There are a zillion camera choices, and it boils down to how many pixels do you want to buy? Resolution is what costs money, and if you can find it without paying for a bunch of needless gizmos and doo-dads, that's the way I would go. The info can all be found on-line, if you have a few days to stare at the screen. My pics are done with a Panasonic DMC-FZ5. It's several years old, and obsolete no doubt. It was a discount refurbished camera, and has had no problems. Cubrock can chime in with more info, I'm sure.

As for programs, a good photo editor is all you need. All the web sites have provisions for uploading pics to them. If not, you will have to subscribe to an on-line photo host. You upload your pics to them for storage, and then link back to them at the site where you want to post pics. This board is an example of that. With the editor, you can retouch and fiddle with your pics, and then size them to fit best on the web sites.

For jewelery and such, you can set up a light tent on a table with the camera on a tripod, and leave it set up. Trust me, after a few hundred pics, the process becomes automatic.

JLF

Program

I have a Canon PowerShot SD800 IS "Digital Elph", and its operating system is simple enough. It's menu-based (maybe newer cameras use a touchscreen?), but it's very easy to navigate and use.

The camera is plug-and-play under Windows via USB, so file transfer to a PC is simple. You don't have to load or use any Canon software unless you want to.

Camera

I would only rate the Canon PowerShot SD800 IS as 'OK' for a camera and probably not up to your requirements. I doubt there is a 'pocket camera' that good, if only because you can only do so much with such a small lens.

Optically, I'd also like to have a much better camera and will be interested to see if others can offer more specific advice.

I've only looked at a few digital SLRs, but pretty much the only thing I can say about them is that I would probably stick with Canon based on my experience (reliability, etc.) and their reputation.

I would just get a bigger one next time.

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a few years back, it'd be hard to go back to the compact cameras. If I want compact I've got the cell phone (purchased as much for its camera as its calling ability).

I've got to take some picks of the PPPPPP for the permit renewal process this week and know from past experience that it'll be fairly straight forward and simple to do.

Things to look for:
Megapixels - but don't go crazy. 8 megapixels from a decent camera will let you print off a huge photo if you've got the capability.

SD card - almost everyone uses SD cards now, even the DSLR's. There's some holdouts and older cameras (like our Canon Rebel) may use other, more expensive, more difficult to locate formats. IF your computer has a card reader (many do - even desktops) then all you have to do is pop out the card, poke it in the computer, copy over. This saves batteries on the camera and allows you to not mess with cables and such.

Lithium Ion battery - a good battery is MUCH better than a pile of rechargeable AA's which will almost certainly not be charged right when you want to use the camera.

Here's a place to check out reviews on photographic options:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

Not sure if you have a smart phone but that is what I use. I sell quite a bit on gunbroker and eBay etc and now use my 4S I phone. I have a really nice Kodak that takes awesome pics but the phone does just as good for selling things. Now if you were going to make bigger pics than a camera with more pixels would be better. Easy to down load pics from phone too. These pics are from my phone.

Turnbull 357

Pair of 41's

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