John Bean wrote:
Can there not be a camera on earth that meets these 4 simple goals?
- AA batteries, quality photos, 7x zoom, CF media

Minolta A2 with optional grip meets your requirements.
Without the grip it can only use supplied Li-Ion battery but
with grip it can use one or two Li-Ions or six AA.

Whoa! I'm confused.

Do you mean the 8 MegaPixel $800 Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2?

Consumer Reports, in its future July 2005 online ratings gave it a "NO"
on the use of AA batteries (line 78 of the 79-line 7/2005 digital
camera ratings report). But, wait. That's not all. When I froogle, I
can see there is an optional BP-400 VERTICLE GRIP for the "Minolta A2"
for about $100 additional.

Am I wrong? Is Consumer Reports wrong?
Or are there multiple Minolta A2 cameras (like there are multiple Nikon
CoolPix cameras)?

What further confuses me is that the $550 5MP Nikon CoolPix 5700 (line
38 of the CR 7/2005 on-line ratings chart) is listed on Consumer
Reports as accepting AA batteries - but I have one and I know that not
to be the case without the optional Nikon MB-E5700 Battery Pack for
about $150 additional.

So, is this my new AA battery summary correct (if not, what is wrong)?
- $350, 3MP, 10x zoom, Canon PowerShot S1IS I takes AA batteries native
- $550, 5MP, 8x zoom, Nikon CoolPix 5700 is $150 more for AA batteries
- $800, 8MP, 7x zoom, DiMAGE Minolta A2 is maybe $100 more for AA?

Please help me as I am utterly amazed there are only three cameras
which even come close to these pretty universal simple 4 features.
- AA batteries
- Excellent photo quality
- 7x zoom
- Compact Flash

You will help others at the same time.
Susan Henderson