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| Click photo to launch a gallery of Mother's Day gift ideas. |
Here's a photography trivia question for you: What are the people most likely to buy a camera, take a picture, or print a photograph most likely to be called? Answer: "Mom." Market research confirms what you might already have noticed: Women buy the most cameras, and take and print the most pictures. And many of the women doing all that shooting are mothers.
But picture-taking mothers run the gamut, from pro and semi-pro photographers who happen to have kids, to occasional snapshot takers, to family photographers who wake up one day and realize they want something more than a point-and-shoot.
Whether your mother is the next Mary Ellen Mark or just likes to share family snapshots, you should be able to find something that she will enjoy -- and that you can afford -- among the following 14 selections.
Happy Mother's Day, mom!
Keep reading below, or Click Here to launch a slideshow of gift ideas for Mother's Day.
Nikon D40
If mom is feeling unsatisfied with her point-and-shoot lately and you want to go all out this Mother's Day, get her a digital SLR. This 6-megapixel model provides a good combination of manual and automatic shooting modes, and of course it's compatible with a wide range of high-quality lenses and accessories from Nikon and third-party vendors. Its very compact size and light weight make it a good choice for someone who's used to shooting with a pocket camera and doesn't have large hands. The D40 is also one of the most affordable digital SLRs around.
About $600 with an 18mm-55mm lens. Get more information on the D40.
Photo Postage Stamps
Numerous Web sites let you create and purchase U.S. or Canadian postage stamps that feature your own photographs. Stamp sizes vary slightly among the Web sites that sell them; their image areas generally measure 1.1x1.1 to 1.2x1.7 inches. Creating the stamps entails a straightforward process of uploading a photo, selecting an image border, and picking a postage value for each of the stamps to carry. Once you upload a photo, it appears in a stamp template so that you can rotate, zoom, or flip the image if necessary. Some sites also sell gift certificates.
Pricing varies according to postage value and number of stamps purchased. See the following sites for details:
http://photo.stamps.com
http://www.zazzle.com
http://www.yourstamps.com
http://www.canadapost.ca
Canon Selphy ES1
This 4x6 dye-sub printer is built for portability, with an integrated handle, an optional battery, and an internal paper and ribbon compartment. The ES1 creates smooth, detailed prints with vibrant colors, and Canon makes both color and black-and-white paper-and-ribbon packs for it. It can output photos on calendar pages, index sheets, and labels. In addition to memory card slots and a retractable mini-B USB cable for connecting to PictBridge-compatible cameras, the ES1 has a USB port for connecting a flash memory drive, a Bluetooth adapter for receiving camera phone images, or a PictBridge-enabled WiFi adapter to receive photos from a WiFi-enabled camera such as Canon's own SD430. The printer can also receive camera phone images directly via IR. There's a tilt-up LCD for displaying photos and making adjustments, including automatic dynamic range correction, numerous color effects, and redeye removal. Your mom will pay a relatively low cost for supplies too, at about 28 cents per print.
About $250
www.usa.canon.com/consumer
Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot K790
This 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera phone borrowed its design from Sony's line of ultracompact Cyber-shot cameras, and ended up with one of the best, most intuitive user interfaces in the world of camera phones. Turning the phone to a horizontal orientation and flipping its lens cover open transforms it into a snapshot camera. It has a bright Xenon flash instead of one of the less powerful LEDs commonly found on camera phones, as well as a Memory Stick Micro slot for saving images. Its PictBridge support will let your mom send photos directly to a compatible printer via USB, and preloaded blogging software will let her upload them straight to the Web. The K790's camera function includes a nice selection of automatic shooting controls, including Sony's BestPic mode for capturing a burst of eight full-resolution images. The device also runs a Java platform that supports numerous third-party mobile imaging applications, which your mom can load onto the phone if she gets bored with the built-in functions. The K790 also incorporates music and video players, a Web browser, and FM radio. Just make sure your mother's cell phone service uses a GSM network (if there's a SIM card in her phone, it's GSM). Cingular and T-Mobile both do.
$400 from Sony's Web site.
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