A $400 camera should last longer than 2 yrs. Same complaint as all the others. Tried turning the stupid thing on, listened to a clicking sound, and the lens would no longer extend. Contacted Kodak after reading reviews and of course they deny that there is any problem with the LS443 model. They will repair it for $35 or I can get the upgrade for $125. I think they should repair it for free. All of these complaints are unfortunately falling upon deaf ears at the Kodak company. I will never buy another Kodak product.

I experience the infamous E-45 error today. Kind of ironic that other customers have reported this within a 2 month period. HUMMM.... It is probably cheaper to buy a new camera than to send it out for repair.

Picture quality is excellent. The camera's features are very intuitive and easy to handle. An excellent purchase for someone who is not a professional, but likes to take good pictures.

Yet another "E45" victim.. I gave this camera 2 stars, only because it did serve me well for about 2 years, then about a month ago, if the lighting was not as bright as the sun, I would end up with pictures of a black screen. Then after not using it for a couple of days, I turned it on, the lens made wouldn't extend and it made a strange clicking noise like it was trying to come out, then it would stop and show the dreaded "E45" error message. I couldn't find my user's manual, so I typed E45 into a search field and to my amazement, came up with a lot of consumer review web pages & found out that apparently I am just one out of A LOT of people who have had the exact same problem! I don't understand why such a reputable company like Kodak would just ignore this problem & try to make us pay $150 or so, to fix a problem that is not the consumers fault. I am done with Kodak.

I too just received the E45 message on my camera and have been told to send in for expensive repair. This camera was treated very well. I believe that camera when inserted into carrying case causes switch to turn on causing the gear damage. I believe carrying case is too tight. Would highly recommend buying from organization that will stand behind its products.

For those of you interested in buying a LS-443, keep it in mind that in about 2 years time this camera will break. NO MATTER WHAT.
I brought this camera from Amazon.com for $400.00 in 2003. Normally, I would expect a camera with this kind of price tag to last for.. oh, I don't know... at least 5 years! But silly me, I was wrong.
Kodak will not fix this camera for you if it breaks. Instead, they will tell you to buy a new one.

If you are looking to pay big for a camera with a life span of 2 years then, Kodak is for you.

Yesterday my camera stopped working. Error message came up on the screen '#E45'. Lense wouldn't open. Just a clicking sound

I was on holidays and really needed to use the camera to take photos of my relatives to take back home to family. Not happy at all!!!

So I arrive back home today and get straight on the internet to check what my error message means.

I tried the Kodak interactive trouble shooting and repairs website to see how I could fix the problem.

It was useless. I had to live in the USA to be able to use the site. And all the site told me was that I had to send it in for repairs.

I have just looked at 7 different websites that had reviews for this camera and this is what I discovered:

#The LS443 had no negative reviews until about a year after it was put on the market

#After sifting through 7 websites, I discovered that there were 96 complaints about the camera. 64 of these complaints were specific to the '#E45' lense problem.

#On all 7 websites, it was rare to find a positive review on the LS443 dated later than the mid/end of 2003.


I have had to send my camera away previously for repairs (self inflicted).

KODAKS CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am from Brisbane Australia. I had to call a hotline to arrange for repairs.

The CALL centre is located in Asia, whereas the REPAIR centre is located in Melbourne Aust.(it was extremely difficult to communicate with the people from the call centre, because although they spoke basic english, there was still a huge language barrier and there was difficulty understanding eachother.There were also communication problems between the call centre and the repair centre)

The call centre constantly stuffed me around. They got my email address wrong, so I never received repair quotes, which resulted in them sending my camera back to me, UNREPAIRED!!!
I had to send it back to them AGAIN. I was without my camera for about 3 months.

Another problem I have experienced with Kodak is with the soft ware. I have windows XP on my computer. The Kodak easy share software constantly shut down on me (even after downloading an update for XP users). So Now I transfer my photos through 'Camera and Scanner Wizard'(a program on XP)

I bought my camera on 23 Dec 2002 for AU$930. (plus the memory card cost me AU$200)

A camera that costs this much should have a longer life span than 2 1/2 years!!!
I have taken thousands of pictures. I find that the camera quality is quite good.

I don't think the speed of the camera is very satisfactory.

Yes the camera has been dropped before and yes it has been well used.

But after reading all the reviews, I am very doubtful that the E45 was caused by being dropped. It seems very likely that this is a common problem with the LS443.

I will never buy a Kodak again. Next time I will buy a Nikon.

I am still not sure whether I will send my camera off to get repaired or just write it off as a loss.

UPDATE: I called Kodak in Melbourne today. Narrowly avoided being transferred to the dreaded Kodak Call Centre.
Spoke to Cameron. He offered me an 'upgrade' for AU$150 to the LS743, since they no longer repair LS443 cameras.(The LS743 is also a 4MP camera but with less opt zoom than LS443. So why do they call it an upgrade?) I told him about all the reviews that I have read. He refused to admit that there was a fault with the camera.
Will keep you updated.

We have enjoyed the use of our LS 443 for just over a year and now it won't work. And worse yet, Kodak will not repair this camera. They do offer an "upgrade" to a refurbished comparable camera for a discounted fee. The problem is that if I updgrade do I get the same customer care or lack thereof as I am getting now?

My advice: don't buy Kodak at all.

I was taking great pictures then it went this error.

I guess I will have to back to square one. I have discovered
that many others have this problem.

I got this Camera for Christmas and used it on Vacation in March. I was very unhappy that it malfunctioned and I was not able to use it for part of my vacation. When I got home I called Kodak who advised me that there would be a $35 dollar fee to repair. I sent it in and they fixed it and upgraded some of the features to it. However I did have to buy a new battery which was a pain to find. I ended up ordering it over the internet! Anyway it works better than new now and I was very pleased that they upgraded it! Overall it's a great camera and would reccommend Kodak to anyone!

Half way through an auto show, my camera shut off on me and displayed the E45 error message. I've had this camera for about 3 years now, and I think I'm probably considered one of the luckier ones since many other customers had theirs go bad in a couple of months.

As many others have pointed out, try and avoid this camera. Both the quality of the images and the functionality is great, but it is very unreliable, not to mention Kodak won't do anything about it.

My LS443 camera worked fairly well for about 1 1/2 years and then all of a sudden it would not take any pictures. Everything in the video display window was black - if you snapped a photo - it was also black. I contacted tech support and learned that they would take the LS443 back and for a mere $100 exchange it for a DX7440. Why in the world would I chance another Kodak camera. NEVER AGAIN!! This was not a great camera to begin with but to have a camera simply die that was not overused nor abused is simply unacceptable. Does Kodak care? Not a bit - there will be others who buy their product based on the reputation of the company. Well I hope this review informs you that that reputation is not so well-deserved.

Do your homework before you spend $$$ on this camera. It is easy to use, and takes great pictures while it works. Average life span for this camera is less than 2 years. The longest anyone has had one in good use is 2 1/2 years. Way to much to spend for a "disposable" camera, that can't be fixed by the manufacturer.

I also had a problem with this camera. The camera is only two years old, but it will not work. I received the error E45 like many other people. This happened once before when luckily my camera was under warranty, but now it has happened again. I have never dropped or mistreated this camera in any way, but this keeps on happening. This camera is poorly made.

I bought the LS443 at Fry's for $300 about 2.5 years ago. It went dead last week in the middle of a shoot while vacationing in Mexico. The lens will not retract and the blue screen displays Error E45. Luckily I was able to download the pictures already taken but missed a bunch of photo opps towards the end of the trip. I consider the money spent on this camera the cost of learning, the lesson being "buy only from well establised manufacturers with a proven track record in designing electronic equipment and even then, check reviews first for the model you want" Will never buy a camera from Kodak again. My search for the next digital cam will start with Canon.

I received this camera as a gift a couple years ago and have now gone through 3 of them during that time span. Luckily I was under the wire for the waranty each time.
These cameras are made to break and do not take good pictures. Kodak should be ashamed of themselves for putting out such an aweful piece of equipment, and then call it a camera.
Kodak should stick with film and let real manufacturers like Canon, Nikon and Olympus make good digital cameras.

Just like many of the other reviews...My Kodak cx7430 (not so)EasyShare camera gets stuck with the lens out. It used to work so-so if I kept tweaking the on/off switch for awhile. Today, it finally went kaput and shows the Camera Error #E45 like the other guy said. My picstues of my kids (which I only get to see a few times a year) are now gone forever. How is it that Americans invent things (like Kodak, Ford, Etc.) and then the products end up sucking? What's becoming of our technology and work ethic?

HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! I received this camera as gift a little over 2 years ago. It went belly up AGAIN - shows the Camera Error #E45 like the other guy said. It had done it once before where the lense got stuck and I couldn't take any more pictures nor could I shut the stupid thing down. So the junk went back to kodak and they stated that the issue was the on/off switch. They indicated that the on/off switch was causing the problems because it would turn on while it was in the bag (or purse) and thus, ruin the lense ??? ANYWAY ... the switch was replaced so you had to push a button in order to turn on the stupid thing. Well it broke AGAIN! Now this is only several months after they supposedly "fixed" it ... unless my purse figured out how to push the button .... hmmm .... VERY VERY VERY poor quality! I was more than happy to trash it. Not worth the time or the effort of getting it repaired.

I have had this camera for 3 years and loved it until about 3 weeks ago when my husband came home with the camera lens stuck in the open position. After recharging the battery did not work, I emailed Kodak and got the same response as many of you did: they would replace the camera with a refurbished upgrade but was not repairing it anymore. They also suggested that I replace the battery. Finding a battery for this camera is near impossible and after finally searching the internet I located one that is compatible with the camera ($27.99), but after reading all of these negative reviews, I may just go out and purchase a new camera.

A previous post a few pages in, I think in 2004, suggested gently pushing up on the lens housing while you turn on the unit. I tried this, at first on the outer ring (didn't work), and then on the inner "cylinder", this time it worked. I have turned it on and off several times now and it is working fine.
This camera was given to me yesterday by a guy that had given up on it, he was cleaning out his cabinets. I will offer to give it back to him as it was an easy fix. But I will give this camera a 1 star rating due to the widespread problem that obviously mine has. Design flaws this bad should be taken care of by the company. (FREE SWAP/UPGRADE TO ANOTHER MODEL)
"""HELLO KODAK, FLAWED DESIGN - DO THE RIGHT THING"""

Reading through these reviews, I think I may have set a new record for this camera. I bought one in December 2002 and it went wrong in June 2006. I make that 3.5 years before it died. Does this qualify me for a prize? Same thing as others -stuck open with blue screen displaying error #E45. My views are similar to those of the many others who weren't so "lucky". Good easy camera to use with reasonable quality, but its reliability is very poor. I'm going to replace it with one from a proper manufacturer.

Kodak should be ashamed of this E45 error.

I bought this camera in May 2004 for more than $300. Everything went O.K. until July 2006, when it finally hit this E45 thing.

Two years of service life is totally unacceptable. I have a Pentax 35mm film camera for 12 years, and it is still working without ever needing any repairs. I have a SONY 8mm Camcoder for 10 years without any problems.

This is definitely a disappointing experience.

I got this camera on Christmas of 2004, and it died May of 2006. I have not replaced it yet, but I get angry and frustrated every time I want to use it, or try to fix it. I think I am going to replace it today. I also got the dreaded E45 error. It costs more to fix the camera than to replace it. Is Kodak crazy??? I expect an expensive piece of equipment to last more than 2 to 3 years! I was happy with the features and ease of use of this camera...but I see that the E45 error is quite common. Buyer Beware!

Got E45 error after two years. Had to trash it since repairing would cost more than a new camera. Piece of junk.

I had/have 4-5 of different digital cameras and this one was/is the best! She gives you amazing pictures and it is very easy to use in any situation... I'm in love with her for more than 3 1/2 years!