Wonderful camera - worth every penny!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Sturdy, multiple settings, excellent quality photos

Cons: expensive

The Bottom Line: 
This camera has all the features a beginner would love to learn how to use, and an expert would expect to be on the camera.

Author's Review
I have been avoiding digital cameras for years, always into film/developing, etc. I bought this camera because I have 2 small children who I wanted to capture every moment and not waste a bunch a film and developing costs, only to like one or two pictures. This camera is so much more than I expected. It is easy to use, it feels like an SLR camera, and it takes beautiful pictures. I take hundreds of pictures and don't feel like I have to capture the picture at "just the right moment". The pictures are crisp. I have enlarged many pictures up to 8x10 and you can not tell they are a digital picture and not film. I have not tried anything larger though. The lens is perfect for my needs, however if you want to take close ups at stadium type events (sports), I would get something with a little more range (for example 300mm). The one thing I did not expect was that you could not point the camera and see the image on the screen before taking the picture. This is just like a SLR camera. You must look through the viewfinder to see your image. It's not bad, but I just am used to smaller digital cameras that show the image in "live" format on the screen. It is expensive, however I think it is worth it.