My nephew is over in Iraq and hinted at a digital camera when I offered to send him supplies. Two things I know is that I don’t have a lot of money ($200 max) and the camera needs to be able to do USB transfers to a computer so the kid can send back photos to his wife and kids, me, and the rest of the kin.
Thanks in advance.
Your price range is a bit tight. I have a Canon A75 which I think is ideal but you couldn’t get one in that model range and still buy a memory card. You might try a Canon A400 which I’ve seen for $140 at http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ I haven’t read any in depth reviews but the feedback http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/ seems to be 100% favorable. Get the biggest SD memory card you can afford and a NiMH battery charger with at least four cells (the camera uses two at a time) and your friend should be set.
I’d actually look at a weatherproof camera, like the Olympus 300. The sand and grime conditions over there might be pretty hard on the camera, the 300 has extra seals around all parts that could be handy. It’s not the greatest camera but the robustness might be needed in this situation.
Check http://www.dcresource.com for reviews of all the cameras available.
As Padeye said, make sure you add in the cost of AA NiMH rechargables and a charger if the camera you choose uses AA. Alkalines are useless. Also a good sized memory card.
All modern cameras will download via USB. Or just buy a $20 USB card reader which is a better solution in the long run.
I absolutely love my Sony DSC-P73. I owned a P51 that I was very happy with too. It has USB 2.0 and comes with rechargeable batteries and a recharger, needed cables and so on. It’s complete, and easy to use. Instead of a battery pack, it usesAA NiMH rechargeables, which means you can also pop in any other set of AA batteries, which is great if you happen to run out and no opportunity to recharge but you can get such batteries somewhere nearby (happened to me a few times abroad).
The memory sticks are slightly more expensive than some other media, but they are reliable and scandisk makes pretty cheap ones anyway. I currently use a 256mb one and that’d only set you back a few tenners, but holds 125 4mb or 380 1mb shots. It’s easy to use and very fast, and it can do pretty good quality video with audio as well. In terms of ease of use, and support for video, usb and so on, it really outshines the competition. In terms of color fidelity, the Canon is somewhat superior, but you’ll have to be pretty much a pro to tell the difference - sounds rather irrelevant in this case.
Anyway, that’s my recommendation. You should probably be able to get a complete package under $200 in the US, if you shop around, especially on the internet. I paid 250 euro in total for my package I think, but that includes a very handy stand (recommended) and the 256mb Pro memory card, and Europe is almost always a fair bit more expensive with these things.
Of course, Telemark makes a good point too.
Telemark might have a point about the sand.
All camera’s I’m aware of come with a mini USB port (and cable) so that should not be an issue.
A 3 mb camera will produce a nice 8x10. Of course, the higher the number the bigger it can be blown up.
If he’s a computer nerd then he might like a camera that is panoramic friendly. This way he can take multiple pictures and stitch them together. I’ve made some spectacular prints doing this with a just a 3 mb camera. For this purpose it is helpful to have a camera that will lock the exposure setting.
When comparing camera zoom make sure to use optical zoom as the reference number. Digital zoom is meaningless because you can blow it up on your computer.
Given the proposed recipient I would recommend battery life as a high consideration. Digital cameras are horrible on batteries. The more efficient the camera the better. It would also be useful if it can be charged off a 12 volt source. If the camera uses regular AAA batteries than buy rechargeable 2100ma (milliamp) batteries or better and include a 12 volt charger for AAA batteries. If the camera cannot be recharged easily or requires weird batteries then it will be useless in Iraq.
I prefer the larger compact flash memory because it is easier to handle (personal choice). Whatever the type, you can buy a card reader for less than $30 down the road. This way he can read the card without hooking up the camera.
Good luck with your purchase.