I want to buy my girl a new camera but can't decide between the two.

Kodak P850 or Z612?

She currently uses DX7630, which has served her well for the last couple of years.
However, she's recently taken more of an interest in photography but I don't want her stealing my new XT, so I'm going to buy her something a little more advanced.

She's a lover of Kodak, so it's basically one of those two.

Which would you buy?

Will a hot shoe external flash be required? Will an external wide angle lens (to get to a 24mm equiv.) be required? Ifthe answer is yes to either question then the P850 is the only choice of those two. Otherwise I think the Z612 is the better choice for the following reasons:

The Z612 is a later generation consequently has quicker turn-on time, reduced shutter lag and faster shot to shot performance compared to the P850.

With 6MP the Z612 will have a little more leeway for cropping or large prints.

The Z612 is smaller and lighter than than the P850. My wife is very comfortable with the size/weight and general ergonomics of my Z612 and I think she would be less comfortable with the size/weight of the P850.

Final factor, all P series have RAW output. None of the Z series have RAW output. That's not an issue with me because I rarely post process.

I can post some sample photos I've taken with the Z612 but I'm not sure they'd be any more instructive than the samples included with Steve's reviews of both cameras.

The Z612 offers, in my opinion a very good price/performance ratio and I'm well pleased with mine.

I do like the sound of the additional features on the Z612.
Image stabilizing, continuous shooting etc. But I've no direct experience with the camera where as I am familiar with the P850.

Samples would be fantastic.
Please could you post them here:

http://www.panoramicpixel.co.uk/foru...?showtopic=119

I'll try to post some to your URL later tonight but in the meantime here are a couple of links to photos I've posted here.

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/fo...mp;forum_id=87
http://forums.steves-digicams.com/fo...mp;forum_id=87