The Ultimate Trannie Digital Camera?

I've been agonising over the right digital camera for nearly a year now - and it hasn't been easy I can tell you.

First of all I set my mind on a Nikon D70 and then the D70s came out. After that I ummed and ahhed about the price, as I wasn't quick enough to pick up the D70 bargains.

After that I thought about the Canon 350D, but that stupid thing called brand loyalty got in the way. More megapixels (8 point something) but it wasn't a Nikon. Stupid, I know, but there were sentimental baggage reasons attached.

A while later I chatted with a retired Master Photographer friend of the family, and he'd gone for the Nikon D50. He said there was plenty of functionality with the D50, and he probably didn't need the "extras" on the D70s.

I did even pop into the local camera store and have a play with the D50 - and fell in love with the smooth action and fast picture-taking ability. But the shop didn't recommend the 70-300mm Nikkor lens, because it didn't have a macro facility. They suggested the Sigma equivalent, but this was more your Lada to Nikon's Rolls-Royce in terms of smoothness of operation. So I went away undecided as to what to do.

Also, my wife was saying I'd never use it what with having to carry around two lenses, it was bulky so I wouldn't take it out very often etc. etc.. And I had a sneaking suspicion she'd be right. More indecision.

In the meantime, my wife had been wanting a small digital camera and had been her usual thorough self checking out Internet reviews. She came to the conclusion the Fuji Finepix F10 was the camera for her. One of her main reasons was the good reviews and the point that the delay time for taking pictures was significantly better than the rest in class.

Come Christmas I bought it for her (£199 inc. VAT) - it was a complete surprise and she's very chuffed with it. Since then I 've been borrowing it quite frequently. It fits neatly on a belt in a hama carrycase and at 92 x 58 x 27 mm(3.6 x 2.3 x 1.1 in) and 200 g (7.1 oz) it'll fit inconspicuously into the smallest of handbags (trannie points scored).

It's this experience that's finally convinced me to go for it's later model sister the Fuji Finepix F30, which is slightly smaller! One of the major reasons was the new ISO 3200 capability, which should mean being able to take pictures in low light (nightclubs and other dim and dingy venues trannies seem to frequent) more trannie points. Another is the 580 pics per battery charge - yet more trannie points. Have to say I thought I'd prefer a camera that could take NiCad rechargeables as I've been used to in the past, but having used the F10 on holiday for a week I'm converted to inbuilt power sources, even if it means being reliant on the manufacturer's camera charger.

I still don't like camera software for transferring images to PC so the USB 2 lead works a treat for me.

How much? It depends where you shop. PC World want £279 inc. VAT or from their business site £180 plus VAT plus £11 odd for postage. Amazon want £279 for the camera (don't know what they charge for postage) but I chose Micro Warehouse (part of dixons) at £217.38 including VAT and postage. Hopefully it'll be here in the next few days...

Some product features:

• Real Photo Processor and new Super CCD HR VI
• ISO 3200 sensitivity at full resolution
• 6.3 million pixels
• 3.0x optical zoom
• Long-life battery (up to 500 shots)
• VGA movie capture of 30 frames per second with sound
• PictBridge ™ compatible for direct printing without a PC
• Quick response times (0.01 second shutter lag and 1.4 second start-up)

The ultimate trannie digital camera? I think it comes close - it ticked enough of my boxes.