Camera for travelling, advice required

[davebaker]

Hi,

I need some immediate and clear advice please folks. I leave for malawi next week and will be in africa for 4 months. I am planning on buying a digital camera, the camera must:

Take AA batteries +good battery life(prefereably 2, ill buy some high power 2500mh rechargeables)

take SD cards (can use my dads 256mb and then wont need to buy as much)

Be compact , with optical zoom(limited by my backpack size)

Have a few good shooting modes e.g. panorama modes, black and white etc but not excessive amounts, and still be user friendly as its my first.

Im considering.:

Pentax S30 - from an ebay shop that sells refurbished versions, they have 100% feedback from nearly 800 people so im fairly confident the camera will be fine. at cost of £82 inc del.



Canon A400 - slightly bigger in size, similar features, but can buy this one new for £88 which may be a 'safer' option.

Other than that i read that some of the nikons in the £100 and below price range tend to go faulty etc. My budget: for the camera itself, a max of £100, ill be spending anotehr £40 on 512mb SD card and 4x2500mh batts+charger.

Please bombard me with advice/recommendations for other models, and experiences youve had with the cameras above.

Cheers,

DAve