Peetie Wheatstraw wrote:
Years ago I bought a cheapo Digital Concepts camera for $15 - 10
rebate. Didn't even have a flash. Still works, but it's more a toy
than a cam.

I'm strapped for cash, but I've got $150 in Sears gift cards. Figger
I'll buy myself a real beginners digcam for Xmas.

What's good? What's bad? I once asked an Office Max sales guy about
their display of maybe 20 cams and got blank, blank stares.

It's just me and my crazy dawg here. Do any beginners cams (bc's) have
something more sophisticated than 2 and 10 second shutter delays?

I assume they all have software that'll allow USB 2.0 downloads
to .jpg files and the like ...

The only bc's I've seen with as much as 1 yr warranty are Canon.

Sears has Canon PowerShot A560 7mp for $150. Anybody know anything
about that make/model? Know of anything better for comparable $?

On the WinXP and WinVista newsgroups there is universal ragging about the
unbelievably crappy software that comes with Hewlitt-Packard cameras (and
just about everything else HP sells), principally the incompatibility their
software has with the operating system and other functions.

If getting your pictures OUT of your camera and INTO the computer is
important, bear in mind that you may have problems attempting to use HP
software to do it.