3 cheers and a tiger for Olympus - my D-490 is running still running very nicely after 2 years, daily use and many thousands of pix.

Ok gofer....... for another TOP link (imho) - this time it's for RAM for just about every gadget that could do with some.... and specifiying what you need couldn't be easier ( you'll see why when you try the site )

So, have a look at: Crucial Technology - The Memory Experts ( the UK page )

Nb. For other countries use their drop down list - which you'll find in the top left of the UK page, or alternatively look at their home page at: http://www.crucial.com

I purchased ( on-line, from their UK page ) a 256Mb Flash for my Canon G2 ( to replace the 32Mb that it came with - but which I now keep a as spare, just in case I manage to fill the new one - which I'll admit is unlikely ! ).
I placed the order at about 11am on a Monday and it arrived in the post the following morning !

I've similarly also ordered RAM for laptops and desktop computers and have been equally impressed with the delivery and prices !

Ps. (hence the edit) - gofer, I've just checked on Crucial and for your Canon Digital Ixus they'd currently charge you just short of £65 for a 256Mb compact FlashCard.

and where to put that into context..... e.g. at 'PC World' they will charge you £70 for only 128Mb, i.e. you'd be paying £5 more money to get only half as much RAM. :eek:

So please trust me when I say that Crucial are a very impressive supplier of all things memory !!! :D

Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs...:mad:

The Which? mag came out and I duly called my "Client" and she'd gone ahead and bought a Pentax for £299.

Had I been going to make a recommendation on the basis of the magazine, I might have suggested the Nikon Coolpix 885. It does 3M pixels and can be got for £340 odd on the web.

My bête noire when it comes to Digicams is "recycle"time. ie The time you have to wait after one shot before you can take the next. At high resolution, this can be as long as 16 seconds for the Goodmans or as short as 3.5 for the Fujifilm Finepix 601.

My first generation Olympus Camedia 1.4 is very slow but later Olympuses (Olympi?) allow two or three shots in quick succession - I'm led to believe. I've liked my Olympus these last three years and could be persuaded to go that route again. They have the reputation of having been the Digital Imaging leaders for some time.

Thanks for all suggestions and recommendations.

I recollect seeing a site recently that compared all the online UK dealer's prices in tabular form. Anyone else seen it and got the link? Damned if I can find it again! :mad:

This is one, there must be others

The Price Guide UK

I use microdrives. You can use them in just about any camera that supports CompactFlash Type II and the storage capacity is immense

I use 340Mb because they're cheap. But you can get 500Mb and 1Gb. They're also robust and the media chosen for the cameras used on the shuttle (Kodak DCS 660s)

Microdrive

You can get 340Mb drives for around $120-140.

Another source of memory cards is at: http://www.powerinnumbers.com.au/
This gent has a lot of glowing recomendations in DPReview's storage and memory forum. One of them mine.
An example is Ridata CF cards, 512mb at $Aus370 or about GBpounds 128. He also has Image bank storage systems.
I ordered a card on a Sunday and had it in Canada on the following Thursday, via FedEx. Shipping was about $12US. Your customs duty might change the final figure though.
There is a lot of info in DPReview on memory media.

Found the site I was on about

http://www.cameratag.co.uk/

After 2 years and several thousand foto's, the Kodak DC280 still works fine. Recently got a DX3900 with larger CF card for the wife's recent trip o'seas, very small, light wieght camera, the 3.1 mega pixal pics seem very good, even if the subject mater is not my cup of tea. And the reported battery life seems very good.

I have an Olympus C-3000Z which is brilliant. It is compact, rugged and takes great pics on Auto but offers full manual control. Smartmedia cards are getting really cheap now, see

www.digitaldepot.co.uk for bargains in memory.

I've just bought a Minolta Dimage 7i, it's at the top of the range being 5 megapixel and I use a 340Mb Microdrive with no problems.

For anyone who is interested, you can see some of my pics on

www.pbase.com/minolta/travel

For good unbiased reviews of digicams see

www.stevesdigicams.com

Thanks. Olympus again, see? I'm keen on the concept of rugged. I've managed to damage/break several of my cameras over the years. Was able to repair my Camedia 1400L with parts supplied by a retailer. Took ages to get them but saved throwing the thing away.

At the other end of the scale, I've just bought one of those SiPix jobs for £39.90 for a granddaughter. I'm so tickled with it she'll be lucky if she gets it! Fixed focus; 640x480, still/video. 400 thumbnail sized stills. Great for birthday/Christmas presents. They'll go like hot cakes as Christmas approaches.

I just recently bought my first digital camera. At first I was looking at cameras around the $500 CDN mark, but then I checked Dpreview....fell in love with the Nikon 4500. So, I went a little over budget, well double, but I love the look, the feel, it feels "right" in my hands.