Kodak CX7430 sample pictures?

I am considering to buy - as my first digital camera - a Kodak
Easyshare CX7430 and found quite a lot of quite different opinions
about that camera. Most of the users seem to be really satisfied with
it, but for example some customer reviews at amazon.com sound very
disappointed, especially in respect of indoor pictures.
So I don't know if all those happy photographers simply did not try to
take pictures inside, or if the disappointed users did not read the
manual carefully enough and overlooked some important setting?

Please, if someone has a collection of different pictures (inside,
outside, bright sun, night, closeup views, or anything else) taken with
the CX7430, could you perhaps send a link? I searched extensively for
any sample pictures from that camera, but *none* of the reviews showed
any pictures.

And then I also have lots of detailed questions about this camera;
maybe somebody can give useful advice concerning one of the following
points:
- I prefer the CX7430 compared to e.g. DX7440 because it uses standard
AA batteries or rechargables and not special Kodak batteries. I am
afraid that I might have difficulties to find replacement for the Kodak
batteries in 3 or 5 (or 10?) years. Or do you think the lifetime of the
camera is anyway shorter?
- Did anyone use this camera with a Linux system? Any problems
transferring data to the computer via USB or reading the SD card
(probably one needs a working card reader, but I think in general it
should work)?
- Is the USB interface version 1.1 or 2?
- Is there something like a raw-image storage mode, or is it possible
to adjust the jpeg compression?
- Which SD cards work well with this camera? Do I need a special Kodak
card, or is e.g. SanDisk equally good (fast)?

Thanks a lot for any information!
Jan

wrote:
I am considering to buy - as my first digital camera - a Kodak
Easyshare CX7430 and found quite a lot of quite different opinions
about that camera. Most of the users seem to be really satisfied with
it, but for example some customer reviews at amazon.com sound very
disappointed, especially in respect of indoor pictures.
So I don't know if all those happy photographers simply did not try to
take pictures inside, or if the disappointed users did not read the
manual carefully enough and overlooked some important setting?

Please, if someone has a collection of different pictures (inside,
outside, bright sun, night, closeup views, or anything else) taken with
the CX7430, could you perhaps send a link? I searched extensively for
any sample pictures from that camera, but *none* of the reviews showed
any pictures.

And then I also have lots of detailed questions about this camera;
maybe somebody can give useful advice concerning one of the following
points:
- I prefer the CX7430 compared to e.g. DX7440 because it uses standard
AA batteries or rechargables and not special Kodak batteries. I am
afraid that I might have difficulties to find replacement for the Kodak
batteries in 3 or 5 (or 10?) years. Or do you think the lifetime of the
camera is anyway shorter?
- Did anyone use this camera with a Linux system? Any problems
transferring data to the computer via USB or reading the SD card
(probably one needs a working card reader, but I think in general it
should work)?
- Is the USB interface version 1.1 or 2?
- Is there something like a raw-image storage mode, or is it possible
to adjust the jpeg compression?
- Which SD cards work well with this camera? Do I need a special Kodak
card, or is e.g. SanDisk equally good (fast)?

Thanks a lot for any information!
Jan

Wow. Lots of questions.
I suspect that the main reason users of digital cameras have problems
indoors is that the built in flash in most digital P&S cameras aren't
very powerful. Then, users forget that as you zoom in to frame a shot
inside, the flash range decreases considerably because the lens gets
less light because of the nature of the lens. If you make sure that you
move closer, rather than using the zoom indoors, you will get good
pictures out to the stated range of the flash.

I too prefer the AA batteries (which is why I got the DX6440). If you
choose a camera with a proprietary battery, it would be good to buy a
spare.

Can't answer the Linux question.

The USB is compatible with USB 2.0, but is not 'high speed'. That is,
it works at USB 1.1 speeds, or less.

The camera makes jpg files at a fixed compression. You can get two
compression ratios on the DX7440.

Any good SD card should work just fine. I have Lexar and Sandisk which
work fine in my DX6440. Both cards are much faster than the camera.
I recommend using a card reader if you have a lot of photos to transfer.


--
Ron Hunter