Casio QV 8000SX

This is one fantastic camera that gives you all the benefits of a 2 megapixel camera without the problems--noise,purple fringing and purple instead of blue. Spend another 50 dollars and get Genuine Fractals le and you will have 8 by 10 prints to die for.

superb macro and zoom. bulb mode gives you gorgeous,noise free photos. rotating lens lets you get shots impossible without it. great color with no purple fringe. fast startup and shot to shot time.

needs a hood in bright sunlight. have to go too deep in the menu to set up certain things. deleting picts one by one is tedious.

agfa 1280,epson 700,toshiba pdrm1,kodak 240, kodak 120.

none needed

The beauty of this camera is the wonderfully powerful zoom lens in a light compact camera. It is also not limited to point and shoot - you can manually control everything. This is really nice and not offered in many consumer digital cameras. I was pretty happy about the big lcd screen, until I found that it wasn't nearly as good as the screen on my old Agfa. It is common for lcd screens to be hard to see in bright light unfortunately. Thank goodness I already had image editting software because the package that comes with the 8000 stinks. It wouldn't even install properly. Once I realized I could download images without any special software, I stopped using it. The panorama editor works well though. I am quite happy with the image quality. My use is online, not printed. A 1 megapixel camera is perfect for online use.

8X optical zoom is sooo nice! Small and light for such a large zoom capability. Swivel lens. 1 cm macro capability! BIG lcd screen. Lets you set everything manually - lots of control and flexibility! Very fast shutter speed and long (timed) shutter speeds available. Accepts lens filters.

No optical viewfinder (goes through batteries quickly). Hard to see lcd screen in bright light. Lousy software.

Agfa 1280 Casio QV2800

Horrible web site(s). Notoriously bad customer & repair service, although I have only had limited personal experience.

Overall, I really like this camera. It might not be for everyone especially the professional or someone who does print stuff but for me (I use it primarily for ebay photos and around the house shots) it's great! The price was a big factor in my decision as I bought it in the $370 range.

Easy to use, the controls are user friendly. Large LCD viewing area which for someone with glasses like me is appreciated (though there is no view finder). USB connection is fast. Takes photos in complete darkness which I find amazing. It's lightweight and I like the rotating lens and the zoom.

Eats batteries like water because of large LCD area so buy rechargeables. The included software other than the needed PhotoLoader is junk. I could not even get Picture Works to load. Instead I use PaperPort scanner software that I already had. The instruction manual needs work. A couple of places key steps are left out that one needs to complete the desired task. Must have been written by a Japanese national who thought he knew perfect English.

Couple of low-end cameras which friends had loaned me, can't even remember the names.

Surprisingly, the tech I got was a real pro. I was having trouble installing the USB driver and he knew immediately what to do.

I've been trying to put off getting a digital camera for a while now, but I slipped up and bought one. Found it on uBid for between $329 and $400. I have no regrets yet. The 8x optical zoom is the best feature, and all the manual overrides are great. I may actually put my 35mm slr back up on the shelf for a while now..

Optical Zoom Bright, Large LCD Manual Overides for all exposure setting, etc.. Remote is standard. Fast capture modes and save times. Screw mount on lense for addition of standard 43mm filters, etc.. A couple standard modes built in for Night, Panorama, Landscapes, etc. Option for a short movie captured forward or backward.

No optical viewfinder, not a big deal under must conditions. Pretty average battery life for a digital, not bad, but not good.. Menu system is not easy, but I can't figure out a way to make it much easier to support all the features. No sound in movie capture. Limited to 10seconds of movie capture. AC adapter not standard.

Kodak DC280, a few others here and there..

No experience.

I use this camera at work. It takes pretty decent pictures at any setting, the cycle time between shots is fantastic, the off/on switch is well planned(it will not accidently turn off or on accidentally like the Agfa 1280/1680) the short movie clip is fun. The Camera is a comfortable size and weight, I am used to using a swivel lens and would not like to do without. The three different flash intensities is very useful. The software that comes bundled is the worst, completely non-intuitive and I am very comfortable with computers. It is very difficult to expain to a computer novice. The settings/options menu is far too complicated, you have to select the menu button the scroll through the choices in the LED window with +/- buttons, select, then go through another two layers of selections. I wouldn't recommend it to a computer/digital camera novice. I may have been spoiled by the software and options/settings menu on the two Agfa models I have used, both fabulous, and the image quality is superior. Customer service and techsupport are the worst I have ever experienced, and steer people away from this company on that weakness alone.

Size/weight, swivel lens, decent quality images, very fast cycle time-no wait to take your next shot

software,settings/options menu, support at any level

Agfa 1280 and 1680

I have to deal with this company at many levels as we tried to distribute their cameras with our software, I have spoken with techsupport, sales and customer service-they are the absolute worst, they haven't a clue what is going on and do not return calls or e-mails repeatedly, I am looking for another source.