Weddings, camping, Grand Canyon, Penobscot River: the camera is flexible from macro flower shots to large vistas.

Easy to use, easy to remove unwanted photos, EASY EASY EASY to upload.

like the view library.

Plan to buy one more so we dont have to share, have bought one for daughter, now thinking about one for son for Christmas. Online pricing today...

Love this camera, it works hard and takes great photos.

Ive learned that for photos that are strictly for the web and are well-framed to start with I dont even need to use the high resolution mode. That means the microdrive can hold over 1,000 pictures. But for vacatins and most photos, where I may want to make some prints, or where I am likely to do cropping, high resolution works better for me. The microdrive still holds 245 pictures and the newer, bigger ones hold more.

Ive dropped the camera, in the carrying case, a couple of times. No problem. The only thing I wish the camera had is threads for a polarizing filter, and the next model did add that. Someone made a quality device that adapats a polarizing and other filters to this model and it can be found via the dpreview website.

The CF cards are getting cheaper. I would rather own 3 128mb CF cards than a battry consuming Microdrive, which is also more expansive. (Well, we are trying to spend less for the best.) Now you can get 256mb CF cards too. a 128mb CF card will store around 90 pics (2048 x 1536) or over 300 (1024 x 768). So far, I dont usually need more than (1024 x 768) and dont need more than one 128mb card. I will wait for the CF cards to come up with higher capacity, or even go cheaper. Plus, I travel with my computer anyway. An my IBM Thinkpad has a slot for reading both CF card and IBM MicroDrive.

I popped in a set of Duracell battries while waiting for my new rechargables being charged. I have taken 30 shots and have viewed pics on the LCD screen and the battries are still going strong. (This is no Duracell comercial). Comparing to my previous digital cameras, the battery comsumption of this camera is nothing. Still I will use the rechargables to save money.

I thought I had to sattle with another cheap camera because of my budget..., Ive got a camera I thought I would have to spend... more on. It was worth the research and thanks for your reviews on this site and others. I am writing the review in return to help others.

Oh, how could I not say anythings about the pictures. A friend of mine just paid... for his Nikon 990. The printouts from my camera made him really jealous.

Of course I am also surprised why this camera does not get so popular. In some sense, I am glad it doesnt. Otherwise, I would have to pay more to get mine. Hay, I have got mine now, I recommend everybody to buy this camera! You will not regret! My wife would say, "Look at the bottom of your camera. You might have a Nikon but it says made in Burma." Ours maybe only Casio but it is made in Japan! Hee, hee, hee!

The image quality is outstanding. I make enlargements in the 8 X 10 range routinely, with excellent results. The Canon F2 (yes!) optics are unsurpassed in any digital camera I have played with, with the possible exception of a $4000+ Nikon digital I have access to, through work. I do a lot of ambient light photography here in Alaska, including several nights of Aurora photography this Winter. The only drawback with is, that at 10-15 degrees F., the batteries last for only a few shots! I had to switch back to my trusty standby Olympus OM-1N, that Ive used up here for over 20 years.

I had difficulty with downloading images from the camera at first because the software is incompatible with Windows-ME. I received outstanding technical support from Casio, but they still couldnt "fix" the problem. The fix was to purchase a card/micro-drive reader from Apacer for about $40. Now I can download 100+ images in 5 - 10 minutes, (about the time for ONE image using the supplied serial cable!)

Overall an outstanding product. It has the flexibility, quality and diversity to satisfy the serious photographer; as well as the default-simplicty to please the technophobe, point-and-shoot buyer as well.

Highly recommended!

When I compare with cameras friends and colleagues have, I cannot find any inconvenience the others have, and all miss the great qualities and strengths of mine...

The optics are perfect, the colours are great, and the capacity is huge... talking about the battery, just buy a charger and a spare set of 4 AA NiMH batteries and you can travel around the world with no laptop close!!

The best camera ever: Buy this one or wait for a few more years, theres no equivalent today...

All in all, great camera compared to most others. My main problem with most other cameras is the storage, and the casio is one of the best priced cameras to overcome this with the IBM 340 drive. It holds a to (~200) of absaloutly beautiful and HUGE pics.

I would recommend this camera to anyone.

Pros:

-Image Quality *and* Quantity.

The 3000ex is a true 3.34 Megapixel camera which will give you 2048x1536 resolution max. At this, and the minimum compression, you can achieve 248 pictures on the microdrive. If you drop the resolution to a mere 1024x768 (most likely the size of your screen, or larger) you can get *999* images on the disk. Thats alot of snapping.

-Features.

20 second mpgs (no sound), shutter speed priority, aperture priority, clean back lit LCD screen, Panoramic(!!) shots, and special modes for Portraits, night shots, and landscapes. Color, B/W, Sepia modes, Red-eye reduction flash, macro mode, time stamp, 3x optical zoom(!!) 6x digital, and superbly done USB connectivity.

-USB interface. Hate having to use a proprietary interface to get your images off a camera? Youll love this. Pop in the USB cable, and windows automatically sets it up as a removable disk drive. Thats right, you can sure the camera as if it was a hardrive from inside your my computer. OR, press a button, and have then all automatically loaded, and displayed.

-Ease of use Even using the advanced features, its a very simple to use camera. Everything is menu driven, and in a logical format.

Cons:

-Battery life. If you decide to use the LCD screen alot, the batteries do not last long at all. If you dont, on the other hand, theyll last for about 150-250 shots. Not too bad.

-To get *full* 3.34 Megapixel *uncompressed* tiffs, you must find the secret option to enable it. WARNING: by enabling uncompressed tiff, you will get about 15 shots before the card is *full*. tiffs are 100% uncompressed RAW image data.

-Size Its a little bit large for me. Not too bad, and for what it does its decent, but if youre running around, it can get bothersome to carry. (The canon ELPH digital (2.1MP) is more like what Id want to haul around..) ...

any questions, you could e-mail me

Overall impression of the camera good. Sensible range of features, excellent picture quality for a digital (the first dig Ive bought, Im a 35mm man!) though the camera is a tad larger and heavier than I might have hoped.

But oh dear, the battery consumption is crazy. IT ate a newly charged set of NiMH cells in under twenty minutes use, total of 12 shots.

Im sending it back to Casio, I have to believe this is a faulty unit, especially after reading some of the other Amazon user reviews. Heres hoping, they replace it with one thats actually useable. Otherwise Im going to have to take up my friends advice and buy a second hand Nikon D1, which are coming up now that the new D1x is about to ship.

3-star rating will go up to five if the battery problem is really only this unit, not a design failing.

It was both a learn as you go thing, and an extremely simple thing, to take wonderful pictures in all kinds of situations. I can say that I completely back up the people who have said that this is an outstanding camera for both the amateur vacation picture taker, and the serious photographer. The more you want to do with the camera, the more youll be amazed by what you learn about it. Especially, for the serious folks, some things that Casio doesnt even bother to document. (Why, Casio???)

So, in addition to what I said in my first review, here are some thoughts and insights I didnt cover:

-Optical view finder included. I wear glasses, and, in addition, framing shots on the beach in bright sunlight is impossible with any digital camera that only has the LCD and no optical view finder. Plus, this camera has a dioptic adjustment so you can focus the viewfinder, even while wearing glasses, or sunglasses, as it were.

-340mb IBM microdrive. I was away from a computer for over a week in Lanzarote. Actually, I was away from my computer for 3 weeks over the whole vacation. I came home with over 900 images on the drive. What I have not seen mentioned here is that you do not need to take 2048x1536 size images in fine mode, of which the drive will hold 245, but that you can take instead 943 images in 1024x768 size in fine mode with the same resolution. If you are planning to put your pics on the web, this is the way to go. All you gain in the larger mode is the ability to print 8x10 photo, or slightly better than photo-quality pictures. The detail in the larger photos is amazing, and I usually have to crop and reduce them for computer presentation. But, again, it does both.

-Versatility. I have no complaints about this camera that havent already been stated. In all my research, for the money, its still, after using, the best digital camera in its price range, if not better than some of the more expensive ones that overlooked small details that become big issues when youre thousands of miles from anywhere and have to use what youve got.

I have posted some pictures on my homepage, which is strictly non-commercial, created as a vehicle for my friends and family to see where my girlfriend and I have been. You are free to view them at ... for shots from the Ahr River Valley in Germany, or change the URL to see those. They are presented very differently, but were all taken with this camera. I only ask that you respect my copyright. If you wish to use a picture for something, please email me first.

Theres a very satisfying feeling in spending money on something that you wind up happier than youd even thought youd be with it.

But what makes this camera an especially good deal is the 340MB micro-drive. Thats something like 900 shots on standard resolution. Wow. Ive still got 300 shots left on this drive....and I havent even deleted the "bad" shots I took when playing around with the camera.

Two other comments, however. You will definitely need to use rechargeable batteries. However, on my vacation last summer, one set of batteries tended to last all day. Id put one set in the charger when I left for the day, so when I got back, I just swapped them out for the next day.

The other comment is a word of caution: the micro-drive (according to IBM) does not work in "high altitude" conditions (i.e., >9500). So, if youre in mountain areas, youll need to use traditional compact flash cards. However, I used mine in the Canadian Rockies (where the trails rarely exceed 9000) and it worked fine.

The picture quality is outstanding as well. Im sure the primary reason for this is the use of Cannon optics by Casio. The resolution allows you to take very sharp & clear shots. We have found the color accuracy to be the best weve ever seen from any digital camera. Though, adaquate lighting conditions can affect this. The flash is very good and has a variable 3 setting mode if you need more light. There are multiple choices for light, focus, aperture and light balance settings which allow you to capture a perfect picture under almost any circumstances.

The menu system software is very simple and easy to use. The TFT screen is very clear and easy on the eyes. I have read several comments concerning the optical view finder and its use to be off center for shots. My experience is that, as long as you use the cross-hairs to line up your subject through the view finder, that the resulting shot matches the viewfinder view very closely.

There are several picture "modes" that can be employed. The Panoramic mode is quite impressive. You can take up to 9 continuous, linked shots that blend beautifully into a single panoramic image. I found the method for utilizing this feature to be both easy to use and accurate in results. I have also enjoyed the "mini movie" 30sec AVI mode though, you have to wait aproximately 30 to 40 seconds for the clip to be written to the micro-drive when you have completed the movie shot.

One thing I must emphasize about this camera. IT WILL EAT NORMAL ALKALINE BATTERIES FOR BREAKFAST. The camera came with 4-AA batteries, which was great because you could begin using the camera immediately out of the box. But, you can easily burn through a set of normal AAs in about 10 minutes or less! I purchased a rapid charger and two sets of the Ni-MH batteries and I get about 3 to 4 hours out of a single set under heavy usage. I just keep one set charging while using the other and rotate them out. Also, the AC power plug was a must buy so you dont have to sacrifice battery power when using slideshows to the TV or transferring pics to your laptop or desktop PC.

Do yourself a favor before you purchase ANY digital camera. Find a local camera shop that has one of these babies and try it out. In 10 minutes youll forget that other models even exist. Yes, the camera does cost almost $1000.00 to buy, but take the film and developing costs that this camera provides and you can quickly calculate a justification into its purchase price. Moreoever, no other camera can even begin to match the amount of storage space aforded, quality, and features per dollar spent. If you are going to put money into a digital camera in the $700 - $1000 range, this camera is unquestionably the best choice available today!

I installed a new hard drive. Loaded Windows ME then the Casio software. Do not let Windows locate the driver. Direct Windows to the Casio drivers and the IBM Microdrive will be identified as an additional hard drive. Plug in the USB cable and you can drag and drop files from the camera to the computer in seconds.

I found a Casio support person that has some ideas on loading the drivers. His suggestion infolved removing files etc. We did not remove any files and everything worked as expected. You may contact Glen Crooker at gcrooker@casio.com if you have trouble. He seems willing to help.

First, the viewfinder provides a distorted, non-linear view if the camera is not held perfectly vertical; fortunately the recorded image is still OK. Also, while not unexpected, there is considerable parallax error with close-in photos, in which case the image on the screen should be trusted over the viewfinder.

Second, there is no provision for a screw-in filter on the lens, as available with the Nikon CoolPix models. In general, neither problem is critical but rather an annoyance. Given all the features of this camera that can pretty well satisfy even an advanced photographers needs, the lack of screw-in filter support seems an oversight.

Third, there is no external flash connection. Ive been quite surprised that red-eye in several photos has been minimal to non-existent even when the subjects eyes seem directly facing the camera. Luck perhaps, as red-eye does still occur occasionally. Although flash quality is good, I know from experience that it can be improved significantly and red-eye totally avoided if I use off-camera flash. Fortunately, I was able to rig up a small flash deflector that I attach to the camera with a small strip of velcro, bouncing the flash to trigger a slaved off-camera flash unit. That has provided excellent results and any exposure errors can be immediately previewed and corrected using the LCD screen.

Fourth, battery drain: With the use of the IBM Microdrive (major selling point of the camera), battery drain is quite significant and even with 1450-1600maH NiMH batteries, I still observe indications sooner than Id expect that the batteries are getting low. Those indications include the slightly longer delay time in saving a photo to disk and a prompt in the LCD screen to cancel the save if desired. If I anticipate that as a problem for any planned photography, I switch to using a 65MB compact flash card which provides improved battery performance and faster saving of photos. I recently purchased an external, rechargeable 120maH Sakar digital camera battery pack at Frys Electronics, and the initial impression is that it will provide me with better battery performance than the NiMH AA batteries; the only inconvenience is then leaving the door open on the camera where the DC power cable attaches.

Fifth: Low light focusing - Quite poor. Sometimes this problem can be worked around by selecting either the manual or infinity focus option. More often I just have to look for some other nearby person or object at a similar distance away and in better lighting, and use that to establish a pre-focus point before returning to my subject.

Those items notwithstanding, I very much enjoy this camera and highly recommend it. Most notable is the compatibility with the IBM Microdrive, even at the expense of increased battery drain. Lens quality (a Canon lens) is excellent and color rendition seems very good. The 3.3MB image size is sufficient to obtain photo-quality 8x10-inch prints when printed on my Epson 1270 printer and passable 11x14-inch prints. Using Adobe Photoshop to further edit my 11x14 prints by applying filter effects that render more of a watercolor look to the photos, I have obtained some very nice "artistic" prints in exchange for a tradeoff of the photo-quality sharpness. Stilhave successfully slaved my camera to an external flash in a manual exposure mode. To avoid red- eye induced by on-camera flash, I fashioned a small cup of plastic to deflect the camera flash upwards, triggering the remotely slaved flash only. The cup can be easily attached via a small strip of velcro. While Ive rarely used any flash at all, the slaved flash setup does provide better results than the on-camera flash.

Of special note are two "hidden" features of the camera that I learned of from imaging-resource.com as follows:

Uncompressed TIFF Mode: Resulting in a 6MB file size that takes 20-30 seconds to save between shots, this does provide a way to capture more detail if the need arises. The one problem is that the TIFF is a non-standard format that many programs cannot read properly. ACDSee and IRFanView are two Windows programs that can open and resave this TIFF format in a standard format that yields a 9MB file size. To access this mode on the camera, press the Set and Flash buttons simultaneously in any capture mode. Turning off the camera will disable this feature.

Manual Exposure: This was particularly useful when I devised my flash deflector for the slaved off-camera flash. If you hit the Set button and the left arrow button simultaneously while in Shutter Priority mode, you are put into a full manual mode that lets you control both aperture (the left and right arrow buttons) and shutter speed (the up and down arrows). Using a slaved Vivtar 283 flash off-camera in automatic mode, I set the camera the the aperture setting specified by the flash expsosure calculator dial. An advantage over an SLR camera is that the digital camera can be set to whatever shutter speed is desired; there is no focal-plane shutter vignetting of the image to worry about.

So, all in all, this camera provides a wealth of features to explore but there remains room for improvement. Would I buy it again today over the competition? Most likely I would, but what Ive learned would also find me studying all the cameras just that much more closely. At the time of purchase, this was the only 3.3MB digital camera I could find that offered the range of features I desired and the storage capacity I sought.

Finally, Ive just learned about some freeware software for this camera at dicasoft.de that allows the use of a PC to control the camera automatically. While such needs are non-existent for me at the moment, they may be fun to toy with.

The industry pubs loved it. The only knock on it was the battery life. It takes 4 AA batteries and sucks the life out of them rather quickly (30 to 40 pictures). However, they should have used the Olympus rechargeable AA batteries. They are awesome. They lasted 3 days and well over 120 shots and many movie shots in Disney. This included replaying it all from the camera on the TV each night. If I didnt do that, they would last the full hard drive on a single charge. I recommend those batteries. I carry an extra set of regular AAs just in case. The fact that you can buy AAs anywhere if you should run out of life is another plus.

Overall, I love this camera. Its a little large (cant fit in your shirt pocket), but light. Make sure you get the AC adapter. Incredibly, its not included. I still have to get one. Its good to use when connected to a TV or downloading to your computer.

I was very close to ordering an Olympus 2 megapixel camera but was a little nervous about buying a camera that had a limited amount of memory. Then I heard about the Casio QV3000 and how it came bundled with the IBM Microdrive. I was immediately interested and then became even more interested when I heard of the price!! 1000.00 for a camera that has the Microdrive which alone is valued over 300.00... I cant believe that this camera isnt getting more attention in reviews and in the press. Its phenomenal.

I can honestly say that I am very happy with the camera. I was also pleasantly suprised with how easy the camera is to use, unlike the Kodak and Olympus cameras which I found clunky to use at best. The Casio software that is provided is excellent. It automatically downloads your pictures from the camera as soon as it detects that the camera is connected. It also places all the pictures into an HTML page and allows you to either manually view the images or run a full-screen slideshow.

Battery life is superb provided that you buy the Ni-MH rechargeable batteries. Regular batteries will be toast in less than 10 minutes! And as for disk space, its such a relief to know that its very difficult to run out of space when you have a 340 megabyte harddrive in your camera. If you have the photo setting set to fine (highest quality), you can take about 250 high quality pictures, more than enough for a lengthy vacation!!

The biggest problem I have with the camera is the lens cap. For some reason, Casio made it so that the zoom lens expands as soon as you turn on the camera. If you keep the lens cap on while turning it on, the camera shuts itself off. Ive also heard that this isnt too healthy for the camera, but nonetheless, just remember to take the lens cap off first. Also, Im a bit disappointed that other lenses cant be added to the camera, such as telephoto or wide angle.

Other than those 2 nits, I highly recommend this camera to everyone!! Great job, Casio!

After tallying all the features and costs of each, the Casio emerged as the the clear winner. Im sure youve read all the specs from other reviews, so Ill just comment on a few things.

- The 340mb IBM microdrive is a must-have in a digital camera. Go on a long vacation, take 240 or so 2048x1536 pics in FINE resolution and dont think twice about running out of space or having to buy more memory.

- The USB connection downloads these pics very quickly, plus, you can set it up so your computer sees it as another HD, viewable via Netscape or IE.

- Casio packed this camera with a lot of features that Im not sure it needs, like B/W and Sepia modes, for example. These effects can be done in software on your PC.

-Memory buffer. I was pleased to find out that this camera has enough for a short "burst mode". Some of the cameras above dont.

- Biggest complaint: No A/C adapter in the unit I bought, though I knew this before I bought it. I wound up paying around $52 on Casios website for one to be delivered UPS 2nd day. But, I also got a $100 rebate on the camera, and the more recent EX Plus version includes the adapter, so, just make a note.

- No jack for an external trigger. This is kind of amazing. What you can do with this camera is limited only by your imagination. And, yes, many functions and features are dependent upon a half-press of the shutter button. BUT, I dont see any reason why Casio couldnt come up with an external shutter button that works the same way as the one on the camera. The reason for the external shutter trigger is that you dont touch the camera when you take the shot. IE, you dont move it by accident when using very slow shutter speeds or night shots, etc. I did not know this before I bought it.

-You must have at least two sets of four NiMH rechargable batteries for a day of shooting. Three is even better. And get a charger that charges them in under 5 hours. Theyre cheap and plentiful. Regular alkaline Duracells, for example, will last, well, Ive never seen batteries go so dead so fast in my life. The NiMH batteries, on the other hand, last a very long time. Longer than any other rechargable battery available.

Overall, this is an outstanding camera. I feel that I would have spent more money on any of the others I mentioned in memory cards, for starters. IBM has also released a 1 gigabyet version of its Microdrive. And the camera will accept memory cards of the CompactFlash type I and II as well. This is both the ultimate vacation camera, as well as an excellent tool for the serious photographer, minus my comments above. Ive only touched on a very few of the many, many features the QV 3000 EX comes with. Ive been through the manual, used the camera, and it exceeded my expectations.

I should say the biggest part that it attracted me is the 340 IBM micro drive. It really solve the problem of long journey. Though the battery is still a small problem, this can easily be offset by preparing several set of rechargables. The Canon lense is known to have the excellent optical results. The menus are easy and built-in pictureing modes are impressing.

There are a lot of good features like 3x optical zoom and 2 digital which I think is the best for now in the market. The only thing that I want to mention that I am not too convinced is that Casio should build in more optimized programs in it(I mean in like those in Canon and Nikon). It is a little lacking in this aspect. This can be observed if you shoot a pic with Nikon 990 with the same resolution It is observable that Casio is not as good. But with the money for the features, I think it really worth it.

By the way, Casio is difinitely a leader in PDA or Pocket PC so, I am not suprised that this camera will be interoperatable with their new PDAs in the coming future.

The automatic modes take great pics, especially when you select the type of light you are shooting in. I know enough about photography to be dangerous but this cam is easy to follow.

Make sure to get a couple sets of NiMH rechargeables. One set goes a long way but take two to keep up with the 340 MB Microdrive. How cool is that little gizmo! The difference between my 1.3 MP cam to this is astounding.

Cons: -Using off the shelf batteries is impossible. They are out off juice with 5-10 pictures. Forget it, it does not work. You MUST use rechareables (get Olympus Ni-MH recharger with 4 Olympus CAMEDIA B-01E AAa Ni-MH batteries). They are super. They last 100s of pictures. After 20-30 pics you may want to turn it off for a couple of minutes. It seems to fully recharge again for reasons I cant explain. -Buy a FlashMem card if battery life is bothering you. They use less juice that 340MB microdrive. (I use 80MB flash card) Any of them should work -The PC Library software does not allow you to delete pictures? You can do so from Windows Explorer but still, why they left that basic function out is a mystery. -If you forget (and you will) to remove the lens cap before you turn the camera on, it burns the battery down fast. Freaks the camera out. You will want to turn it off and back on again. Summary: I love it after I figured out the battery and lens cap issues. Wish I could delete pictures on PC from PCLoader User Interface.

The only downside is that this camera , like all digital cameras, eats up batteries at a ridiculous pace. I went through 20 AA batteries in a week! I recommend buying 8 rechargeable AA batteries...the camera only needs 4,but an extra 4 keeps you going. (Good luck trying to buy the AC Adapter anywhere). 8 rechrgeable batts will run you about $40 with the charger, but youll spend more than that on batteries anyway...

Cons: -Using off the shelf batteries is impossible. They are out off juice with 5-10 pictures. Forget it, it does not work. You MUST use rechareables (get Olympus Ni-MH recharger with 4 Olympus CAMEDIA B-01E AAa Ni-MH batteries). They are super. They last 100s of pictures. After 20-30 pics you may want to turn it off for a couple of minutes. It seems to fully recharge again for reasons I cant explain. -Buy a FlashMem card if battery life is bothering you. They use less juice that 340MB microdrive. (I use 80MB flash card) Any of them should work -The PC Library software does not allow you to delete pictures? You can do so from Windows Explorer but still, why they left that basic function out is a mystery. -If you forget (and you will) to remove the lens cap before you turn the camera on, it burns the battery down fast. Freaks the camera out. You will want to turn it off and back on again. Summary: I love it after I figured out the battery and lens cap issues. Wish I could delete pictures on PC from PCLoader User Interface.

My conclusion: an expensive toy, but not a high-quality camera.

My conclusion: an expensive toy, but not a high-quality camera.

Pluses: * default modes for those who want simple * detailed controls for those who dont * panoramic view (up to 9 images lined up to create this view) * red-eye reduction, and auto flash modes * timed pictures so you can be in them too * AVI movie - 30 seconds (ok, not great) * USB download, looks like a removeable HD * adjustable manual viewfinder * the ability to discard a poor shot before it gets saved * the ability to preview the last shot while in record mode * Works on normal AA batteries (NIMH rechargeables a must - the more powerful the better - Ive been using Kodak 1600 mAh Ni-MH rechargeables and they last many times normal Duracells, especially with flash. Without flash, these batteries have lasted through more than 150 shots) * 340 MB Microdrive was the primary reason I bought this camera (along with the fact that it is a 3 mega-pixel camera)

Minuses: * wish it were a little smaller (but it is pretty light) * wish there were sound on the movies and the ability to take longer movies * this version does not include the A/C adapter - The QV3000 Propak does, which is the one I bought - a must have * wish the LCD screen was a bit bigger

Other comments: Pictures print really well on the HP Photosmart 1000 or 1100 printer using the premium glossy photo 4x6 or 8x10 paper. Looks like the pictures came from a regular photo developer, even at 8x10 size when using the higher camera photo resolutions.

Dont wait to get this camera!

Dont wait to get this camera!

* The stunning image quality.

* The IBM MicroDrive. I didnt want to have to worry about downloading images while on a trip, and with its 245-picture storage (at the highest resolution), the Casio solves this for me. Given the MicroDrives hefty price tag, its inclusion makes the camera very good value. It even slips into my Win CE handheld computer and does double duty there.

* The choice between full automatic and manual control.

* The panorama and movie modes.

* The look and the feel. Its not an ultra-light, but its no heavyweight and it looks handsome. The design is somewhat right-handed, but even as a leftie I found it comfortable to use, holding it in my right hand while adjusting menu controls with my left. Now, Id just like to know how you avoid smudging the display screen when using the viewfinder! (A problem Im sure many digicams share.)

* The good documentation. Itd be nice if it had an index, but its well written.

What I dont like:

* The lack of inclusion of an AC adapter. Save yourself time and order one when you order your camera. Ive found battery life not too bad using NiMH rechargeables, but the AC adapter makes all the difference when downloading images and when youre just playing about learning how to use the camera.

* The off-centre tripod mount.

* The lack of an 800x600 resolution mode.

After seeing the other review on how heavy the camera was I had to tell you that it is very light (Less than a pound) lighter than the Kodac DC-290.

Casio is not a respected name in cameras (yet) but this model is an aggressively priced state of the art entry.