Help on a dig. camera NOW

I AM finally getting off my lazy butt & getting a new camera TONIGHT.

I'm thinking of getting one of the kodak easy share w/ the printer dock.
Are they any good?

I just want to take regular pics, keep it under $200 and have something that takes decent pics and is easy to use.

I guess from what I heard I don't want to have too may pixels, about 4 or so.

I do want something with a fast shutterfly (is that what they are called?). That is the ONLY reason I want to replace my camera. My current camera takes the pic a few seconds after I press the button. It stinks.

How about the macro mode? Would you say it is important to have that when you plan on taking close up pics? I don't even know if Kodak easy share offers the macro mode?

Anything else I should know or seek in a camera?

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I'm thinking of getting one of the kodak easy share w/ the printer dock.
Are they any good?

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I borrowed a friend's Kodak easy share to see if I wanted to buy it off of her. I hated everything about it. Maybe I have high standards though.. :p

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I guess from what I heard I don't want to have too may pixels, about 4 or so.

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4 megapixels is actually quite a lot. My first camera had 2 megapixels and prints in 4x6 were great. If you want something bigger (like say.. an 8x10) then 4 would be good. But for the average person, 2 megapixels is often enough.

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How about the macro mode? Would you say it is important to have that when you plan on taking close up pics? I don't even know if Kodak easy share offers the macro mode?

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The Kodak I looked into getting did have macro but I'm not sure if all of them do. Make sure to ask before buying the camera.. it comes in very handy. Macro mode is definitely important for close ups. Without the macro mode, my close ups of the dogs' noses would be really blurry.

If you plan on taking lots of the pictures of the dogs and the quality of the pictures is really important to you, I'd look into other brands (or at least ask about trying out the test model first). I've found that a lot of the ones I've tried have been less than satisfactory for pictures of dogs. With the Kodak and Sonys, clear action pictures were impossible. I think I remember the Kodak lagging in speed too.

I love my canons. The speed thing gets to me sometimes but I can hold the button halfway down and have it focused, and then press the shutter button all the way once I want to take the picture. There's less waiting since the camera is already focused. Both of mine have yet to disappoint me with any kind of pictures... close ups, low lighting, action.. The nice thing about them is that they're easy enough for a beginner to use but there's also a lot for the more experienced photographer too!

Good luck finding one! Camera shopping is fun! :D

The guy at our local camera shop told me that 3.2 megapixels is all that's needed for 8x10 pictures. I didn't see many camera below that when I was shopping for mine a couple months ago.

Both of my digitals are Olympus models, the C-50 and the C-5060. My sister has an Olympus Stylus and she loves it. I think her's is a 3.2MP. It takes great pics of her kids and is easy to use. I think it was fairly close to your price range. My mom has an HP and she hates it. It's hard to use, the software sucks. She went back to her film camera!

I love the macro mode. It definately is needed if you want to take extreme close-ups.

have fun shopping.

I have the Kodak Easyshare DX6490- 4MPX, 10X zoom, and it was $400. I love it, but it does take pics a little delayed after you press the button. For someone not very good with techology, it is great. My grandma has the same as me but 5megapixels and she loves it. As for $200 and under, maybe you can get a 2-3 megapixel 3times zoom? The printer dock is about another $100 extra I think, I don;t have it.
edit: I love the Macro!

Me, personally, i'd stay away from Kodaks.

Brands of cameras i've found to like are:

CANONS!!, Nikons, and Olympus.

I'd try to find one of the cheaper Canon Powershot A-series cameras.
My camera (Canon PowerShot A80) has different drive modes on it.