The Ricoh RDC-6000 was my first digital camera and it is a great beginners camera. Most images are awesome but there are some problems with blurring at times. The zoom SUCKS. The card errors drive me crazy and I have lost a lot of special pics. I will give my 7 & 11 yr. old this cam and I will go buy me a Fuji next!

I would think hard about buying another Ricoh digital camera

For the large number of features, modes of operation and accessories provided including a good software package this digital camera package is excellent value for money.

Apart from its slowness of operation all the other problems mentioned above can be easily worked around and generally the final images are well exposed and very good quality.

The problem of digital noise in dark parts of the picture can be easily removed using 'despeckle'in Photoshop/Photodeluxe or equivalent filter in other image processing software. The optical viewfinder rather than the LCD can be used in low light conditions to frame the image but be careful as the field of view is different.

In summary I like this camera package and think it is a good introduction to digital photography, reliable in operation and provides a large number of features for the money with good overall results.