Excellent Camera!

Author's Rating:

Pros: optical image stabilization, 12X zoom, high sensitivity mode, simple mode

Cons: no zoom in video mode, 16 MB card

The Bottom Line: 
This is an excellent camera with a very good Leica lens.

Author's Review
I have this camera in silver. I received this camera for my college graduation in July 2006. I did a lot of research on cameras, and this is the one that I picked out of about 10 different models. I have been very happy with this camera. I have taken pictures with the zoom feature that are absolutely amazing. I take a lot of pictures of wildlife and family. The pictures are pretty close to professional. I showed some of them to my friend, and she says that I should enter them in amateur photo contests.

The battery lasts really long. In fact, it lasted three hours in video mode with the LCD screen turned off. It lasted almost as long as the 2GB SD card in the 10fpsQVGA mode. I normally don't use that mode, but I was trying to capture which cat was urinating outside of the litter box. In the 30fpsVGA mode, the video is as good as my mini video camera.

The camera is very light. My hands never get tired from holding it, which is important when you suffer from carpal tunnel. The self timer is wonderful also.

The 2.5 LCD screen is great. I wanted at least a 2.0 LCD screen with a good zoom. The zoom feature is absolutely wonderful. I have taken some really good pictures with the zoom feature. Close ups on insects come out excellent. The only thing I would change would be to buy the next model up with the movable LCD screen. That would come in pretty handy.