digital camera decision

[markmac]

My daughter's 21rst birthday is May 8th. She's a college student and has an imac running 9.2. I'm looking for a good digital camera for her. Must be mac compatible, preferably small and compact. I myself have never owned a digital camera so I don't have any idea what she would enjoy.

Don't have a lot of $ because I'm also putting her and her brother through college.

Any ideas and prices?

mark

[substrate]

I have a Canaon S300, there are updated versions of it now the s330:

<http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/spec...canon_s330.asp>

It's very compact, about the size of a deck of cards. It's fully mac compatible and I've really enjoyed it. For 200 bucks I bought a special case for it that allows me to take it scuba diving.

[btoneill]

I'm really happy with my Sony DSC-P51. It's not too expensive (~$230) is 2MP and has a 2x optical zoom. Works perfectly with the Mac and takes incredible pictures. I know 3 other people who have the same camera and they all love it too. One nice add on they have for it is a weather proof "Sport Jacket" ($30). Basically it's a clear plasic sleeve that goes around the camera and protects it against rain/snow/dirt/sand/etc. It's not waterproof by any means but makes me feel much better taking it out on nature outtings and having it on me on "water rides" and such at ammusement parks, or worrying about what happens if i drop it in a snowbank.

Brian

[Cheryl]

We have two Sony's in my house. Running OS 9, you would need to install the software that comes with it. Running OS X - no software needed. I highly recommend any Sony.

[kenny]

Just a general recommendation or two....

Try to choose a camera made by a 'traditional' camera company, i.e. Minolta, Canon, Nikon, etc. The exception would be the aforementioned Sony's. The trick is that the traditional camera makers tend to use better optics than the computer companies trying to make cameras (HP, Casio, etc.). Sony gets a nod here 'cos they're using Carl Zeiss optics, which are long recognized as being generally very high quality.

Second, try to do no less than 3MP. You can get what seem to be great deals on 2.1MP cameras, and although they're generally adequate, in a year or so, they'll seem terribly outdated. This, of course, assumes that she'll want to make prints at some stage. 2.1MP can comfortably do 5x7 prints, wherease 3MP is typically what you'd want for 8x10's.

[Sirtovin]

I brought the Fuji F401... Nice pictures... works great with os 9 and X.

[Cheryl]

Stay away from Kodak's digital models. they are junk and will be in the fix it shop most of the time.

[applewhore]

I bought a Fuji FinePix F401 as well... it's a 2.1 megapixel zoom digicam with a 3x optical zoom (equivalent to a 36-108 zoom lens on a 35mm camera)

Picture quality is more than adequate for a true compact camera - Remember, there will always be a trade-off between size and picture quality... (for anything more than snaps I use a Nikon D1X - a bit of a difference, but it weighs a tonne!)

The F401 (not uniquely) has also got the ability to record short lengths of MPEG video for playback in QT - might be fun for the odd night out in College? I've certainly enjoyed this facility!

(A friend of mine has the Canon Ixus V2 - the F401 definitely produces better pictures IMHO)

Anyway, good luck in your search...