In our quest for holiday gifts, let's move on to the topic of digital cameras and accessories.
As far as digital cameras themselves go, they make great gifts, but are a bit on the expensive side. There are many to choose from, with a very wide range of prices. This topic to far too broad to cover here, but I would recommend that you do a lot of looking first, and read reviews on such websites as www.dpreview.com or www.imaging-resource.com. If you want a great camera for all around use, consider the Canon A80 (successor to the very popular and top rated A70) or the Canon 300D Digital Rebel SLR at the higher end.
So, let's concentrate on digital camera related gifts at a more practical cost. Software can be an excellent gift - the price is right and if your friend or relative is still using the software that came with the camera, you may really be helping them out, as that software is often very minimal. You might consider Paint Shop Pro 8 by JASC, Photoshop Elements 2 by Adobe or Picture It by Microsoft among others. For organizing and viewing your photos, try ThumbsPlus (www.cerious.com) or ACDSee (www.acdsystems.com). If your friend or relative already has some good software, you might consider a plug-in addition. Plug-ins provide special functions, such as reducing noise or adjusting color. But with a specialized gift such as that you should probably ask first!
An excellent gift for a budding photographer is a tripod. A tripod will really improve the quality of photos - not just because of the stability it provides, but also because tripods tend to make the photographer concentrate more on setting up a good shot. You have to be a bit careful here, as there are a lot of pretty junky tripods on the market, often given away for free with a camera purchase. They are not very stable and often not tall enough for an adult. A good tripod should cost you $75 and up. I regularly use two tripods - one is a standard tripod but light and intended for portable use, as opposed to studio tripods that tend to be much larger and heavier. I also use what is called a monopod, which is just a single telescoping pole. Monopods are of course not as stable as a full 3-leg tripod, but can be very useful when you have to move around a lot, when in rough terrain or when you are in a crowd and don't have the width to spread normal tripod legs.
A new set of batteries and a charger also make a nice gift, although you first have to determine what kind of batteries your intended uses! If his or her camera uses standard AA batteries, there are lots to choose from. The current standard technology is NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) and capacities should be 2000 mah (milliamp-hour) or better. You can get quick chargers that will charge a set of four batteries in 1-2 hours. A set of batteries and charger should cost about $50.
If your friend or relative takes a lot of pictures far from home, one of the portable hard drive devices might be a good gift. You insert your full digital camera film module into one of these devices, and they automatically transfer the photo images to an internal hard drive, often 20MB or larger. You can then erase the memory module and put it back in the camera to use again. Look at the Delkin e-Film PicturePad, the Image Tank, or the Nixvue Digital Album II.
Another good gift would be a subscription to one of the photography magazines. I frankly find the latest crop of digital camera magazines boring and intended for the novice. I would recommend a subscription to Shutterbug (www.shutterbug.com).
You can also just browse the online camera store webpages. Try Adorama (www.adorama.com), B&H Photo Video (www.bhphotobideo.com) and the many other that seem to congregate in New York City. Your best bet here is to pick up a photography magazine and look in the back at the riot of ads from these places. As usual, caveat emptor.
Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his web site at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.