What should I buy?

I feel ready, finally, to include a scanner and camera, to my lone little laptop. So I have this mini laptop and I've had nothing else, just it. It's all I know. But I want to take pictures of me and my cat and put them on my facebook. I would also like to scan old photos of me and other things and put them on my facebook. I am no techno person, and plan to do -nothing- sophisticated. All I want,
Oo I would like to make a YouTube as well.
All I want, is to

Take pictures of me and my cat

Make vid of me and cat

Scan old photos and put them in my facebook.

Maybe put a YouTube video.

I don't have loads of cash to spend. But should I pay an expert to come over and set those up for me? I think they charge about a 150 dollars.

I would probably get these things at WalMart, or should I get them from Amazon? I'm a frequent amazon shopper, but clothing accessories only so far.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

There's so much to choose from.

Most equipment can do what you require. Look for a combined printer/scanner and a basic camera and you can do all you require. Dont pay for installation, use that money to buy better equipment. If you can insert a CD you can install it yourself.

Make sure the camera has a usb socket.

Good luck to you and your cat.

First you will have to decide on which part to buy first. The scanner or the camera. You can pick up scanners dirt cheap at places like Goodwill or salvation army if you have any of these type stores near you. Also check out yard sells The last scanner I had I picked up for 5 bucks at a yard sell and the person selling should have no problem with testing for you to show it works.

Next the camera Amazon will give you a better selection and you may want to check out Ebay as well you can get good used cameras fairly cheap if you look around.

Don't waste your money hiring anyone to set these things up for you. Almost everything is plug and play now and the drivers that you need for your camera will come with them. If you buy a used one and don't get the driver disc thats no problem because you can go to the manufacturers website and download them for free.

reply to post by Saucerwench


My first instinct would be to buy a cat first.

reply to post by cuervo


Well I didn't need to buy my cat, someone foisted him on me when he was a kitten. I didn't want any pets, but I got smitten. I had 2 actually, but my older 'boy' passed away 4-21 at 6am. I never took one picture of him. I figured it would be too painfull to look at after. (I knew for a long time he had bad kidneys.)

I -hope- his soul is somewhere good

My remaining one, I think I better have pics of, it just seems right, though.

Do you know what? There are no pictures of ME after 1996. Not by me, not by anyone, not on the computer. It's time to upgrade that, I think.

reply to post by Saucerwench


Take pictures of your pets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My best ever mate Toby went for the big sleep couple of years ago, I look at a photo of him EVERY DAY.

Someone once said to me "he lives in your memory now", those photos help me keep him there.

reply to post by VoidHawk


I'm so sorry for your loss as well. Rest in peace, Toby. One night, I felt cat-foot walkings on my bed next to me. I got up to look for my surviving cat and he was in the other room, looked like he had not moved, was in an asleep pose.

If you want a camera to to take pictures and not one attached permanently to your computer, the Canon Powershot A530 thru A560 regularly show up on Craigslist for thirty to fifty dollars and are great little cameras. They do movies, macro shots, and I have done time lapse photography with mine. If buying new, the Canon Powershot SX130 is a good deal at slightly more than one hundred dollars. The only thing I do not like about the SX130 compared to the A530 is the A530 has a optical finder in addition to the electronic finder. The SX130 only has an electronic finder which is annoying when working in full daylight or trying to capture fast moving objects.

I second what an earlier poster said about scanners on Goodwill. Just get one with a usb connection and not an older one with a serial connection.