Everyone has different needs, but as typical family point-and-shooters we could not be any happier with our Fuji A210. It has 3.1 megapixels and, important for snapshooters, a respectably powerful and fully controllable built-in flash that will fill in shadows under hat brims in daylight. We print very nice 4x6 prints. (Have not tried larger sizes.)
We also have Fuji cameras, and we love them. I have an iMac DV 400 and a 17" Powerbook. My sons each have a Windows PC.
The camera I picked out last Christmas is a Fuji S5000 ($399), with USB cable. I was warned to NOT get a camera with non-rechargeable batteries. However, being used to my old Minolta SLR, I was looking for features. The Fuji S5000 had the most features for the cost, but required 4 AA batteries. I got it anyway. It has an auto shut-off (which might get aggravating until you are used to it) that really helps the batteries last a long time. All of our computers can download the pictures easily. Plug in the USB, turn on the camera, and iPhoto begins to load. I bought a 256 MB card, since I take a lot of photos.
In June, my sons were preparing for a 12-day boy scout backpacking trip, and I thought my camera might be a little too cumbersome, so I shopped around, and settled on the Fuji A330 ($199), which has a different USB cable. It is not much bigger than a disposable camera. It uses 2 AA batteries. It seems to have the point & shoot features of the S5000 without the "SLR manual" features. Other differences between these two are the the S5000's ability to record sound when in movie mode (higher-end feature), and the A330's ability to zoom in and out while in movie mode (newer model). I paid extra to buy a 512 MB card, since the guys were not going to be able to download photos every few days. This camera downloads to the computers just as easily.
One more purchase: Before going to camp, we discovered Energizer's e2 lithium batteries, which are AA batteries that last a VERY long time. As a result, my sons took about 550 photos and movies, and did not need to change batteries until two days before the trip was over.
I was in Ritz Camera one day and saw the S5000 on display. I mentioned that I had that camera and loved it, even though Consumer Reports didn't even give it the time of day. The employee agreed that it was a great camera, and has many satisfied customers.
We have been able to put photos back on the cameras in order to transfer them to the other computers. iPhoto's option to either erase or not erase the camera's contents has been helpful when wanting to put some downloads onto two of the computers: we download to the iMac or Powerbook first, since we have that option, then we download to the PC, which erases the camera afterwards.
iPhoto does NOT download the movies. To do this, I open the camera's hard drive, which appeared as an icon on my desktop even as iPhoto is opening. If I've already downloaded the photos and erased them, the movies are the only things remaining on that HD. I drag and drop them from the camera's HD to a "movies from camera" folder I have, then I also drag them (again) from the camera to the trash, in order to leave the camera with an empty HD. (Be sure to empty the trash before disconnecting the camera.) Then eject the camera's icon, and the camera will tell me that it's o.k. to disconnect. Now my movies are ready for me to view or use in iMovie or FCE.
Incidentally, I also had no trouble downloading photos from my Sony HandyCam's memory stick photos.
God bless, Claire
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