Cameras

[Julianna <julieis@zzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Craig, it's interesting that you say you stick to cameras made by
computer component companies, because I tend to go the other way. I
figure a company who's been in the camera business will have much better
optics, and the responsible ones probably get some of the computerized
stuff from the computer people anyway. I could be wrong though.

Clive, have you been to cnet.com? They have reviews of many cameras, and
allow for consumers to post their opinions of the cameras too. You'll
need to navigate to their digital camera section from the main page, and
bring along a grain of salt or two. And because you basically have an
idea of what you want, you can filter the reviews to just the ones that
match all of the info you gave us.

As for personal use, I have a Pentax Optio 33LF. It's not quite what
you're looking for (3.2MP, and it's more like a point-and-shoot than an
SLR), but it's a good little camera (3x optical zoom, and the display is
great because it folds and swivels so I don't have to worry about
scratching it). In general, I think most digital cameras are able to
handle regular and "hi-tech" batteries, but you'll probably want to use
rechargeable batteries which are designed for digital cameras. When I
first got my camera, I went through regular batteries and
non-rechargeable digital-camera--batteries very quickly.

I hope that helps, and good luck!

Julianna