digi camera suitable for non-techie granny??

dianen_2

any advice welcome on the following purchase I am making.....i'm buying a digital camera for a 65yr old non-techie, who requires the least amount of buttons to press (and break!) as possible. Budget approx £110 (incl memory card/batteries/soft case etc). I remember seeing an article on the channel 5 gadget show a while back and Fuji cameras were rated very highly for this type of user. Nice big screens?
So i've looked at Finepix A610 (£69.99 on digital-cameras.com, with accessory bundle coming in about £120 all in). Or whether to go for the Finepix Z5fd, seems to be £99.99 in a couple of places, but will also need to get memory card, batteries etc.
Do both of these cameras take re-chargeable batteries? any advice on buying XD cards? I really need a simple to operate camera, with maybe some easy to choose options for different scenes ie night time, beach, kids etc. It will be used with a laptop which is windows XP.
thanks in advance for any help/advice....

fudgem

I've just bought this Casio for my daughter http://!!!!!!!.com/2txmb9

At £79.99 it comes in at well under your budget, even allowing for buying a memory card, they have an offer on a free case with it at the moment.

It has its own rechargeable battery with an amazing life span, and although it has quite a few features, you can just use it as a point and shoot if you don't want to get technical

I don't know what happened to the URL so here is a different one http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-2138726-0386236?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=casio+cameras&Go.x=12&Go.y=9

ManAtHome

The Fuji A series are generally easy to use (I still take a 'just on case' A303 on hols).

Looks like the A610 (like the A303) uses a couple of AA batteries - a set of 4 NiMH and a charger shouldn't be more than a tenner. Also takes SD cards as well as xD - SD will be cheaper and probably no difference in operation.

Fortyfoot

I have one of these below, and have just bought one for my "Non-techie" partner. Press once for on, once for take. Extras if you want. Going for about £40 on Ebay. Were over £200 when they came out. PM me if you want to see photo quality.

OLYMPUS MINI

Fortyfoot

dianen_2

thanks very much for the feedback, i'm having a look at all the cameras mentioned.....and will definately get the rechargeable batteries

superscaper

fudgem wrote: »

I've just bought this Casio for my daughter http://!!!!!!!.com/2txmb9

I don't know what happened to the URL so here is a different one

Presumably it's a "tiny" URL or something similar. Contracted/shortened URLs are not allowed according to forum rules.

Conor_3

Kodak Easyshare. Point, click, stick in dock, press button on dock and it prints photo.

isofa

Go and have a look in a shop like Jessops and get a feel for them (but then buy on-line to get a better price, find prices at www.camerapricebuster.com).

All starter models from the top brands, Canon, Fuji, Nikon etc have simple modes so they are easy to operate.

If you can buy a camera with it's own rechargable battery (like the Canon Ixus range), these have a dedicated charger, and are based on a technology which lasts a lot longer than standard rechargeable batteries. Also the camera will be lighter and less bulky too, as it doesn't need to space for 2 or 4 AA batteries.

isofa

If you are buying memory cards on-line, make sure you don't buy cheap fakes from eBay. There are lots of on-line memory shops, Amazon and www.mymemory.co.uk often have the best prices, I use both regularly and the service is excellent.