Fuji Finepix E550. Camera working O.K. midway after 18 pictures whenever buton was pressed to take pictures the camera shuts itself off. Batteries new, able to view pictures taken but cannot now take new photos.

YES HAD THE SAME PROBLEM..DIRTY BATTERY TERMINALS..SCRAPE WITH A FLAT BLADE SCREWDRIVER..LIGHTLY JUST ONCE..? POLISH BATTERY TERMINALS..A LIGHT RUB..SHOULD KICK INTO LIFE..DO THIS EVERY TIME NEW BATTERIES FITTED..HOPE THIS HELPS..P.S. THESE CAMERAS LOVE GOOD QUALITY FULLY CHARGED BATTERIES..NOT CHEAP ONES.???

The best way to download pictures from your camera to your computer involves removing the memory card from the camera and plugging it into a card reader (either built-in to the computer or connected via USB or FireWire). This is likely to be faster than connecting the camera to the computer, and won't run down your camera's batteries.

Once the card is plugged in, it will appear to your computer as a removable drive. You can use the operating system's drag&drop facility to copy pictures from the card to the computer's hard drive. Or you can use any photo cataloging program.

Use a separate card reader to download your pictures.

my e550 is super-sensitive to battery types - I get this all the time with my nimh batteries but never with regular aa's, although they only last about an hour !

i have the same prob

You just need new batteries. That's what the E550 does when the batteries get too low. Please get the latest rechargables. Many of the ordinary AA batteries won't last 50 pictures. Fuji also is rather poor telling you how to charge the rechargables. When the screen goes blue when you take a picture, you must use the camera's de=charging system before recharging--otherwise the rechargables will not take a full charge--that's what's likely happened to you!

due to very low temprature some malfunction may have occured. keep it in normal temprature for few hours and then try switching it ON. even if this not solves take it to some service centre.

This sounds like there is an internal short which is draining the batteries as soon as you put them in. Were the cameras taken in from the cold to a warm room? that will cause internal condensation which can fry the interior. Clean out the battery compartment completely, be sure no metal is floating around in there, and be sure that you have the polarity of the batteries correct. If that doesn't help, send the camera back to Fuji if in warranty.

I found that the e550 eats batteries very quickly if the memory card is full (or nearly so).  I have installed a 512MB XD card. 

Use panasonic rechargeable batteries... I had the same prob, but after panasonic it works fine...