Although we have a fancy Pentax with filters and stuff, I eschew that camera for my trusty Nikon Coolpix. My reasons for preferring this camera? Well, for a start, the main family camera takes a few minutes to set up, but with the Nikon Coolpix, it takes just 15 secs to grab it, whip it out if it's case and point it at the photo opportunity subject! Easy peasy.

The Nikon Coolpix has a battery that lasts for at least a year which is brilliant. And we bought a big memory card when we bought the camera from Jessops and this has served us very well. Uploading photographs from camera to pc is simple, as is deleting the photographs afterwards.

The viewfinder is nice and big with clear markers so it's possible to line up your shot quickly and easily. We also bought a small tripod at the time of purchase which we used when we were on holiday a couple of times. (sometimes there is no-one passing by to take a group photo!)

We also purchased insurance as we were about to board a ship and stay aboard for a couple of weeks. I don't regret the insurance purchase but it was expensive. Probably when we replace our Nikon Coolpix we will simply add it to our household insurance.

We did take a photo of our Nikon Coolpix and keep a note of the model number. We attached a sticker bearing our surname, address and UK landline. We took these steps in case we ever lost the camera. If this ever happens, then we hope to have the camera / memory card returned to us.

I love using this camera because it's is so quick to take out of its case and start taking photos of the children playing etc and the camera is so easy to use with instantly being able to check if a photo is good or needs to be re-taken. The quality of the photographs is excellent and the definition is superb. The camera features are easy to use and the flash works perfectly.