Great Spare Digital for Fun Events

Author's Rating:

Pros: Tiny, good strobe flash, decent 4x6, 5x7 prints, software, amateur video feature

Cons: no optical zoom, so-so fluorescent lighting photos, battery life

The Bottom Line: 
Even though I rated it 3 stars, for its intent and purpose, it is an excellent choice for fun, casual digital use.

True, this digital camera is not the best quality as those 4mp and 5mp cameras coming out, but if you spend a little time reading the directions (why don't people do this?), you can get great photos, even as large as 8x10. If you are a photography expert and cannot stand to have anything less than the best, then you should probably look elsewhere and spend more money. However, for quick and fun photos that sometimes come out spectacular, this little camera (and I mean little!) is for you. Now for the pros and cons.

Pros:
-Lightweight and tiny (don't know the exact dimensions and weight, but it is almost like holding a feather...no really, it is)
-Pretty decent strobe flash (not great for over 20 ft or so)
-Great sunny photos
-Pretty decent 3x5, 4x6, 5x7 prints and even 8x10 at times (high resolution 2mp, right settings, no camera shake) for a camera with this megapixel (real 2.0mp and not 3.1mp as advertised) and price range
-Great photo editing software included (even so-so pics can become great with this software)
-Easy download
-Video! (pretty simple with low resolution and sound, so you're not going to win an Academy Award with it, but great for the kid in you!)
-Pretty decent internal memory capacity, but I bought a 64MB SD card since I ended up using this camera a lot

Cons:
-Not so great at fluorescent lighting photos (even though there is a setting for fluorescent, pictures still come out yellow with or without the flash)
-Strobe flash not recommended for less than 12in. unless you like the bright white effect on your pics (which I do sometimes)
-When strobe flash is on, camera takes awhile to get ready (is teaching me patience)
-Mediocre at best battery life (highly recommend getting rechargeable AAA batteries, which I thought was ludicrous until I used them, and they worked better than regular batteries)
-If camera shakes a little, photo is fuzzy (you must have a steady hand to use this camera, which is why it comes with a tripod, however if you follow the rules of holding a regular camera--elbows tucked in next to your side to steady your arm, then most pics will come out decent)
-Settings are hard to get to, but not impossible to master
-NO OPTICAL ZOOM (well, you can't have everything)
-Digital zoom is just for playing, not a serious function at all

While I am not ready to get rid of my beloved 35mm zoom Olympus just yet, this little camera is great for when you want fun photos, fun video or a web cam to talk to someone across the miles. I recommend a photo lab that has high quality standards for developing such as Wolf, Ritz or a local developer. It costs a bit more, but is worth it. If you just can't spend that much, I recommend Walgreens. If I could figure out a way to share some photos with you, I would, because some of them are really great. With the rechargeable batteries, you can get about 25-30 shots in without the flash (compared to about 10-15 with regular batteries). You can get in about 10-15 shots with the flash on continuously with rechargeables (compared to about 3 with regular batteries). I don't think this coincides with what they print in the manual at all, but oh well. About the battery/SD Card chamber. I haven't had a problem with it. I keep my camera in a fairly small hard case--not much bigger than the camera.

If you don't mind reading directions, then get this camera and use it to your advantage. The money you spend will be worth that one great picture that everyone oohs and aaahs over.