My 25th wedding anniversary is coming up in July and I've decided I want a digital camera. I'd appreciate any opinions anyone might have on some good cameras in the <$500 range. It needs to be iMac friendly. My sister has a kodak DC3400 that she dearly loves, and it takes great pictures for around $399 at Amazon.com. Help, please?

 

My camera is kinda big. My wife spent $999 a year ago, don't know how much they run now, but I have the Sony FD95. I like it because it has awesome zoom and the building I used to work in found it very useful. If you're looking for quality, look for high megapixels at high resolutions.

 

Check out reviews at Steve's Digicams site (do a quick search). If you want more control I suggest the Nikon series (2 MegPix Coolpix should now be <$500). I use a CoolPix 990 (still near $1K). Kodak has a reputation for color that requires less correction.

Whatever you pick, look for common-size batteries (AA are best), a fast transfer to your PC (USB or Firewire, NOT serial port), and a memory type you can live with (like I hate Sony memory stik but like Compact Flash, wish I had CF II so I could use an IBM microdrive).

 

I have the Olympus C3030 Zoom, and I love it. I got it for $587 from http://www.digitaletailer.com.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by lvs2k
[B]My 25th wedding anniversary is coming up in July and I've decided I want a digital camera.

 

I have a Casio 3000 UX (not sure about those letters, but it's a 3000) (3 MegaPixel) that we love (it has the 340MB Microdrive). It's a bit over your price range (I think it's about $799 now, but that's WITH the MicroDrive). We also have the Casio 2000 (2 MegaPixel) at work (also with the MicroDrive); it's bit less expensive, but I don't really like the mechanism for turning it on/off...a bit problematic (broke once already, < 1 yr old when that happened). The Casio's allow for quite a bit of configuration & use standard AA batteries (4). Can't say anything wrong about the 3000....just may be a bit more than you're looking for.