Another Digital Camera Question

[A383Wing]

My wife is going to Hawaii around the middle of February, I'm not going, I need to get her a digital camera to take with her so she can take pics. Mind you, she's not "shutter-bug friendly", so whatever I get, needs to be simple "point & shoot" and at least take decent pics.

I have a Kodak C190 here that's starting to go out on me, I had to reformat the 8gb external memory card last night because it would not take or download pics on my desktop PC.

I found out last night that Kodak is getting out of the digital camera game and focusing on other venues.

What do you guys recommend? I'm not looking to spend a ton of money on the camera for her to take, maybe less than $100.

I am going to need to pic up a decent digital camera for me to go along with my 35mm Minolta that I dug out of mothballs, but that will be later

Thanks, Bryan

[Tilar]

I have a camera. Since you're not going, I'll go and take the pics for her. 

[2Gunz]

I have several cameras and camcorders, including a nice Canon camera.

My vote for fun and easy to use is the Kodak Playsport Zx5  (I have the older one which is the Zx3 which has less features)
Its more of a video camera than a real camera, but it does take 5mp stills.

I find myself taking the Zx3 a lot to places because its small, I dont have to worry about it getting broken and it does a pretty good job.


Pros-
Simple to use.
Waterproof
dust proof
given its size and cost it takes great HD video
Has rechargeable battery's
Small
Rugged
The new one apparently can edit pictures and post directly to youtube/facebook.


Cons

Fixed lens (no zoom)
Doesn't do well in dark areas (its meant for outside action stuff)




Amazon link

http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-PlaySport-Waterproof-Pocket-Camera/dp/B004FLL5BI/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1354101902&sr=1-5&keywords=zx3

Review

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/kodak/playsport-zx5/steves-conclusion-149.html

[UFO]

One of my buy or not points was whether the camera used a proprietary battery or a general style(AA's etc) that was available at any convenience store.

[Neal_J]

We have three Sony digital cameras.  They take great photos, fit easily in your pants pocket, and the shutter speed is really quick.  Buy a big memory card & a spare battery.