When our old digital camera died, we wanted something nicer. Not top-of-the-line, but a good camera for people who wouldn’t use it but occasionally. Our old digital camera had scant few features so we wanted something with a good bit of zoom capabilities as well as a few more than the 3 megapixels we had before.

I started out going to local stores to do the touchy-feely thing. I wanted to see how much the cameras weighed, what they felt like as I held it in my hand and so on. I also wanted to ask a salesperson questions if any came up. After looking at a few cameras, I decided on the FujiFilm FinePix S700.

Pros

Really, this thing has more features than we’ll ever use. But it’s a great little camera. It fits very nicely in my hand and has a rubberized grip to ensure it doesn’t slip or fall during use. At 7.1 megapixels, it takes very crisp pictures. You can set it to different sizes, too. For instance, if you know you’re going to be emailing pics, you can set the camera to take smaller ones that won’t take so long to send to friends and family.

It has a no-shake feature that keeps it steady while shooting as well as red-eye reduction, macro-shooting (for REALLY up-close pics), several flash settings, high-speed shooting capabilities and much more. It also has digital zoom that goes up to 10 times. That’s probably the feature we use most. It’s so nice to be able to take pictures of wildlife (we’re animal lovers) at a distance.

It’s easy to use and easy to understand. Has a good display and uses regular AA batteries.

Cons

I wish the set-up menus were more self-explanatory. My husband and I both sometimes have to pull the manual out to determine where they hid which feature. For instance, I switch back and forth from taking pictures of full size and the best quality (for reprinting) to smaller ones that are easier to email. I have to dig around to find how to change the size almost every time I use the camera.

As with most digital cameras, you’ll want to buy a larger memory card. The one that comes with the Fuji doesn’t hold many pictures. But you can get a 4 gig SD memory card for under $10 so that’s no big deal.

Other than that, I don’t have much bad to say about the camera. It takes great pictures, is a breeze to operate and is fun to use.

Recommended? Yes

Related posts:

1. LG Voyager Flat Screen Cell Phone Review