I have submitted several answers to postings about what camera to buy. I felt I should make this a posting under it's own title.

Recently, due to some repair problems with Kodak, they offered me a conciliatory upgrade to the new DC-265. I reviewed all the current upper end replacements for my DC-120, and decided that I wanted to keep my "old" camera.

The DC-120 is an excellent camera. True, its' electronics are a generation old, but when compared to Kodaks' newest top of the line DC-265, the 120 has many advantages.

The DC-120 was a very good camera with a much better lens, flash and case than the newer generation 200 series. It is sturdy, has the now missing filter threads for accessories such as add on lenses, and the now, newly DC-265 acclaimed accessory flash synch. It has a macro mode that gets much closer than the new Kodaks, and the lens is almost twice as bright. The camera is rated at ISO 160, versus the ISO 100 of the DC-265.

The DC-120 has a much wider shutter range, a flash 4 times brighter (16 feet vs 10 feet), and the now missing spot meter on the newer cameras. It allows uncompressed files, which may just make actual images every bit as good as the compressed 1.6 megapixel files from the newer Kodaks. The DC-120's 1280 x 960 files I get fill my big monitor screen just great.

Why consider such an "old" camera? It currently sells for about $350 (www.20-20consumer.com, a great buying site). It is much cheaper than any comparable upper end camera, and none of the current upper end really beat the optics/mechanics of the lowly DC-120.

What do you give up electronically? A lot if you really want all the latest whiz bangs. It has an ancient, slow serial interface. With some of your savings, buy a flash card reader for $70. The DC-120 uses the same flash memory as the newer models.

If you want a comparison, go to the Kodak site. They have a camera feature comparison page. Plug in the DC-120 against any of the current breed. The DC-120 wins every "camera" category.

I don't know why Kodak dropped this good camera body/lens combination for the newer, less capable models. I have spoken to them about a "DC-165" that uses the same DC-120 lens/mechanics with the newer electronics and CCD. What a winner that would be!

Now, if you, like so many of us, are confused about what $700 to $1000 camera to buy, grab one of the remaining $350 DC-120's and spend the next 2 years bragging about what a smart buy you made. Its' 1280 x 960 resolution will fill the largest of monitor screens and produce very good 8 X 10 prints. For web pages, it provides much better resolution than you will ever need.

With the money you save, you can buy a bunch of neat accessories.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Get 'em while you can! Egghead still has some at the $350 price.

-- William McAuley (wrmcauley@aol.com), April 18, 1999