I have just brought a new camera Kodak Easyshare Z1285 with 12mp and 5 x zoom what a waste of money. I wanted it for close ups, it has the little flower on it but still it doesn't take a good pic. I brought it yesterday and so far i have used 6 batteries in it. The batteries are lasting about 15 minites then the camera shuts off. Has anyone else had this camera? What camera does everyone else use and can you recommend one because i am going to see if i can take this back, the only trouble is on the receipt it states no money back.

We have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-F27. Cost us around £300 a couple of years ago but was well worth the money. Has an excellent 12x optical zoom, good macro mode for close up work, and lots of useful program modes for shooting at night etc. It's also really easy to use; before that we had a Nikon Coolpix but found that a lot more difficult to use.

Are you using recharable batteries? If not, you will find this makes a huge difference to how long they last. They don't have to be expensive either
Personally, I have a fuji s9500, it was nearly £600 when I bought it but they are way cheaper now, and take amazing macro shots (it has a super macro function so you can take a cracking shot with the object pretty much touching the lens!).
I used it the other day to take a pic of a damselfly and you can actually see the little hairs on his back! lol
If the close ups are blurry, one thing it could be is if you are using the zoom as well as the macro setting, you will find a much sharper, clearer picture if you don't use any zoom, but rather move the camera itself to the item you are shooting.
Hope that helps a bit

I second the rechargeable batteries....we had the same problem.

Anything in the Panasonic Lumix range with intelligent auto is pretty good. We have the DMC-FX33 and you just set it into IA mode and it will autosense macro and switch it on for you.

Mike

i have a sony cybershot, which is brill... cost 250, but its the best camera i have had so far for nails.

Buy Samsung S1050 10MP Digital Camera. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for .

This is the camera i use and for the price it is amazing! Can't fault it and you get great closeups for nails.

Check it out Blue strip on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I have a panasonic lumix dmc-fx50, it takes great close up pics using the macro mode and has a li-ion re chargeable battery ( like those in mobile phones).
hth