You express your needs very well. The key issue with digital cameras, is the mega-pixel value. The higher the mega-pixel value, the better quality picture you will get for the most part. But, the important determining factor most people use, is whether or not they plan on having prints made and what SIZE. The size of your prints AND their quality is largely dictated by the mega-pixel value. In short, if you only require prints no bigger than wallet-sized or slightly larger, a good 5 mega-pixel camera will suit your needs very well. If you intend to make prints of a size of 8 by 5 and larger, I would recommend a higher megapixel value than 5mp. The reason for this, is that with, let's say, a 3mp camera, and you have 8 by 5 prints made, the prints will come out sort of blurry and lack the crisp & clear details you need. The term for this defusion is pixelation. What that means, is that the lower mp camera cannot "capture" the large amount of detail & crispness that you may want for larger prints. A lower mp camera may take pictures into the camera at a size of 900kilobytes, which does not translate well onto a larger print. Of course I am speaking of generalities here. Many of the folks here in the forum probably learned the hard way by buying a cheaper camera & then regreting it later. The quality of many/most of the pictures here are for the most part excellent! Prices on digital cameras have fallen dramatically in the last few years, so you should be able to obtain a good camera for your needs. Another issue that is sometimes completely overlooked, is what program to use to adjust your pictures to their best appearance AND SIZE. A quality program makes this task a great deal easier. This can be seen by the time your have some super shots in your camera, and then after being reworked, they look really bad. A reasonably good program can be found from several companies. Myself, I have been using Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. It can be obtained for a reduced price and has filled my needs very well for processing pistures of coins which I take through a stereo microscope! Stunning pix can be obtained with a rather easy learning curve. If you want the Cadillac of photo editors, Adobe Photoshop is one of, if not the best of the many offered. But quality comes with a price, So don't waste money on a secondrate editing program, or you will not realize the results you desire! Another issue that many overlook, is the "size" of the picture when it is taken into the camera. For example, my primary digital camera is a 5.0mp Kodak. The "raw" piture inside the camera is over 12 megabytes! Much too large to email easily for all parties! Unless you have a special reason to distribute the pictures in their original size, it is redundant to a degree. My own formula for resizing pictures out of the camera, is to touch up anything like focus, brightnesss & contrast AND reduce them down to a much more managable size of 400 - 450 kilobytes. The reason for this reduction, is to make them more managable for emailing and storage in your computer. If someone sends you a picture, which do you appreciate the most, one or more that just take a few moments to download into your email at a smaller size like 400kb, OR a piture that has not be reworked at all and takes 10 minutes just to downlaod into your computer...in short, downloading a 12mb picture on a dialup, 56k, computer can take considerable time waiting for it to download. Large pix of 12mp for example usually take up the full screen and sometimes even more. The bottom line for this is that you should rework the original pictures from the camera to obtain the best appearance AND reduce them to a size that are easily managable. I am sure others here can recommend a couple of excellent cameras at your price range and advise you on the minimum mp value you have to buy to maitain your standards of quality. This interaction/cooperation of forum members is invaluable and can save you money! best wishes & good luck! I hope I answered some of your questions. And thank you to all of you who post such beautiful roses! : ) Sincerly, "Smitty"

Memory cards do not wear out like tapes. But they can fail. And, more typically, they can get lost. It will not hurt your memory card, your camera, your computer, etc., to transfer pictures from the camera to the computer. I would do that anytime I did not want to lose the pictures I took. If that's 33 pictures taken at a birthday party, fine. If that's two pictures of a UFO, fine. Once it's on your computer, find some way to either copy it to another computer, burn a CD or DVD with the picture files, or copy the pictures to the Internet. You don't want to lose your only copy of a picture.

iPod Touch 5th gen looking pretty good. Even has a wrist strap now. 5mp f/2.4 lens and backside illumination for good low-light capability, HDR, LED flash, faee detection, tap-to-focus, 1080p full-HD video with image stabilization, geotagging in wifi areas, 4" ultra-high-res screen, send and receive to anyone, play back on screen or wirelessly to your TV. Oh, it can also download and play music and videos, surf the internet, send and receive texts and emails, and play games And it's light. Great camera that does other stuff too.

Okay Its the camera that Iowagirl2006 said.It came with rechargeable batteries.We got it at walmart and the girl that waited on us said she had it and loved it.She said the batteries lasts along time since it was rechargeable.Also she has 2 weeks to take it back if she does not like it.She is going to day and take some flower pics and than go get her dogs and flower pics printed out to see how well they turn out.I was going to buy me a new digital one but am waiting to see how Ash's pics turn out.Thanks so so much for all who answer my post.I truly apprecaite your time.Also we got recharger.Also the lady said it was a step up from the one that was on display.Not sure what was on display other than it was a Kodak.Ashley was looking at them and asked if they had the one on display.The lady looked and said we do not have the camera on display no longer because we want be carrying it no longer.She than pulled this one out and said this is the next one,a step up from the one you wanted.It might have been on sale.The lady said it was a good price for the camera. I perfer Canon.I have a very good digital Canon Digital camera.Greg had gotten Ashley a good Canon flim Camera.he paid right at 800.00 for it.Ashley is very good in taking pics.She has made some great pics using the Canon Camera,blowed them up.I have several framed in my home of a Sunflower,old homes,lakes,birds,animals.She made a pic of a old barn and had it blowed up,gave to someone.They loved it.I have to brag even though she is my daughter but she is so good at this.She was going to go to school to study Photograph but she choice Grooming school.But greg told her she still could do pictures on the side.Someone asked her to take pics of a wedding.But she was not off.Hope I have answer some of the questions.I am not very smart about cameras.Sorry.