Cathy,

>I'm thinking about buying a digital camera and am interested in other people's recommendations. I want to stay in the mid-range ($200-$300) so I figured a 3 megapixel camera is probably what I'll end up with.

I recently went shopping for a 3 MP camera for use in creating EBay listings and I settled on the Nikon Coolpix 3100, which at the time was selling for $350 or so. It met my criteria very well and I am very happy with it:

- small size and lightweight
- optical zoom
- excellent macro capability for extreme close-ups
- easy automatic modes, but with several other useful settings, like macro continual focusing, backlighting, numerous scene modes, etc.
- several flash settings, including ON, OFF, AUTO
- very simple to change from high res (for printouts or enlargments) to low res (for display on web).

I have seen new 3100's selling recently on EBay for the upper 200's and reconditioned units for just over $200. You'll need to add on a set of good AA batteries with charger (I got the Nikon brand which was higher capacity than some) and a larger CompactFlash memory chip. With a CompactFlash PC Card reader for the laptop, it's very efficient to transfer to the computer (drag and drop in the file system), much better than using the included USB cord, IMO.

I'm sure your decision will be very easy now, since everyone who posted has recommended a different model. :-)

Dave