All other things being equal (controls, mpx, zoom), I would opt for the model that accepts Compact Flash type II memories.

Why? Because that provides the option of plugging in a 5gb, 6gb, or (since May 17) a Seagate 12gb hard drive in the CF slot.

Caveat: hard drives have motors in them, and they use up battery charge at a prodigious rate.

I'm not a camera expert but when I went shopping for a travel camera this is what I considered important:

1.It had to have a really good zoom.

2.Be easy to operate and understand the instructions

3. Have rechargable batteries that I could buy any where in the world for as long as I owned the camera. This meant AA. Any other special battery that comes with a camera needs a special charger and you may never be able to replace it again. (I take this into consideration everytime I think about buying anything that has a battery).

I just did some shopping for a travel digital camera. I have been using digital cameras for about 8 years, and I just learned something new. Shutter lag has to do not just with the camera, but also the memory card. There are different write speeds on memory cards. If you get a slow one, the shutter may be quick, but it takes time to record the image onto the disk. You can find all kinds of memory cards, different megabytes, and different speeds, at all different prices. Don't think the price tells you what you are getting. Shop around. Also, memory cards are getting huge, I've seen 2, 3 and 4 Gigabyte cards, but most non-professional cameras won't work with a card bigger than 1 or 2 gigs. Check your camera before you go too big. I just purchased a 1 gig, "high speed" Secure Digital card online for $35! I remember spending twice that for something like 128MB in the past! I got mine from shop4tech.com, and they were great. But do a search comparison and see what you find. There are amazing deals out there.

marking

Regarding AA batteries, the camara you are using, use of flash and zoom determines how long the batteries will last. I had a Sony that would get no more than 50-75 shots from a set of AAs. I have a Canon A85 that will give me at least 400 shots. I use rechargable AA. The charger that I have is small and light and works on dual power. AA is available all over so there is never a problem should they need replacement, unlike lithium.

excellent thread. bookmarking.

When I bought my camera, the store offered some photography classes. I consider myself a pretty good photographer, but I did want to learn more about the digital camera I bought.

RE: memory cards ... one of the best is the SD card. The instructor told of driving over one several times with a car and it still worked. Some of the others didn't stand up as well.

RE: size ... I lost 150 pictures from Alaska last year that I had an internet cafe put on CD and the disk failed. And memory cards can fail too. So I'm leaning toward staying with 512 or 1g at the biggest, just so I never lose ALL my pictures. Yes, I will carry more cards, but it's worth it to have all my pictures safe.

I'm currently using a Canon Coolpix 4600 and it's a pretty good beginner digital camera. When I can afford a digital SLR, that's what I'll get. But for now, this one is doing a pretty good job. And it's under $200.

RE: Zoom ... optical ... the highest you can get. Don't even consider digital ... basically worthless.

That coolpix 4600 is a Nikon, not Canon. I agree that one should not be swayed by a digital zoom numbers. The picture degrades as the zoom increases. Try to find a camera that has good wide angle capability. I find it very valuable in urban shots where the distance one can get from the subject is limited.