1. Optical viewfinder.
2. Sensible choice of battery type and size.

My Fuji E500 has proven to be an excellent point-and-shoot compact camera having features which enable progression towards more user-controlled exposures when needed.
It is good to find a modern digital compact which still offers an optical viewfinder in addition to the ubiquitous LCD display.
Potential users should however be made aware that only one shutter delay self-timer setting is available (10 seconds). Some reviews mention an additional time setting of 2 seconds but this is not available on the E500.

This camera is easy to use. It is the first digital camera I've had and haven't really had any trouble. I'm not much on reading instructions, but I could figure it out pretty well. I only had to look up specific topics in the manual. I also like the fact that the button is not terribly delayed. When taking pictures of the kids with other cameras, I've missed "action shots" because of the shutter delay. But, I'm getting pretty good with this one since it's not as long.

I feel this camera would be perfect for people like me.......the average person enjoying kids and vacations. As mentioned, this is my first digital camera and being a stay at home Mom, I'm not very techno-savvy (I just figured out how to listen to messages on my cell phone!). But, you can't really screw it up. It tells you when your flash should be on and gives you the "safety" before doing anything permanent (ie: are you sure you want to delete this picure?).

Because I didn't read the manual thoroughly, I'm not great at utilizing all the features. The one thing that is annoying to me is how long it takes the flash to be ready. I feel like my old Aunt Millie waiting for the light to turn green!

I absolutely love my camera! My old 35mm camera was on the fritz, and I purchased this Fuji camera on a whim. It was on clearance at K-Mart and semed like a decent deal. I mainly take pictures of my kids. I even keep the camera in my diaper bag.