Full Review

I got this camera as a gift and have been fairly satisfied with it. The 4x optical zoom is a great step up from my old digital camera and that is the main reason my husband bought it. The other reason is the price. You don't find many 4x optical zooms in this price range. My husband paid $150. Contrary to other reviews I read, I find the camera slightly overwhelming. I suppose my old camera was a little more basic so I am not used to all the options. You have manual, auto, portrait, landscape, night snapshot, kids and pets, indoor, and night scene modes. It also has a compact video mode which I have found extremely useful. I would say for a first time digital camera owner you will definitely need to read up on the manual to figure out all the buttons and options. The manuals are user-friendly and it comes with a basic and advanced user guide. The screen is rather large which is wonderful. I am still figuring out all the software options when you download pictures to the computer. I have yet to find a way to send friends a slide show as I could with my former software, but for the most part it is easy to use. The flash seems to take forever and usually I have to retake some photos since my son tends to close his eyes before the picture is taken because of the flash. Overall this is a good camera and if you can figure out all the features then this is the camera for you. The picture quality is wonderful and the size is fairly small.