I want to buy my wife (aged 62) a digital camera to replace her 35MM
which she has used for years.  It needs to be easy to use. If you
recommend camera and printer that would be fine. She currently has an
Apple computer and Epson printer.

Hi Stemly,

     I think your wife will love the transition to digital! No wasted
film! Simply delete bad shots!
    
    There are numerous good digital cameras available now, and
everyone will have their preference. You didn?t state a price range,
or whether your wife needs a point and shoot type of camera or a
higher end model, so I have selected a camera with which I am somewhat
familiar.

  I recently helped a couple, around your wife?s age shop for a
digital camera. The husband had made several poor and cheap choices
and was very dissatisfied with the results.

  We settled on an HP model, a step below this one, and in a short
time, they were using the camera and it?s features, and printing
pictures. I have a high end digital camera and I was impressed with
the quality of shots the HP camera gave.


  This HP Photosmart camera is compatible with Apple computer, and has
a 5 megapixel processor, and a 3x optical zoom. (As far as I am
concerned, you can forget about using digital zoom ? you often get
pixilated/fuzzy pictures).


HP Photosmart R707 5.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom
$249.99 USD


?Features:
?	Internal 32 MB memory; compatible with Secure Digital (SD) and
MultiMedia (MMC) memory cards
?	Powered by rechargeable lithium-ion battery; connects to PCs and Macs via USB 2.0
?	5-megapixel sensor (2612 x 1968 pixels) for enlargements up to 20 x 30 inches
?	3x optical zoom plus 8x digital zoom for 24x total
?	In-camera red-eye removal; movie mode with audio at 30 frames per second

?Direct Printing
The Photosmart R707 offers PictBridge functionality, which enables you
to transfer pictures from your digital camera to a compatible printer
without a PC or image-editing software. Images can be viewed and
selected for printing right on the camera's LCD, with menus for print
quantity, date, and index print.?

Scroll down the page to see user reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001G6U6G/qid=1133365401/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-2472833-9861549?n=507846&s=electronics&v=glance

Dpreview has an extensive review of this camera, telling you more than
you probably ever wanted to know, along with plenty of pictures.
?The R707 has simply one of the most user-friendly and well-designed
menu systems of any camera I've ever seen. Aimed fair and square at
the less experienced user, it's unique help system is not intrusive
and doesn't get in the way of operation of the camera if you do know
what you're doing. Kudos to HP for not only producing an attractive
and intuitive interface, but for making it responsive enough that it
never, ever drags its heels when flicking from screen to screen.
Apologies for the poor quality of some of these screenshots - the R707
does not support video output in record mode, so some of these
screenshots had to be taken with another camera.?
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/hpr707/page4.asp


   Dpreview, as the comment below suggests, is a great place to read
digital camera reviews. Another good source of digital camera reviews
is Steve?s Digicams:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

   You said you already had a printer, so I?m not sure you are seeking
a new printer or not. PC magazine has some good recommendations here:
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,1639086,00.asp

Steve?s also has photo printer reviews here:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/printers.html

  I would recommend selecting a printer that has separate color
cartridges, rather than all colors in one cartridge. By doing so, one
can replace colors as they run out, and thus waste less ink.


This is a nice, but pricey printer:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/hp8750.html

Here is another less expensive HP, that uses the new Vivera ink
technology, and can be used to print, even without being connected to
the computer!
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/hp8450.html

One more thing to consider? does your wife?s Apple have plenty or
memory (RAM, at least 512) and space on the hard drive? Does she have
a CD burner? Digital photos take up a LOT of space on the hard drive,
and if the computer ever fails, you?ll lose your photos without a good
backup system. (Save to CD and/or an external hard drive).


There are also several online photo printing services. Upload your
photos via the internet. Using one of these services is often cheaper
in the long run, than printing many photos. I have used these, and
they offer good quality prints, and often send discount coupons for
future purchases. Many drugstores and large discount stores also have
digital photo printing services in the store.

Shutterfly
http://www.shutterfly.com/
http://www.shutterfly.com/about/prs_sub_news.jsp

Ofoto/Kodak
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Welcome.jsp

I hope you have found this recommendation useful! Please ask for an
Answer Clarification, before rating, if anything is unclear.

Sincerely, Crabcakes

I read all of the submitted information and ended up buying a HP r717
and a Photosmart 8250 printer.  My wife is very happy with both. 
Thanks.  John

I can tell you NOT to get the Vivitar 3705B. Horribly cramped buttons
and not intuitive at all. Detestable thing.

Is your wife looking to use a SLR or point and shoot? if she is
looking for slr, Canon Rebel XT is a good choice. IT costs 700$s on
dell.com sometime with their deals. If she is looking for Point and
Shoot, Nikon's Coolpix are great or Canon Power S2 IS.

Epinions is a good place to start when planning a purchase:

http://www.epinions.com/Digital_Cameras

http://www.dpreview.com/

A 2nd for the Canon Powershot S2 IS.

I'm so glad your wife was pleased! Thank you for the stars and tip! 
Sincerely, Crabcakes