Casio Exilim EX-Z100 Digital Camera

I love these cameras! They are a fantastically well designed little package.

They are very intuitive to use on either 'Auto' for happy-snappy times or take the time to set up yourself for when feeling 'more professional'. In between there are a raft of very capable, useful built in presets to choose your settings from.

The optical zoom (4x) gets you up close with the digital zoom getting even closer with only a barely noticable degradation in final picture quality.

The LCD viewscreen is crystal clear, good quality and easy to use - even in bright sunlight. You can review your pictures on the go.

Finding your pictures to share is easy. There is a thumbnail grid or calendar option to browse or find pictures taken on a specific date. 'Brill.

When at Home you can instantly plug into your TV, using the cable included, and run a slideshow.

With Li-Ion cells it has a long Battery life. I recommend getting a spare anyway - very available on eBay ;)

Get at least a 2Mb SD card. 10MPix resolution images on superfine save setting will eat smaller capacity cards fairly quickly - the bigger the storage capacity the less on-camera picture management needed - make your life simpler ;)

For taking pictures of yourself (without the crunched-up chin and wierd forearm :D use the timer with a Bottle-Top Tripod (200360691503 - also available elsewhere) and keep it handy.

You will never regret having one of these... even as a back-up to more professional SLR kit.

All in all a very capable 'shirt pocket' camera which will never let you down.