I also read on the internet another thing one can do to reduce camera shake and that is to set the timer, so you don't have to depress the button to snap the picture. This probably isn't necessary under good lighting conditions, but can be helpful for low light.

I must agree with all the other posters - buying disposabe will give you just that - disposable pictures. Even a techno-phobe can learn to use one quickly and easily, and the money you save in developing will save you a ton.

Q: Has anyone noticed that since hershey posted a message on October 4th, that hershey has not replied since?

Cat's Inheritance- Hershey left on her tour October 19- I am not sure of the length. Hopefully we will hear from her soon regarding her adventures

Lizv...

That is a very good reason. Thanks!

Chris~ Can you tell me why you use the electronic viewfinder and not the LED screen? I have read other articles that mention this, but they never really say why. Is it a battery saving thing?

My computer doesn't have a USB connection, or port or whatever it's called, so I don't think I could download pictures, which is why I have not purchased a digital camera just yet.

Shannon

There are a number of reasons for preferring the viewfinder to the LCD screen.

The most important reason by far is that holding the camera up to your face makes it a lot more stable than holding it at arm's length, as so you often see people doing with digital cameras. "Camera shake" can ruin pictures with digital cameras just as with film, and it's not always obvious that a pictures is blurry when you look at it on the camera's small screen.

A second reason is that, in bright sunshine, it's a lot easier to "compose" the picture using the viewfinder than it is the LCD screen, which is very often difficult or impossible to see in bright light. Some cameras are better than others in this respect.

A final reason is the one you mention - battery life. The LCD display uses quite a lot of power; you'll extend your battery life by not using it.

One thing to note, however, is that I would only do this with a camera which has an electronic viewfinder - ie you're looking at another LCD display through the viewfinder. Cameras at the lower end of the price range very ofen have a simple optical viewfinder which has two problems: most importantly, they often have a different (larger or smaller) field of view than that actually captured on the image, and secondly, because the viewfinder is generally to one side of the camera's lens, you can get "parallax" effects for subjects close to the camera.

If your computer doesn't have a USB port, all is not lost. If it's a normal PC you can buy very cheaply an "expansion card" for it which will give it USB ports. Any computer shop should be able to supply and install such a card for you for a reasonable price.

Hope that's of some help; if you need any more information, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks Chris. I had hoped that there was some way that my computer could be "modified" to have the proper ports, I really didn't want to have to purchase a new computer simply so that I could use a digital camera. Excellent news! Thanks.

Shannon