I wanted a camera small enough to be unobtrusive, yet powerful enough to offer me a myriad of options for picture taking. The automatic and manual options did not disappoint. The dark interiors of churches turned out light enough to see because I could manually set the aperture or speed to cover the situation. Yet when I wanted fast shots the auto features functioned well.

I used the panorama mode often and even when handheld (not recommended) the results were excellent. Even 360 degrees in the Pantheon (handheld) was good enough to impress family and friends.

Close-up, portraits, and scenics were easily managed by the Best Shot modes.

I like the large capacity (I also purchased the IBM Microdrive) so that I could take as many pictures as I wanted without worrying about running out of storage space or downloading. (I had no access to a computer to do so.) And I could instantly view the shots and delete any that did not measure up.

The only slight disappointment was the view screen was nearly impossible to see in the bright sunlight, but I could always use the viewfinder instead.

All in all, an excellent choice and very dependable. I recommend it highly.

The features and photo quality are outstanding. Im particularly impressed by the ability to set the white balance for artificial lighting conditions and to control exposure via a frequency histogram preview. The Canon optics are a feature that I trust and the image quality speaks for itself. The camera is a nice size although I wish it were a bit smaller. A 32Mb card came with the camera. I bought a 128 MB card to shoot uncompressed TIFFs at 10 MB each.

The one problem I have is the control stick which navigates through menu options sometimes does not work in one direction and I have to go the reverse direction the long way through to the next item.

For the price I paid, this is an outstanding value and I am blown away by it. And at full price it is still an excellent camera. Ive used most of the Nikon digital cameras except the 5000 or better series and this one is superior.

Who would ever have thought Id buy a Casio?

Rather than lug our old, heavy 35mm camera (and its bulky bag of accessories) on our recent trip to Thailand we opted for a medium priced "point-and-shoot" 35mm and the Casio Qv-4000.

We purchased several 128meg compact flash cards, a couple of extra sets of rechargable batteries and away we went.

The camera is a breeze to operate and delivers images of superb color and clarity. There are an abundance of shooting modes for those who want more out of a camera (including the very useful "best shot" mode), but for novices (or those who dont want the camera to run their vacation) the "auto" modes deliver consistant quality over a wide range of shooting conditions.

Having several large compact flash cards allowed us to shoot at a higher (not the highest) resolution (2256x1504x24b) so the resulting images can be blown *way* up and still retain exceptional detail. In addition, about halfway through our trip we were able to have the images transferred to CD at a local photo lab - thus freeing up the cards for more images!

Battery life is exceptional with this camera! The included battery charger accepts input of 100-240 Volts AC so we were able to use it with local current with only the addition of a... plug adapter. (Another big plus is that the camera runs on standard AA batteries in a pinch.)

This camera did everything we asked of it, offers multiple shooting modes (including Macro and 30 second AVIs) is suitable for beginner or expert, boasts long battery life and excellent 4.2 megapixal image quality with concise, clear menus and easy to turn dials.

A Winner!!

The camera is complicated; its crammed with features few of us will ever use. Well, let me take that back, because Im not a feature person. Lets just call it a feature persons paradise. All those features require documentation, and the documentation is replete but hard to use. The owners manual warns against everything that corporate lawyers could think of. There are warnings against taking pictures while driving, or taking pictures while walking, for example. They wouldnt want you to bump into anything. In all the moronic warnings, there are some important ones, but these are rendered inconspicuous by the others. One inconspicuous but important warning is not to get it wet. No one would expect to hold the camera under running water, but the manual cautions against bringing the camera into the house after having it in the cold - or vice versa. Condensation is apparently enough to cause damage. So there you are. Its complicated, sophisticated, and fragile.

My least favorite feature is the manual focus, which works through the digital display. Unfortunately the display is pretty small, so that it is hard to judge when something is truly in focus. Also, if the camera is not mounted on a tripod when manual focus is selected, one is forced to snap the picture while holding the camera at arms length. The alternative is to hold the camera in place and move ones face to it - but then there is no assurance that the camera hasnt moved too much. Oddly, one gets accustomed to all this, and, anyway, the automatic focus is robust enough to use for most purposes. One may choose a portion of the photograph on which the camera is to focus, so that the automation can be made to understand the photographers intention. Automatic focus can be slightly imperfect, though, if the object is shiny metal.

If it werent for metal hydride rechargeables, the batteries would be more expensive than film. With the new batteries, however, pictures are so cheap that one may find ones self approaching photography differently. There is no reason to pass up a risky shot. If it doesnt turn out, send it to the bit bucket at no expense. The resulting collection of photographs could be noticeably less bland than those from film cameras. This is true of all digital cameras, of course, but with the 4.2 megapixel resolution, the pictures are worth taking.

I use this camera for simple astro photography, and the manual focus arrangement is actually well suited to that purpose. The focusing inconvenience remains, but for astro work, focusing is always hard. The Casio has a bulb setting, allowing time exposures of any length, and that feature is great for imaging dim objects. In addition, there are a number of standard time exposures, the longest of which is 8 seconds. Pictures may be snapped remotely with an optional attachment, but the standard 10-second delay is adequate to damp out telescope vibrations from manual picture snapping. A noteworthy astro photo problem is that the camera requires light at power up, or it thinks its lens cap is on, and it wont cooperate. Thus, a flashlight comes in handy for power-up in the dark, but flashlights are frowned upon at star parties.

In summary, the picture quality is unexpectedly good. The camera is complicated, and the operator must befriend it. Dont take it on a camping trip, because the technology is too delicate. Despite the Casios foibles, most owners will likely learn to love it. I know I do.

The camera is very easy to start using, and before long we were (testing) snapping away at the kids, christmas tree, friends, neighbours and so on ..... After a short while, I started reading the manual (.pdf on the CD) and reading about all the fuctionality that this little baby has. Wow, and wow again.

One of the really nice functions is the best shot facility, where you can browse through various shots on the camera (pre-loaded at the factory or 100 more from the CD) and decide which picture (settings) you would like. It then sets up the cameras settings to what they need to be for that type of picture, providing advice about hand movement etc.. too.

The thing that one needs to be cautious of is the battery usage, buy an extra set (or 3) of the re-chargeable Ni-Mh Batteries, to avoid the dissapointment of battery power loss. Also, the Casio Recharger has a facillity to connect direct to the mains supply when you are at home (or wherever you get electricity).

On the whole we are really happy with this camera, and our transition to the digital (camera)has been a smooth one. I can suggest this camera as an easy to use functional machine that was worth the money.

The standard 16Mb is not nearly enough, and I would suggest the aquisition of the 340Mb microdrive. The 1Gb is also available now, but (for us) that would be overkill.