I have never been a big fan of photography in the past. Most of my friends had expensive SLRs with lots of extra lenses and other equipment they had to lug around with them. I couldn't be bothered with that and didn't even own a camera.

So, when I was preparing to take a three week tour of the South West USA I realised I should take some photos so I decided to buy a compact camera to take with me. I wanted something I could just stick in my pocket and forget about, but something a little more advanced than the most basic cameras.

I looked at the range in my local camera shop (Jessops) and the Sure Shot 105 zoom seemed the most fully featured at the price I was willing to pay (around £100). It came in a kit so it had a leather case and a useful book on taking good photos and making the most of the camera.
I bought it and took it with me on the holiday.

I shot about 8 rolls of film on the trip, mostly of scenery, some with my friends in, and some without. My three friends all had Canon SLRs and took lots of pics also.
On returning, we all developed our films, and I was quite surprised to see that despite my camera's limitations many of the photos came out well - they were easily on a par with my friend's photos.

I shot almost all of the photos with flash switched off. On sunny days, this works fine, but with less light, you need a longer exposure and there is a risk of camera shake, yet, despite this, very few of my photos had visible camera shake.

I was very pleased with the camera overall, the only real limitation was the lack of a wide angle option which makes scenery look so much better.

Problems:
Sometimes the film doesn't load correctly, you then need to re-open the camera and re-seat the film, then it usually loads. To be fair, this is probably the way I insert the film more than the camera.

The timer option lacks much feedback when it's on, so you get the inevitable "is it working?" photo of someone approaching the camera when it goes off. :-)

The build quality is fine, but you get the impression that it wouldn't stand up to really rough treatment - although it's not designed for that.

Good points:
You often get a few "free" photos on the end of a film, but some of them don't come out, so they can't always be relied on.

Battery life seems good, I have taken 12 rolls of film so far and the battery indicator is still full.

The zoom is very useful to have on such a small camera, I was able to zoom further than my friend's more expensive SLR (he only had a standard lens). It makes it very easy to frame a shot without having to walk around.

Conclusion:
This is an ideal first camera, that won't be thrown out if the user begins to take an interest in photography, as it has some useful features.



Recommended: Yes