Attached Link: http://www.emiliana.nu/lina/photogenic/2003/

My friend wants to jump into the digital camera world. Has very little camera experience, and has around $500. to spend. Wants to do close face shots, I dont know if its considered glamour, but the work at this site has inspired her.

She was talking about getting a 5mega pixel cameraCamedia C-50 Zoom Digital Still Camera
Do you think thats too much for a novice?

What do you suggest for a camera?

Attached Link: http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/g3/

I've the Canon G2 besides my Minolta system. Ilove the easyness of the canon with this turnable display. Read about it (see url) and ask others about it. RS

Personally I reccomend the Sony DSC F717. It has memory cards up to 1gig, zoom up to 5 optical (x2 digital for a total of 10x zoom). Also it has excellent Macro ability up to less than 1 inch. All the work that is on my sight (www.zhounder.com) I did with the 707 which is the predicessor of the 717. You can also check my gallery on 'osity. All this and you can go completely manual to completely point and shoot and everywhere in between. Plus 15 second movies with sound! The only issue I have with Camedia is the propriatary software. If they update it your friend can be forced into upgrading. I know of one person that has had this issue. There are great reviews of all digital cameras at dpreview.com and stevesdigicams.com. Magick Michael

I've said it a nuhdred times and I'm more than happy to say it again - I love my Fuji. ok, my model is starting to get a little old now (Oct '01 - is it so long ago?) but I'm gonna be upgrading to a Fuji again when I do. I can't recommed it enough. (",)

she can't go wrong with the Olympus she has chosen since that's close to mine what software upgrade? it works great with my Win XP

I haven't looked at prices lately but for $500 she may need to drop back to the 3 megapixel range and consider how much money she needs to spend on extra batteries, memory cards, tripod, etc... It's a bummer to blow your budget on a nice camera and then not be able to afford the extras that make it a usable tool. I would recommend patience and research. Most of the cameras on the market seem to be pretty good but if skin tone and color are important, she needs to focus in that area and read the reviews from the sites mentioned above. When shopping, you really need to decide what are the most important features to the type of photography you want to do and then concentrate on getting the camera that does those things the best. Good luck.

Regarding the software update: I purchased the Olympus C-4000 zoom today with the Camedia Master 4.0 software enclosed and much to my surprize when I got it home and snapped off a few shots and tried to save them, it wouldn't let me. However a VERY helpful pop-up directed me to the website where I could upgrade at my convenience for $19.95 U.S.+ tax. Needless to say I'm not pleased by this. After $777.47 CDN, the least they could do is give you the damn software that works. I've decided to keep the camera because it's the one I want, but this tatctic of making me pay even more if I want to save images is bull$! Sorry for the rant, I needed to get it off my chest and since the subject was brought up...

What a strange site!! Little photo stories.

hmmmm- weird- i don't understand- i saw the upgrade but i haven't had any problem with the original program- a lot of times i just view them from the xp folder but i do luv the camera masema, i hope you do too & it should let you save them- i'll have to look into this further...

Turns out I actually AM blind. Never mind what I said up there. blushing