Kodak EasyShare M853

Opinion: I bought this camera to carry in pocket for use when I do not want to carry my Canon IS 2. I have not yet upgraded to digital SLR, the IS2 satisfies my needs. The 1/2.5 sensors are frankly ridiculous, and the built in software to make 8 meg useful actually does more harm than good. 5 or 6 meg is the max that should be used!
That said, if this camera is used with more than ISO 80 or 100, poor pictures will result. ISO of 1600 should never be used. Grain,Grain, Grain will result. The first thing I did was to fix the ISO at 80.
I would prefer optical IS, but so far I am satisfied.
I like the macrow setting for pictures closer than 28". Good copies of documents can be obtained with ease. Closeups of flowers,etc, are easy.
Flash pictures in,or out, have been very good!
I prefer using rechargeable AA batteries, but the lithium battery supplied (I bought a spare also) has worked well.

Opinion: Works well mechanically for the few days I had it. Pictures are absolutely horrible and an outright lie to be 8MP quality. Pictures are grainy and unclear and the files are understandably small in size confirming that the output cannot be 8MP quality. My 5MP camera has smaller pictures dimensionally, larger file sizes and much clearer resolution and is an older Kodak model which led me to believe that this one would be much nicer. Boy was I wrong. SD capacity charts on their website reported approximately 300 pictures for a 1GB card in one of their 8MP cameras when the camera could not report less than 875 on any setting. This number shows as below a 3MP quality according to the chart. Support chat was non funtional for hours during my attempts to contact them and when I finally could I was ignored for 45 minutes awaiting any sort of acknowledgment to my presence. I was reluctantly persuaded to contact corporate for a formal complaint and to inform them of my intention of returning it for a Fuji or other brand that I know is good as well as placing my opinion of review on this site. Don't do it. You will be disappointed, believe me.