Best of 5

Hi there,
I am still in the market for a good 4 MP camera. I have looked long and hard for a few that interest me. I need your help in narrowing down the following in terms of:

+Cost (of the camera itself plus maintaining)
+Features
+Speed
+Durability
+Battery

The Cameras are:

Canon S410
Casio Exilim EX-Z40 (No assist light or A/V output)
Olympus Camedia C-765 Ultra Zoom (up to 640x480 movie mode)
Kodak Easyshare CX7430 (No assist light but 640x480 movie mode)
Kodak Easyshare LS743


Which is the best? Or what are the pros and cons of each? It would be nice to get some help. Users with experience from any, your input would be greatly appreciated.

It's always tough to give a good answer to questions like this. Camera choice can be so personal and comparing features is a very detail-oriented task. I assume you've looked at the reviews here?

Here are a few things I can think of that might help.

Speed - the Casio Exilim cameras are starting to be known for their speed. Start-up is supposed to be very fast and shutter-lag is minimal. The Canon cameras that use the Digic processor are also faster, although I don't think they're as fast as the Casio Exilim.

Features - I'm not absolutely sure, but I would bet the Olympus C-765 probably has the most features. That camera is all about doing it all. That said, I expect it's probably a noticeably slower because of the longer zoom. And it's more of a consumer-level camera so it's likely processor speed has been sacrified a little to allow for more features.

Kodak's main focus right now is sharing. They're making cameras that are easy to connect to the computer, and that make it easy to e-mail, download, and print photos. They're been very innovative with LCD quality, software, and connectivity. I believe general concensus is that image quality isn't the absolute best, but it's still good. With Kodak you probably won't get the speed, build, and features in the some of the other cameras. But you can expect them to be easier to use, right out of the box.

Canon has been the most popular camera maker on this site for a long, long time. They seem to combine the best balance of image quality, features, and functionality. The Digital ELPH line doesn't have the most features. But the cameras are built really well, they're realiable, and they're absolutely proven. I think Canon would be the conservative choice. But if you want a standout in terms of features, I'd look at the other cameras. The only place where I think the S410 would stand out would be image quality. Canon has that down. But for speed or features, I'd look to the others.

I know I'm not offering a definitive answer. My post is more about overall manufatcurer impressions. But I hope it's useful. It's just so hard to give specific camera recommendations. Good luck and let us know what camera you finally buy. Maybe you can teach us something :)