For a while I have wanted a replacement for my digital camera. It is a Fuji A201 and can take pictures which are OK, but it is showing its age.

For a start it is a 2.1 megapixel camera, and now you can get that sort of quality on some mobile phones. Also it does not have many options on it, and it has no zoom capability, apart from digital zoom.

The thing is about 3 years old and cost me about £170 when I bought it. Although I knew I wanted a new camera, I couldn’t decide what I really want as a replacement. I have been looking at much better modern cameras in the £100 to £130 range as there are a lot of offers on at the moment, but today I saw the Fuji E550. It costs a bit more (£160 at Amazon) but that is still less than the old one cost in 2002.

This review rates it pretty highly. It ticks all the right boxes for me – 6.3 megapixels, 4x optical zoom, auto everything, but the ability to do manual focus and exposure and everything. Not only that, but you can, using an adaptor, fit an extra telescopic or wide-angle lens on it. The only downside seems to be that it does not have the low-light capabilities of the Fuji F10, but then it does cost quite a bit less.

With all the amounts we are going to be paying out for the kids’ return to school and college it was not a good time for me to find this… time to start saving I think!