It ~is~ really hard to choose a digital camera, isn't it? I was shopping for one this past fall, and what a nightmare! I didn't even know what the different megapixels were all about. Cena's advice is really good. Play with it in the store, so that you can decide if the zoom and clarity are good enough for your needs. But even though you say that most of your pics will be plants, I think that you'll likely find that you end up taking more and more pics of other things, too - friends, family, outings, sunsets, whatever. I find that I take way more shots of *everything* now, since I can easily delete them. I ended up getting a Canon Powershot A510 (3.2 megapixels). It's a good little camera for the price (somewhere around $250), but I have two problems with it. One, I find that the flash is WAY too bright, even when I set it to the lowest intensity, so that if I take a closeup shot, the people/plants look washed out. This means that unless I have optimal natural lighting, my shots are either dark or super-bright. And two, unless I have it on the "action" setting (for action shots), my shots come out a little fuzzy. Now, I know I'm not *that* spastic, so I clearly chose a camera that was too sensitive. Also, I wish it had a delay so that I could get into some of the family/friends shots that I take. And I would have liked a bigger screen to preview the photos. The pluses are great, though: the price was excellent for the product I got; the camera has a panorama setting, so I can take shots of an entire garden, or group photos of my gigantic extended family; and transfer from camera to computer is quick and almost effortless. For what it's worth, though, I've never heard anything bad about Nikon cameras... I just couldn't afford one. As for fussing around with the photos once they're taken, I've been told that it's much better to use a computer program, rather than do it on your camera. I only have Kodak Imaging on my computer, and I absolutely hate it. I can't do anything - resizing is minimal, I can't really play with colour. Also, with Kodak Imaging, the photo quality is really poor when I look at the shots on my computer (although they print out fine). And finally, I can't modify any shots (not even rotate them!), and then save them again in jpeg. Kodak Imaging is the absolute WORST. I'm getting Photoshop with my next computer, no question. Friends of mine use it, and it's wonderful. But because Kodak Imaging is so horrible, I tried zooming photos on my camera (after I've taken the shot), and they looked rather pixelated. I asked a friend about that, and apparently it's pretty standard. He suggested that I only edit photos on my computer, because even with a crappy program, it's generally better than editing with the camera itself. If you want to take a look at some of the shots I've taken with the Canon Powershot, I'll link to my yahoo photos account. This shot is of my tattoo - it was taken without a flash, and with no zoom. I just held the camera really close, maybe a foot away. Here is a link that might be useful: Canon Powershot close-up shot, with no flash

Marcia, I thought you lived in Thunder Bay... wow I really did drive past your place, mind you that was at least 7 years ago. Wanna know how embarassingly lost I was? I was going to Rushing River - DUH! Missed the turn! Motherduck, that sounds like a great camera. I was hoping to get something in the sorta $300-$400 range. Just to keep up with the Jonses you know... if you've seen some of the horrible fuzzy pics I have posted here...

1. Can I take the memory stick out when all the pictures are taken and take it to a cvs or somewhere to have them developed? Yup. 2. After is take up all the picture on a memory stick, can I use it again? You can erase the Memory Stick repeatedly. Just make sure to print or copy (to your PC) any picture you want to keep before you erase. :-) Then it will be ready to use again. 3. Will I be able to use my new camera for many years to come since there are so many new digital camera coming coming out on a regular basis? That's hard to answer :-) The limiting factors will be the availability of parts and batteries and such when you need them (in the U.S., I think manufacturers are required to support products for 5 years (8?) after they're discontinued, but popular cameras may be repairable far longer than that) and the ability of the camera or Memory Stick to connect to something (a PC or developing station) for printing, erasing, etc. But while many people are still using 30-40-year-old mechanical SLRs, technology is moving too quickly to assume that you'll be able to plug in even a 10-year-old digital camera and be able to print out pictures. 4. I ordered an extra memory stick that has 512 MB. Will this last a long time? The Stick itself should last for years. But at your camera's maximum resolution (7 megapixels), 512 MB holds only about 70 pictures. You'll have to decide if that's enough room for you. You also should keep in mind that very few manufacturers other than Sony use Memory Stick, so it may not be as easy to find one years from now as it will be to find more popular memory formats. Is it wise to order an extra battery or other attachments while the camera is a new one one the market? If these questions seem to be silly, I apologize, but I am a beginner No problem -- digital is a very different world from the cameras most of us are used to. The nice thing about having an extra battery is that it can be charged and ready to go when your existing one is depleted. The rest of it? If you're new to digital, you may not know just what it is you'll find indispensable and what you'll think you wasted money on. On the other hand, it probably will be easier to find now than it will in the future. It likely will be cheaper in the future, though, on closeout or on eBay -- if you can find it. Do you feel lucky? :-) I'd recommend waiting a bit -- but probably no more than a year -- before deciding what (if anything) to buy. You may find that you'd rather buy a whole different camera than continue investing in this one.

I agree with choosing SD over the other choices. However, I would counter the recommendation of going for one big memory card. Many people I know with digital cameras tend to leave the pictures on the card for a long time. If anything happens to that card (it gets lost, it gets corrupted and files are damaged, etc.), you stand to lose a lot more than if you had all those pictures on two 512 MB cards. And if that's the card you tote around with you and something happens to it, you may end up buying another card just to have some "film" to use. Just something to consider before you put a lot of your memories on one piece of silicon.