Kodak EasyShare Z812 IS

Pros: Price, features, easy to use, HD, good zoom, options

Cons: no dock or rechargeable battery

Summary: I had a kodak easyshare before, and I know Kodak gets blasted for not being a bigger brand, but their price and ease of use is important for busy parents! I wanted something with a bigger zoom, but did not want to deal with lenses. Our last kodak worked great for 4 years, but then was zapped by moisture on our last trip.

We bought this after considering the 712 and thinking if we wanted to make the jump to the next level of SLR cameras. I spent time asking people about the differences and while people swear by their SLRs, they also paid more and have more to fiddle with.

We wanted something which had many of the features of the Kodak without the high price. I used it right out of the box and have taken probably 600+ pictures. The color is decent, in direct sun it is a little washed. I took multiple pictures from a moving train and they were great, even thru glass. The HD is nice, we bought the HD dock for vieiwing on our TV.
I like the various settings it provides for either choosing yourself or letting the camera decide, they are worth playing around with. The panaromic is great for linking several shots together.
It does eat battery life, so I would suggest getting rechargeable ones.

We have not had any problems with it so far, and hope we don't! I think it could be a little smaller for the weight, but I did not buy it for the size.