The search begins.....compact digital camera HELP!

[zagato27]

I need some advice on a digital camera. I'm starting here because I want it to be "Mac friendly" and I know I'll get some good advice.

Background. The camera will be for my wife. She is a school teacher and wants to be able to carry a camera with her to docuement her class' daily activities. BTW, she's a PreK teacher. Her requirements are:

Mac friendly (actually my requirement, she has a iBook she uses daily and our G5)

compact/slim/flat?....we have a Fuji s5000 that we like but it's shape is similar to a SLR and is not easily stuffed in a purse/bag etc.

not too fancy......pretty much point and shoot

LCD viewfinder that is fairly large.....2.5" or better

battery power......rechargeable and NOT proprietary, standard AA or AAA

3-6 mega pixels....somewhere in that range. I doubt that she'll be printing 8x10's more probably the largest will be 3x5's.

brands......not very particular there

price.....open on that. I'm at the very beginning of my search and haven't looked to see what current prices are. Planning on around $300.

Again, I'd appreciate your thoughts and recommendations. Cheers

 

[adk]

Just to warn you, most compact cameras have proprietary batteries. I think some of the older canon elphs took AAAs, but don't hold me to it.

 

[dextertangocci]

Here is the *perfect* camera for you. I have one and it the BRILLIANT. Battery also lasts forever!

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...layProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=DSCW30

 

[mark!]

I like that Sony one too.

 

[Capt Underpants]

I have a Casio Exilim Ex-S600, and I really like it. It has a proprietary battery, but I think it's necessary in a camera this small. Even triple A's would take up too much space. It's ultra-compact (.54" thick), has 3x optical zoom, 2.5" screen, etc. Meets all of your needs but the battery.

My only problem is its lack of manual settings, but it is perfect as a point-and-shoot camera.