would stay well away from the Fuji F30/31d, if you are this camera is great.

For someone wanting an everyday camerashooting in Auto or P and images staight out of the camera, Canon, Sony and Panasonic can do the job well, just go to a camera store and see which feels best, image stabilisation on some models helps many people.

Regards Wirraway

[Biddy]

are the lithium ion batteries a real concern?



ive read some of the sony ones use proprietary cables and other things and makes it difficult, thoughts?



I'm not too into photography (yet), so I would like to be able to plug it in, and my pc recognize it as a storage device for easy photo download to email...



i saw a canon with a 3" lcd screen, but no viewfinder....is that a concern for a general 'all-around' type camera? point and click, all purpose good pics?



are the docking stations more of a pain than something that just uses mini usb or w/e straight to the pc?



I know some of these questions might be silly, but i appreciate the time and suggestions....i want to buy in the next few days because we are going on vacation very soon and a super small little camera would be great...



also, any of them have protective film over the lcd? is that a big concern? i do take care of my stuff pretty good.



Thanks.

[Wirraway]

Regarding the batteries, my wife's Sony W-100 uses a lithiumand charge's up outside the camera with the supplied charger.

If you are using Windows XP, like the W-100 you tranfer the images to the computer with a usb cable (supplied with the Sony) and I think most camera's use this method, the exception maybe the Fuji F series.

Hope this helps.

Regards Wirraway