I've got a Kodak
DC3400, which I rather like. It's got 2x optical zoom, and 3x digital zoom that's really not all that bad. Heck, I might as well do a little review here - I always wind up doing that anyway.
One thing to bear in mind is the memory cards that cameras use - they don't always come with one. Someone in the FS/T forum is usually selling one; just make sure to get the right kind - CompactFlash or Secure Digital - that will fit the camera you're going to buy.
It uses a USB hookup to the PC, but I think it only runs at USB 1.1 speeds; probably limited by the CompactFlash memory cards that it uses (no internal memory on the camera either).
I would not call it light - it uses 4 AA batteries, which by themselves can weigh nearly as much as some other cameras. But it probably needs that for the optical zoom lens, so I'd assume.
Either way, I use a 32MB flash card in the camera, and with the flash and LCD enabled, I can't even fill it before the 1800mAh NiMH batteries run out of power. So bring extra batteries and/or a charger along. If you haven't started using rechargables in many small devices, now's a good time to start. There are sometimes good deals on NiMH batteries posted in the Hot Deals forum.
I like the image quality of the pics; I used the DC3400 to take all the PC pictures on
my website. Bear in mind though, those pictures have been resized and re-compressed when I edited them. (The Tesla Coil section was done using a pitiful little webcam many years ago.)
There's not much image degredation from the JPEG compression; I personally would have liked to see a super-high quality setting, but the current level is still very good, and most people wouldn't be able to notice the slight artifacting.
One other thing, don't know how important it is, is the speed at which images can be taken in succession. With the LCD off (and therefore the instant preview disabled), you can take 4 pictures in fairly rapid succession, like maybe every 2-3 seconds. After the 4th, it needs maybe 10 seconds (a review site might have exact numbers) to finish writing the last image(s) to the flash card. Then you can take another one or two quick shots. But the pictures are about 500KB each (varies according to the picture), so it can take a little bit to write them to the relatively slow flash card, which is just the way most flash technology is.
It does have a Macro Mode too, for shots as close as about 10 inches; there's also an infinite-focus setting.
And finally, there is a tripod mount on the bottom of the camera.
The other one I can think to recommend is
Kodak's Easyshare CX6200. It lacks optical zoom, but it does have an adequate digital zoom function. It also lacks Macro mode.
One thing about this camera that you may notice right out of the box - it is light. Even with the 2 AA's it takes. Very compact, and light.
It's also USB, but it uses a Secure Digital card instead of comactflash. SD cards, if you've not seen them before, are tiny. On the subject of memory, this camera does have internal memory, but only enough for about 8 pictures. Pop a 128MB SD card in there, and you'll get more like 180.
I can't say much on battery life, as I don't own this camera - I only used it briefly, to show my sister how to use it. It was a Christmas present for her, so I didn't get to put it through a lot of use. All I know is, filling up 128MB with pictures, before or after you get done deleting the ones you don't want using the camera's menus, can take a long time.
Oh, this one does have a movie mode - it takes small, grainy, slient videos, and compresses them into Quicktime format.
Ok, that's all. I guess you can tell, I like Kodak cameras. My first real digital camera (not a cheap little webcam-type thing) was a DC3200 - a 1MP thing with no zoom functions, no macro mode, no extra anything. The next step up from that was the DC3400 I have now.