I am trying to buy a new digital camera, and the process has me blithering already. I read the blurbs at Sam's club and such places and most of it means nothing to me. The clerks don't know beans about what they are selling. I could go to a camera store and pay double, but then I couldn't afford the camera I need.

What the heck is a "dock?" Several of the models I am looking at mention that.

Also, I'd like to have some zoom for those long shots, but I also need to do extreme close-ups. I'd like to have a camera that would photograph a fingerprint, but if it will show newsprint clearly, I would be satisified.

I am tickled pink by the size of these cameras. They will almost go into a watch pocket.

I don't care about shooting digital videos, and I am trying to stay under $300. I think I am leaning toward HP, because both of my printers are that brand, and I have a lot of HP software on my computer.

What is all of this stuff about megapixels? Is 5 megapixels really 5,000,000 dots? That seems like a lot for one picture, so I guess it it the total amount of storage available in the camera.

And if they say X amount of "built in memory," does that mean that the camera doesn't use a removeable chip? I like taking the chip out of my camera and inserting it into my HP 100 printer so that I can unload it without running down the camera batteries.

I also like using AA or AAA batteries, because of availability. I don't have much luck with rechargeables anyway.

I know there are a number of good digital photographers on RinkWorks, so I would appreciate any information that will help me avoid a trip to the shrink.

RinkWorks. . . . my number one source of tech support!
Howard