I recently brought a Kodak camera. An old one I had was easy to use and took great pics. The quality of photos on the later model was awful, it didn't matter how hard I tried the pics just came out crap. I don't know much about cameras but it seems these days most cameras have an ISO "intelligent" feature which to my mind tries to do the hard work for you and in the case of Kodak, fails miserably.
I then had the Kodak exchanged for a Panasonic Lumix. great camera with a number of settings for novice to advanced users. I'd recommend that if it helps - oh and definitely disable the ISO feature!
Review of the camera here: http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/equipment/review/Panasonic__Lumix_DMC-FX33_11653.php