Worth $125

I love this camera. More specifically, I love this camera's value as I got mine for less than $100 - refurbished, but working like new. Nonetheless, I researched a ton of cameras before buying this one approximately 18 months ago, so hopefully I will be able to hit some features that you're thinking about in your own camera.

I like: (1) 3x optical zoom; (2) easy transfer of photos to computer; (3) intuitive ease of use (menu and functions); (4) red eye reduction on-camera at the time of the picture; (5) multiple shooting modes (including panoramic); (6) accepts SD memory cards (not the expensive xD from Olympus; SD that you can get in 2GB at buy.com for $20; I get 900 photos in highest resolution mode per 2GB card); (7) rechargeable lithium-ion battery (and the charger includes a mini-surge protector).

I have noticed some quirks, including: (1) you need to wait at least 3 seconds between taking photos, and (2) it takes 1-2 seconds to register the photo. Say, for example, you want to shoot a photo of your cat. Well, the cat doesn't stay in the same pose for 2 seconds, let alone 8 seconds if you want another shot. (Note that the advertised response time was a fraction of a second to 2 or 4 seconds - nothing like the actual performance. So, specifications will not necessarily tell the true story here - shocker.) (3) HP transfer software is old and has been updated numerous times, but there are still some bugs - such as not being able to see the pictures as they are transferred from your camera to the computer (you see a black box and a progress bar indicating how many pictures have transferred, but the black box should be showing you each picture as it transfers. Note that this is not a big deal - the software is very user-friendly and noted even in Consumer Reports for being so. I simply warn that this is an older model now, and support is lacking.) (4) Short battery life. The battery will stay charged forever if you don't use the camera that often. (The manual says it will lose its charge every 3 months, but I put mine away for 6 months and still had half a charge left on the battery.) However, even though my memory card will hold 900 pictures, I inevitably run out of battery life after 250 shots or 30 minutes of use. This has been most unfortunate because I have found myself house hunting in different states suddenly without a camera. AND (5) if the battery is low/out, it will take a solid 2 hours to recharge it. So, there was no quick solution for me to run back to the hotel and charge it up - a whole day of shooting ruined!

In sum, the camera was worth $100 in June of 2006. You can overcome the battery issues by getting an extra battery, but unfortunately the slow shutter speed and regrouping time between photos is unavoidable. I would do more research on photo response time (available in other models) before I would buy this one again.