So I got my tax refund back and I'm going to apply a bit of it towards buying my wife an iPod and myself a new digital camera. On the camera, my main criterias are:
1. Less than $300
2. Very small
3. I like the lithium ion batteries better than using regular batteries
So, right now I'm considering getting a Casio EX-Z750; the reviews are almost all glowing, and I liked the way it felt when I handled it at Costco. If anyone has any suggestions for a better camera with many of the same qualities, let me know!
As for my wife's iPod... there are so many non-Apple MP3 players, is it worth getting the brand-name? Are there better alternatives?
If it was my money, I'd probably buy a creative zen vision:M Better features than the ipod, plus you don't have to screw with apple's inane file-managment/DRM software.
As for cameras, the casio does sound pretty good, I've had good results with the Sony Cybershot line as well.
The Optio SV is small, uses Lithium Ion batteries, and has 5X zoom as well as an option manual exposure controls. The Optio SV, the Casio Z750, and the Sonys, are the only tiny cameras with manual exposure controls. No other tiny camera has 5X zoom, just the SV.
You actually have to look pretty hard to find a tiny camera that takes regular batteries. The Optio S50 and the Casio Z110 and 120 do, and some of the older Sonys as well, but that's it. All other super-compacts take proprietary batteries. I actually prefer cameras that take regular batteries - if you use rechargeable batteries, you can have the best of both worlds (use the same set of high-mAh every time, but you can still buy some at the nearest convenience store if you forget your charger on a trip).
Panasonic's small cameras (FX series) have image stabilization, and I hear the new 8-megapixel Sony does as well (although that Sony is over $300). It's a feature I really love.
The Fuji Z1 has awesome high-ISO abilities that allow it to take pictures indoors and in low light without running into the grain/noise problem that plagues other compact cameras. The smaller your lens is, the tougher it is to take a decent picture in less-than-perfect light. You either need long shutter speeds, higher light sensitivity (higher ISO), or the flash. But long shutter speeds cause motion blur (unless you have image stabilization), higher ISOs cause more noise / grain (unless you have the Fuji Z1 or a few other cameras, all larger than the Z1), and the flash causes red-eye (especially in small cameras where the flash if fairly close to the lens), causes your subject to look pale and too bright, and causes the background to fade away into blackness. I try to avoid using the flash and the higher ISOs and try to rely on image stabilization and a steady hand, but depending on how confident you are on the steadiness of your hands and on your image stabilization, I can see why you might prefer to play it safe and get a high-ISO-friendly camera.
So I recommend you check out the Optio SV, the Fuji Z1, and the Panasonic FX series. Kodak has a few nice ones as well. The V330 and V350, for example, have a really nice movie mode, so you can basically use them like little camcorders, and even zoom in and out while video is being recorded (no other small camera allows you to do that). The V550 has an optical viewfinder (fewer and fewer tiny cameras do), so you can turn off that LCD screen for most of the time and get much more out of your batteries.
One last good one to mention is the Kodak V570. It has a wide-angle 23mm lens as well as a regular 3x zoom 35-105. 23mm is really nice sometimes.
For more advice, you can check out
http://www.airshowfan.com/guide-to-digital-cameras.htm
http://www.airshowfan.com/guide-to-digital-cameras-2.htm
http://www.airshowfan.com/guide-to-digital-cameras-3.htm
Not spamming your blog (I swear),
Bernardo
And when you do decide which one to buy, buy it through the links on my site, so I get 4%!
OK, now I'm spamming...
I've looked into getting a multi-gigabyte MP3 player but there's one thing that's stopped me. Battery. After so many charges the battery in the iPod no longer holds a charge and you need to send the whole unit back to Apple so they can replace it. You lose everything that was on it. That costs $50. Use to cost $99. I've heard that some have to have that done once a year. It depends on how much you use the player. I know other flash MP3 players require the same attention, but I don't know how much they charge. Is it worth it? If you're able to pay the money to have it replaced when it needs it, I'd get one. But if that's just not in the budget, I'd look at the SanDisk Sansa m230. It's not fancy, it's only 512MB, but it's drag and drop(no complicated third pary program), only $60, uses one AAA battery and has around 19 hours of playback.
http://tinyurl.com/b52xb
Sorry, also forgot to mention the SanDisk also has an FM turner and voice recorder. Kind of seals the deal doesn't it.