KODAKPIXPRO Friendly Zoom FZ43-BK 16MP Digital Camera with 4X Optical Zoom and 2.7" LCD Screen (Black)

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Full disclosure: this is a fantastic little camera and it's cheap. People setting their expectations too high are bound to be disappointed; to do so with this camera and expect it to be National Geographic quality shots are going to be disappointed. It's easy to forget that sometimes we have to start somewhere. That we weren't born natural artists or with a camera or paintbrush in hand. This is a fantastic little starter camera. Here's a couple things about cameras. Megapixels don't matter, zoom does. But when zoom doesn't pan out (rimshot), megapixels matter. So with a high megapixel camera with poor zoom comes along, megapixels matter big time. It allows you to edit and crop without sacrificing photo quality. ISO means how much light gets in the lens, illuminating your subject. Higher the ISO, the more light and less need for a flashlight, torch, lantern, match, etc. This camera takes AA batteries and a full-sized SD card. Pick up a 4-pack of rechargeables and a Class 10 SD card and you are set to go. Take lots and lots of pictures. Get used to the idea of "no more film". Go out there and make mistakes. Take lots of stupid pictures so when that perfect one comes along, you know what to do.

Good Camera. The only issue is battery life. No matter what this camera will die.

(See updates below this original review.)This is a great little instamatic type pocket camera as long as you use rechargeable batteries and don't mind charging them frequently. Of course it's nowhere near the quality of a DSL camera, but the price (especially when discounted) is a lot less as well. The camera didn't work in cold weather when all my other electronic devices work just fine. However, that was with the cheap batteries that came with the camera. The camera does go through good renewable batteries quite quickly, however--more quickly than my other cameras do.Update after I've used the camera a while: I was having to recharge the almost-new, name brand rechargeable AA batteries in a high quality charger (i.e., I knew the batteries and charger were both good) after taking only around a dozen shots. So I called Kodak's support and was told rechargeable need to be at least 2300 mAh (milli-amps). So if you use rechargeables and find they drain too quickly with this camera, check the mAh reading. The support woman suggested trying new Energizer or Duracell non-rechargeable (i.e., throw-away) batteries to confirm the camera is fine and the low-mAh batteries are the issue. I asked why this is not mentioned in the documentation that comes with the camera and she said it's because they don't mention using rechargeable batteries.Update 5/2019: I've had battery problems with the camera since it was new, buying and trying 2800 mAh batteries along with many others. It became clear the camera had electronic issues. I'd get battery exhausted warnings even with new batteries but by opening and shutting the battery compartment, the camera would work just fine. And occasionally I'd get a message to reformat the memory card though that also was fine and the error disappeared when I opened and shut the compartment. Kodak quickly agreed to replace it under warranty, however, they refuse to pay the return shipping (roughly $8, cheapest rate) which I feel they should pay.My recommendation is if you buy this camera, test it out thoroughly when new, using either throwaway batteries or 2300 mAh or larger rechargeables to confirm the electronics aren't faulty.Update 7.15.2019: The camera gets worse and worse. Kodak replaced my original one but I had to pay return shipping. The new camera has the exact same issues as the previous one. Furthermore, its recording of sound is erratic. I recently was at a music event where I recorded a number of short clips with the camera. A few of the clips have sound but the overwhelming majority have none. I just did a short test video and it has no sound. I have listened to the recording file with several different apps and on different devices to confirm the problem is the file itself--i.e., the camera--is at fault, not recording sound. So I am again lowering the number of stars I give this camera, now to the fewest possible.

Great little camera. It won't win any photo contests but it takes good, clear photos with decent light. Bit uneven / can get blurry in low light conditions without flash, but no worse than any other pocket camera or even the best smartphone cameras out there in my experience. In dark settings with flash, it does good enough, no complaints. True optical zoom in a camera this price is a huge bonus. The LCD/display isn't too choppy or slow, but you won't mistake it for a high dollar camera. It's got a fast enough refresh rate/quality to do the job without being frustrating.My only qualm is it either eats batteries quickly or doesn't read battery level correctly with rechargeable Ni-MH batteries. With a fully charged battery, after a couple dozen photos (some with flash, some not), the batteries read low. I continued to use it without the camera dying, so I assume it's conservative in it's battery level readout, or it's optimized for 1.5V alkaline batteries. No big deal, I didn't buy this for long photo shoots, just something I can give to the kids on trips and things, since it will be a cold day in the underworld before I buy my kids cell phones until midway into their teen years or later.

The photo quality is , In my opinion, better than my own iPhone 14! It’s super clear and easy to download. It’s pretty durable too. I’ve dropped it a couple of times and it’s still working after a year! It a little pricey, but it’s definitely worth the price.

Pictures are decent and batteries last about a day as expected. However when I power it on the flash is always in the "ON" mode and I keep forgetting to turn it off so I when I need to take a quick picture the flash goes off when I don't want it to. It doesn't remember I had switched off the flash the previous time I used the camera.Plus none of the video modes play on my Samsung TV. All of my other cameras have a mode or two that play on my TV. Two of the modes on this camera display a still picture and play the audio.

Works very well