[richlevy]

I bought a Canon Powershot A70. I believe it was about $299 dollars when I got it with a $50 rebate in the form of a Best Buy gift card. es I took the pcitures at Plastic Forks with it.

3.2 megapixels, 3x optical zoom. It uses older technology, namely compactflash and 4 AA batteries. I prefer using NimH AA batteries in my devices to proprietary lithiums because I know I can walk into any store in a pinch and buy alkalines. Also, I can get two sets of batteries and a charger and not have to wait for a lithium to charge or spend top dollar for a second lithium.

As for beeps and clicks, the Powershot has themes where you can have different sounds or no sound for on/off, shutter, etc. It takes short AVI movie clips with sound. It has a panorama mode where you can shoot multiple pictures and part of the previous picture stays on the screen so you can interleave the new shot. The included software stitches the photos together. The software which downloads from the compactflash card (in camera or from the reader) also automatically creates folders by shooting date to organize your library.

Officemax usually has compactflash readers free after rebate. Get a 128MB compcactflash, a card reader, 2 sets of NimH and a charger, and you are set.

I also like the palm size tripods which are 3 4-inch gooseneck legs that can be bent into position.

As for digital prints, I have seen prices from 29 cents to 75 cents each for the same 4 inch digital prints. I think CVS is the cheapest right now. Get their free customer loyalty card which sometimes give additional discounts on digital developing.