Small idiot proof camera recommendations?

My wife has a Canon ELPH APS camera that thankfully died recently.
She wanted another APS but I have convinced her to go digital. She
liked the APS camera because it was really small and she thought it
was cool looking.

What would be a good small digital camera that would be easy to use?
She doesn't need lots of features and options, just idiot proof point
and shoot with zoom.

Thanks,
Bill


William Regan

"William Regan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> My wife has a Canon ELPH APS camera that thankfully died recently.
> She wanted another APS but I have convinced her to go digital. She
> liked the APS camera because it was really small and she thought it
> was cool looking.
>
> What would be a good small digital camera that would be easy to use?
> She doesn't need lots of features and options, just idiot proof point
> and shoot with zoom.
>
> Thanks,
> Bill

One from the Canon ixus range would be good. 30 (Jessops Exclusive), 40, 500
would all be more than adequate, and the different model really comes down
to what quality you want.

There are others I am sure, but I am more familiar with Canon and can
therefore recommend them.


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Gosh, there are so many of them. My wife loves her Nikon Coolpix 5200. It is
even smaller than the 3100 she had before and you can get great pictures
almost anywhere.

I also got her the book "How to Photograph Your Life" by Nick Kelsh. All the
pictures in it were taken with a small point and shoot digital camera. It is
basically a picture book, comparing the standard "amateur" shot with one
that has a little bit of thought in it. It goes by subject, such as how to
photograph your vacation, how to photograph your dog, how to photograph a
graduation, etc., without using any technical jargon at all or fiddling
around with a lot of camera settings.

"William Regan" <(E-Mail Removed)> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> My wife has a Canon ELPH APS camera that thankfully died recently.
> She wanted another APS but I have convinced her to go digital. She
> liked the APS camera because it was really small and she thought it
> was cool looking.
>
> What would be a good small digital camera that would be easy to use?
> She doesn't need lots of features and options, just idiot proof point
> and shoot with zoom.

If she's concerned with the looks, I recommend to take a look at any of
these:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/sl300r.html
(there is a 4MPixels version, too, called "Finecam SL 400R")

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/t3.html

And the newer Sony DSC T5

I have the SL 400R, find it very stylish. Picture quality is good.
Drawback: battery has not really big cacpacity and the flash is meek. On
the pro side: the design, the size, the nice feature with the swing body
which lets you take pictures in unusual positions and the speed (over 3
pictures / sec).

Kind regards

robert

>"William Regan" <(E-Mail Removed)> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
>news:(E-Mail Removed). com...
> My wife has a Canon ELPH APS camera that thankfully died recently.
> She wanted another APS but I have convinced her to go digital. She
> liked the APS camera because it was really small and she thought it
> was cool looking.
>
> What would be a good small digital camera that would be easy to use?
> She doesn't need lots of features and options, just idiot proof point
> and shoot with zoom.

IMHO any of the Nikon Coolpix range is worth looking at.

The older models may still be available if you're on a smaller budget.

HTH
--

regards
Les

Most of the reviews for Kodak cameras that I read when researching my
purchase made a point of highlighting the Kodak's "ease of use". I didn't
buy one because I was looking for something with more control, but it sounds
like your wife might be looking for a Kodak.

Tbob

"William Regan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> My wife has a Canon ELPH APS camera that thankfully died recently.
> She wanted another APS but I have convinced her to go digital. She
> liked the APS camera because it was really small and she thought it
> was cool looking.
>
> What would be a good small digital camera that would be easy to use?
> She doesn't need lots of features and options, just idiot proof point
> and shoot with zoom.
>
> Thanks,
> Bill

Below $250, go for the Nikon Coolpix series mentioned above. For the
ultimate "cool" look and great pictures, see the Canon SD110, SD300, S410.
Don't forget to add the cost of a decent size memory card (although SD and
CF cards are very cheap these days).

"William Regan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> My wife has a Canon ELPH APS camera that thankfully died recently.
> She wanted another APS but I have convinced her to go digital. She
> liked the APS camera because it was really small and she thought it
> was cool looking.
>
> What would be a good small digital camera that would be easy to use?
> She doesn't need lots of features and options, just idiot proof point
> and shoot with zoom.
>
> Thanks,
> Bill

Jeffrey Stetz <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Below $250, go for the Nikon Coolpix series mentioned above. For the
>ultimate "cool" look and great pictures, see the Canon SD110, SD300, S410.
>Don't forget to add the cost of a decent size memory card (although SD and
>CF cards are very cheap these days).

I've got the S400 (direct ancestor of the S410, not that I can even
tell from the specs how they differ). I love it, although I'll admit
I havn't figured out how all the modes work yet.

It came with a 64 meg card, which I soon upgraded to a 256 meg card.
I immediately discovered that I had plenty of memory capacity, but
would run out of battery long before I filled the card :-)

So, my suggestion is if you add a bigger memory card, also budget for
the cost of some extra batteries. Canon wants $40-something for them,
but they're available from aftermarket sources for $10-12. I just
bought two from http://www.sterlingtek.com/. $9 each plus shipping
came to $25 for the pair. Sterling didn't claim any specific
capacity, but the ones that showed up are marked 1440 mAH.

In article <TJ%od.93466$5K2.34171@attbi_s03>, "tbob" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> Most of the reviews for Kodak cameras that I read when researching my
> purchase made a point of highlighting the Kodak's "ease of use". I didn't
> buy one because I was looking for something with more control, but it
> sounds
> like your wife might be looking for a Kodak.
>
> Tbob
>
> "William Regan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> > My wife has a Canon ELPH APS camera that thankfully died recently.
> > She wanted another APS but I have convinced her to go digital. She
> > liked the APS camera because it was really small and she thought it
> > was cool looking.
> >
> > What would be a good small digital camera that would be easy to use?
> > She doesn't need lots of features and options, just idiot proof point
> > and shoot with zoom.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Bill

I had a Kodak DC4800 and was very impressed with their tech support.
Son has a Kodak. Daughter has a Nikon Coolpix. I have a Canon A80 to
replace the Kodak because it was cooler and sexier and takes movies
(fair quality only but satisfactory for my purposes). I love the A80
for its swivel screen -- I can put the camera low without getting ME low
(old bones, lousy joints, and all). All take very fine pictures
point-and-shoot, as well as manual settings. I really like the Canon.
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> Updated 10-22-04; Popovers!.
"Peace will come when the power of love overcomes the love of power."
-Jimi Hendrix, and Lt. Joe Corcoran, Retired; St. Paul PD, Homicide Divn.

My son has a nice Pentax which can be run "Point and Shoot," or with
other features. I have an Olympus C-5000 that when run in "auto" mode
is quite simple. My wife, who has used film cameras, picked up on the
basics of the digital Olympus in about 10 minutes. Easy to experiment,
etc., thus learning is much easier. Only problem she had was "poking"
the shutter button before the autofocus had time to lock on.