Cameras with AA batteries

Hey all,

I'm looking to get a cheap (but not completely trash) AA battery powered camera. I'm planning on staying urban so I'm bringing one of my cameras that uses Li-rechargable batteries but i'd like to have the AA option.

Any recommendations?

I am no photographer so not anywhere near expert but I manage with a point & shoot Canon Power Shot A480 which is just above the completely trash line.

I must admit it has been some time since I owned a compact camera. But most people's cameras who I know run off AA batteries, I thought they were pretty common. However having done a quick google I can see more and more compact cameras are running off their own rechargeable battery. So having had a quick read I'd suggest checking out some of the following - Nikon Coolpix L22, Fujifilm Finepix AV100, Canon PowerShot SX120 (I am particularly impressed by this one, with 10x optical zoom and 10MP plus shutter priority, aperture priority and full manual settings), Samsung ES-30, Samsung ES25. That's only a quick read though and they're just examples Have to admit though if I was looking for a compact camera I'd look seriously at that PowerShot.

Thanks so much for the recommendations.

I've had a Fuji Finepix A690 for four years and it has been brilliant. Bought it for £75 in a sale on the Jessops website plus a 1GB memory card and a case taking it up to £100 total. It's 6.3 Megapixels, Duracell/Energizer last very well in it and the average photo size is 1.1MB meaning you can fit about 600 photos on a 1GB card. It doesn't have sound on video mode, but that isn't something I need and there are Finepix models that do have that feature. It takes great photos.

Couldn't recommend it highly enough.

Find a Nikon Coolpix L12, but be careful with it near water.

I've used a couple of incarnations of the Canon Powershot A5[X]0 range (think I had the 530 and 540s) and they've aways been great little cameras.

I initially chose it primarily because of the AA batteries - I was lugging a battery charger for something else anyway and it was very useful, if my battery died half way through the day to jusy nip into a 7/11 and buy some more.

Unfortunately I killed both cameras by dropping them and smashing the lenses but this says more about my level of clumsiness than it does build quality - they were pretty sturdy wee things and i've done it to several other cameras too.

The one thing I didn't like about them though was they are quite slow to process - especially if you take a photo in low light or use the flash; it takes a good few seconds until the camera is ready to shoot again which can be quite frustrating. This may have been addressed in more recent models though.

Thanks again, everyone. Keep the recommendations coming.

I've also been partial to the Canon Powershots - there's a whole range of models with varying features and they are mostly very affordable. I carry an AA powered Canon Powershot as a backup and couldn't be happier.