[LonePalm]

Please help so I can surprise her (sort of) for Christmas. I don't know (or care) very much about photography but Mrs. Palm does.

Registered, et al, I need your help.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LoanPalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[LonePalm]

Please Help!

[greccogirl]

I have a Fuji 1.3 megapixel that does really great shots now, I am in the process of upgrading to the Fuji 4800 or 6900 Zoom, both have 2.5 megapixels that will give you a finished picture equal to 4.5 megapixels. Check out Steve's Digicams for sample pics. It is a tiny camera that fits in your hand and purse, and I love it. Check out Fuji.

[ArrogantBustard]

Camera: too many good ones on the market. You'll have to do your own research.

Printer: Canon S800 six colour inkjet printer. Use Kodak or Ilford paper.

AB

[~Peter]

In MY Humble Opinion
For ease of use, any of the various SONY Mavica digital cameras are hard to beat.

[absalom01]

As far as the scanner thing goes:

I have a Cannon film scanner that I really like. It will scan 35 negs. or slides fairly quickly, and came with a SCSI card and cable and software and stuff. The only problem is that it scans only one negative at a time. If you want the ability to scan a whole roll at one go, Kodak has a small "SOHO" type unit for, I think, about $600.

I like the film scanner 'cause I still get to use my old fav. SLR, and I don't have the ridiculous problem of scanning a crummy 4x6 print, or even worse, having a print made only to scan and then print onto inkjet.

[winged1]

Look to Olympus for their latest digital cameras with all the bells and whistles. For computer and printer/scanner source you can't beat WalMart for the Hewlitt Packard combinations they sell. Best bang for the buck. Kodak 'Soft Gloss' paper for photo printing.

[oc-flyfish]

I personally like the HP PhotoSmart Printers.  Click here for a description.

I would stick with the Olympus brand as I have been very impressed with my D-340R.  Depending on how much you want to spend you can go with the 4 megapixel unit and be in camera heaven.  Olympus has a rebate offer that gives you $300 off if you buy the 4 mp camera and their photo printer.  Click here for details.

[Tijeras_Slim]

If you're interested in small size and big telephoto, the Olympus C-700 has 10x optical and 2.7X digitial zoom, for a ~35-1000mm lens in a very compact package. 2.1 mega pixels. Got one, like it alot. (batteries are the only drawback, the Olympus lithiums are between 10 and 15 dollars each and you need two, for about 150 pictures, it will suck alkaline AAs dry real fast)

[sailrabbit]

Here is your camera drool

[krodriguesdc]

Hewlett Pacard 5100C or such is a good model...

Hewlett Packard makes good quality scanners

[js1138]

First step is to get at least 512 megs of memory while it's dirt cheap. Your CPU is plenty fast, but image editing eats memory.

Get a printer that promises non-fading ink. Check the prices and availability of ink rather than the price of the printer.

Investigate PhotoShop and a plug-in called Real Fractals that will allow you to enlarge digital photos without showing pixels.

[artios]

If I were getting a camera today there is no question I would get the Sony with Carl Zeiss lense.

[DoughtyOne]

The higher end Epsons and the Hewlett Packards are both exceptional. I used the Epsons for years. I recently purchased an HP Deskjet 1220c and am very impressed.

I opted for the larger format printer. Mine prints on 13x19" stock. I have been using the Epson heavy duty 13x19" glossy stock. The prints are amazing.

I had wanted to buy one of Epson's oversided printers. One is a 17x22" and the other is a 13x44". One of them is severely flawed. DO NOT BUY THAT PRINTER! If you're going to go Epson, make sure you purchase the right one of these two. One has major problems. Go go www.c-net.com to read disasterous reviews of it's performance. It sounds almost actionable on a mass class action scale. Review other printers there as well.

My brother actually purchased the oversized Epson printer that doesn't have problems, and is very happy with it.

The costs on the oversized HP or Epson printers will run you from around $350 to $450 in price. And if you don't desire the oversized stock, you can probably find an HP or Epson for anywhere from $150 to $350 that will more than meet your needs.

The more recent ink jets cartriges that offer four or six inks will provide you with superior print quality. Look for 1200 to 1400 pixels. These are far superior to the old 720 pixels. HP has fewer Pixils, but seems to make up for it somehow. It does rival the Epson in my opinion. And it prints much faster than my old Epson.

You can learn a lot by checking the specs and cross referencing. I would advise you not to take the word of some guy that works on the floor of Frys or any of the large electronic warehouses. They may or may know know what they are talking about, or may or may not actually give you the straight scoop depending on which items they wish to move and their salary insentives. I know this from the experiences I ran into purchasing the HP.

Good luck.

[porgygirl]

Before you spend a lot of money to generate paper records of what your eye has witnessed. Paper copies that will degenerate rapidly, and take up half your bookshelf in bulky and hard to use albums.Cost a ton in colored ink and photo paper, considering you will probably make 500 pictures the first year.

Consider making digital photoalbums on Cd's that will play on your DVD player [Apex 500w, $88 at Walmart], and display for all in the room to see [not just those who can look over your shoulder] on your wide screen HDTV [which you will no doubt purchase in about 3-5 years].

With Roxio Cd Creator 5.0 [$69], you can go directly from your camera to your Video CD. Or you can stop in the software and fix problems with lighting, focus, size and color, while adding your favorite and appropriate music to your slideshow.

10,000 of your favorite shots will be stored on about $30 dollars worth of CD's, and take up less space than four photo albums.Quality of the photos will never deteriorate.

Think about it!

This past weekend I made a slideshow of my niece's wedding, it included 226 [not counting opening frame, or closing frame, included] pictures, the slideshow ran for 12 minutes, and included three songs, that matched the subject matter.

[ValerieUSA]

Paint Shop Pro v. 7 can't be beat for the value as an image processer. It's around $90 - $100 at CompUSA, BestBuy or over the internet. Triple your memory now - it's really cheap and worth every penny.

[DoughtyOne]

The Epson printer I was going to warn you about was the Epson Stylus 1520. Ouch! Don't touch that sucker.

Whatever else you decide on your own is okay. The reviews were running about 4 to 1 negative with people stating that Epson could offer no help and refused to admit a problem.

Good luck.

[ValerieUSA]

I have an Olympus E-10 and I'm thrilled with it. It accepts both compact flash and smart media memory, rechargeable AA batteries work perfectly in it and the AC adapter makes it extra efficient for indoor work. The automatic settings are usually just perfect, and it's supereasy to change from auto focus to manual focus.

[ml/nj]

I'll say a good word for the Casio QV-3000EX. 3.3 Mpix with a 340 Meg IBM MicroDrive so that you have room for 245 max res jpeg pictures. (It's also possible, though undocumented, to take tiffs.) There are probably too many bells and whistles, but you do get full manual control when you want it. The camera is quite good in low light situations. I only wish the manual focusing had been better thought out.

Photoshop (speaking of bells and whistles) is sort of a must if you are serious.

Neither is cheap.

ML/NJ

[snippy_about_it]

bump for good information

[magglepuss]

Sony Mavica series are a good bet.
HP Photosmart photo printers generate very nice quality prints.
But use HP paper.