suggestions for a grannie-cam?

[JohnG]

OK, need to get a digital camera for my mother-in-law for Christmas. As a background, I myself am an avid hobbyist but I shoot DSLR - my personal digicam is 4 years old so I understand terms & technology and photography but I'm just not up to speed on the current digicam camera models out there.

Here are my requirements - I would appreciate any advice.

• Must be NO MORE THAN $230 (not interested in pushing the budget to $250, etc).[/*]
• Purpose is for her to take snapshots of her 2 grandchildren - a 1 year old and a 5 month old (they'll be that age at Christmas)[/*]
• Besides the grand children the camera wouldn't be used much.[/*]
• photos would be in and around her house - that's it.[/*]
• Mom-in-law is not interested in photography as a hobby - doesn't need advanced controls. Just need to replace her old film point and shoot camera with a new digital point and shoot camera[/*]
• Preferably use compact flash (I have extra CF cards to give her)[/*]
• Decent LCD but also optical view finder.

[/*]


Currently the Canon SD600 is the front runner but other suggestions are welcome. Obviously have another month before I need to make the purchase so I'll take time to go try out various suggested cameras.

[digraph]

Canon A540 for value
Kodak C643 for ease of use
Sony DSC W50 for best LCD screen

Grandma will appreciate a nice big LCD screen on the back.

[kenbalbari]

Sony S600:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_.../s600_pg5.html

[KALEL33]

The s600 wouldnt be my choice for her because of the small LCD. I would go with the Canon A540. It's very easy to use and has the large LCD and viewfinder. Forgot to add, they dont have CF cards in the new P&S anymore. You'll have to go with the SD cards, but dont worry....their really cheap.

[JohnG]

OK, a question.

From a features / performmance standpoint wht does the SD600 offer over the A540 that causes it to cost about $70 more? Just because it's smaller? Being smaller isn't necessarily a big bonus here. The A540 is intruiging because it saves some money (although that money will likely be spent buying NimH batteries and charger).

So, does anyone have any thougts what benefits besides size th SD600 offers?

Thanks for all your help.

John

[rfortson]

Hi John,

I'd really recommend one of the Kodak V-series cameras. My wife and sisters aren't grannies, but they aren't techies either. They all use and love Kodak. One thing I'll say about the Kodak C-series, though, is that they seem cheaply made and the C643 that I bought my sister failed right away and needed warranty repairs. I realize this happens with electronics, but the light plastic case of the C-series cameras doesn't give me confidence. By contrast, the V530 that my wife uses is a great little camera, and if she didn't have one, I'd get one as a pocket camera.

Just for background, beside my current Pentax dSLR, I've owned a Kodak P850, Canon S1, Canon S400 (my previous favorite pocket cam), andan Nikon 950. This Kodak V530 is a really easy to use camera that takes nice pictures. The printer dock is a nice bonus so my wife can easily print pictures of our kid.

Russ

[KALEL33]

Ok, buying an ultra-compact camera, like the SD600 is like buying, a laptop. Laptops are much more expensive than a comparably configured desktop. You pay for the size, but you may also lose a little bit of ability and quality. If you dont need the compact then go for the larger camera.

[JohnG]

Thanks everyone for your input