Another New Camera Thread E550, A510, W1, etc

[macd]

My Canon A70 died from the notorious E18 error message. Canon wouldnt do anything for me so I am leary about another Canon.

However, these are my requirements for digital camera (in order of pref.)

- must use AA bateries
- 90% of my pics are 1024x768 res (fine) for 4x6 printing, # of megapixels doesnt mean squat.
- No post image processing. I dont want to mess around cleaning up photos after I take them. Shoot and print.
- 50% indoors 50% outdoors
- quick start up and between shot times
- 640x480 video that is longer than 30sec.
- manual settings

Please help. Thus far the Fuji E550 looks promising, but I havent seen anybody review this camera on anything but the highest res settings. I probably will never take a 12M shot or a 6M shot for that matter.

The Sony DSC-W1 was my first option but I've seen a lot of fuzzy pics from these camera and have read a lot of users complain about fuzzy pics. Especially indoors.

The Canon A510 doesnt have many reviews and I am leary about Canon quality after reading about their problems.

Are there any other cameras that fit my needs?

Thanks in advance!

[Geoff Chandler]

The A70 was a well equiped camera for the price - how much of its extras do you need? There are other good makes - Nikon do some nice small cameras around the similar size and spec. (CP3200) The Fuji you mentioned would probably come into it's own more at the higher resolution settings - but nevertheless it's quick clean and clear. Also you didn't mention the kind of zoom range you want - does it matter? One of the Olympus Ultra zooms may be a good choice as they have a good exposure system and a great range of pre-photo adjustment. Or maybe you need a wider angle for indoors - the Fuji goes a bit wider than many of them.
Geoff