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

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.

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.

As others have mentioned, this camera will rapidly consume batteries. Just be sure to buy some rechargeable AA batteries to use with this camera (or find a very good deal on a bulk supply of alkaline cells). Otherwise, the optical quality of this camera is excellent for a point-and-shoot camera in its price range. Color rendition, optical (and digital) zoom, manual settings variety, and ease of use are all great. The battery issue is actually a plus for those searching for a good camera deal, as a small deficiency of that type will make the camera less popular with the typical user, and it will therefore be priced lower to sell off quickly. You should be able to find a great discount on new or "open box" used cameras. Mine was purchased "used, like new" and it didn't have a scratch on it. You will need to study and try out the various manual "scene" settings to get exactly the results you desire. If you make the proper setting selections, you'll create images of much higher quality than any phone camera. So, three points : 1. Buy rechargeable AA batteries for this camera, or buy bulk generic alkaline packs. No Duracell etc. as they last somewhat longer, but are not justified by the much higher price. 2. Stay alert for discounted units. 3. Test out the many image options to acquaint yourself with the camera's capabilities for the best results. The beginning user may be disappointed with the picture quality, but only because they've chosen the wrong setting.

Maybe I just got lucky? But it looks brand new without scratches or anything. The only thing missing was the official box. It came in a cardboard box with compartments. The battery is external so I don't have to worry about it dieing on me - I got traumatized from my first one refusing to charge, lol. Also cheaper than the similar model with internal battery, so that's a plus. Batteries are usually interchangeble in major countries so if it dies on me during a trip, I could just go to a nearby grocery shop. Ok so for the actual part of taking pics - this is a device that forces you to learn some tricks up your sleeves. Good for people who is a artist at heart that wants more than the phone pics, or a student photographer. Overall, good beginner model. UPDATE: Pic posted! Close-up with Macro function on Auto Mode. You can see the shiny flakes in certain parts + see through the clear parts. Also a bit blurry since it was taken handheld. Not perfect like expensive cams but enough for myself.

(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.

This little camera is great. It’s a little hard to take close-ups without a tripod, but otherwise, I’m really happy with it. My phone takes awful pictures, so I got this one 2 days before a big trip to Tokyo. I purchased 2 memory cards (64gb) to cover all my bases. 3500 pix and didn’t even need another memory card! I did use the second card for videos. All in all, a super camera for ‘point-and-shoot’, even on the Shinjuku bullet train! In nearly 3 weeks, the batteries still going strong! Great price, easy to use, lightweight. I love it!

This review is mostly about the seller. The camera itself seems to be a good point and shoot especially for a teenage girl... if it would stay on for more than a minute. The seller... I ordered this at the end of September for a Christmas gift. I was excited because I found this $60 camera for only $20 and thought I was getting a great deal. When I received it I turned it on and tested it out briefly. It seemed to work pretty well, however after my daughter received it for Christmas (three months later) and played with it for a few minutes it shut off randomly. At first it turned right back on then it stopped turning on and responding all together. We put different brand new batteries in it and once again it turned on but this time it shut off right away. We observed that it never showed a full battery icon even with new batteries. So obviously this camera does not work right and I immediately requested a refund. The seller, lotus media, refused because it had been more than 30 days since I purchased it. I wrote another email requesting that they take into consideration that it had been purchased as a Christmas gift and that was the reason for the delay, but they stuck by their “policy” and would not budge. I tried to file an A to Z claim with amazon and was told by them that I was outside my time frame for filing a claim. So basically I’m screwed. I’m glad that I only spent $20. Lesson learned - spend more time testing out electronics, a deal that’s “too good to be true” really is not a deal at all, and though I’ve always had good experiences with amazon I’m disappointed they didn’t back me on this. I can’t believe that this seller didn’t know exactly what they were selling and that’s why the price was so low. I’m sure they thought that was good enough compensation for the fact that the camera doesn’t work right, but this fact should have been made known in the description of the camera.

I wasn't looking to spend 400$+ on a camera, I got this for my trip to Israel and I will attach some of the photos I took with this camera, I usually replace the batteries every 5 days but I am also CONSTANTLY taking photos, I've already taken 700+ and it's been 2 weeks, personally I love it. Fits in my purse and it's really easy to use. If ur looking for an affordable camera that takes nice pictures this is for you.