Ricoh Caplio R7

Bad – This appears on paper, and in the hand, to be a good general purpose camera. Not long after our purchase though, the zoom/auto focus assembly got stuck, and Ricoh Aust (or Tasco as it is called) would not honour warranty as bought online, even though from 'Aust' dealer. Took 2 months for return after being sent to HK via NZ for repairs. 30 mins after taking delivery, the flash failed. 2 months later it has been returned and still the lens cover droops, sometimes blocking shots if you're not careful. Do not buy Ricoh, at least anything with this 7.1x lens assembly! Good screen, fast shooting, good battery Zoom and flash faults

Excellent – Nice compact little camera that can easily be carried in your handbag. Battery holds a good charge and is easy to charge. Can be used to simply aim and shoot or you can manually adjust settings as desired. No need to put the lens cover on as it has an automatic lens cover that opens and closes when switched on and off. Nice big LCD screen allows you to better review the pictures you've taken. Compact. Has a large easy to see LCD screen. Quickly takes ans saves photo so you can move onto the next shot. Easy to review and delete pictures. Fabulours 7.1 Optical wide zoom and 8.2 megapixels So far, nothing

Bad – I use mine for product photography for work and take hundreds of photos everyday in the same lighting condtions and can still struggle to get a good pic, you will need a lot of practice and have a good memory to learn your way around the menus. I think I prefer the old dial function for pre settings and you can quickly change between landscape and portrait whereas this one can take a little longer. I recommend using a tripod as even with the flash and anti-shake on, it is difficult to get a non fuzzy shot. Overall I am sorry I upgraded from my old camera as although it has a much higher mega pixel so you can easily crop photos later without losing quality, I am finding I am missing many good photo moments when with family and friends as most people give up waiting for me to change the settings and out of around 800 holiday snaps we have less then 100 'keepers'. I paid around $180 for me previous camera at the start of 2007 and $450 for this one at the start of 2008 but could have easily spent $200 for another camera that would have same specifications and I assume would take the same or better quality pictures. Compact, great battery power (takes around 100 photos on one charge), light weight. Almost impossible to get a good photo, the pre-set settings are rubbish and rarely work so you need to adjust the manual settings for every picture and take at least 10 trial shots to make sure they are all correct for the lighting. Not very good for spontanious pics as by the time you turn it and and find the correct setting through all the different menus the moment has passed!