Excellent Camera

After about a year or so of use I have found this camera to be a great camera for any type of shot you may want to get. The 5.0 Megapixels creates huge images with stunning quality that easily compare to those taken with professional cameras.

The 128MB SD card stores anywhere from 50-100 photos and/or video which is usually enough for most people until they can offload them. (get extra cards)

Battery life is excellent. My wife and I recently took our first vacation and on one day there were 96 photos and 3 videos on the 128MB card...the batteries still had about 20 photos left but the card was full. This was outdoors during an overcast day so no flash was used at all. Videos were approximately 1-4 minutes long each. (I purchased spare batteries but forgot them for our vacation).

Auto Mode is the best for almost every occasion but it's nice to have the ability to use the built-in modes. This is very, very true of the sport mode. This mode was the most used on our trip since about 70% of our photos were taken while moving on the highway at 60MPH+. Of those, about 10 were too blurry (we took almost 700 photos).

The red-eye setting on the flash helps a little with preventing red-eye but some editing has to be done with the included software, which doesn't always work too well.

I purchased extra lenses for our trip and they were worth it. The wide angle photos of Niagara Falls are outstanding, as are the telephoto shots I got of the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Memorial in DC. The only drawback is that the wide angle lens blocks the flash (if you ever need flash with that lens, it's a problem). The zoom also is nice to have for night shots. Set the camera to hold open for 4 seconds (using a tripod) and get some nice shots of storm clouds - lightening or of cars driving by at night - the headlight trail is cool.

I rarely used the LCD screen for reviewing as it runs down the batteries but for framing a photo it works great. The menu is easy to navigate and understand and there are only a few buttons to use flash, delete a photo or to review what's already been taken. The built-in timer works great for those family get-togethers when they require the photographer (son-in-law) to be in the photo.

The video mode is a nice feature. It records audio fairly well but picks up wind noise very easily. The only drawback for the video is that you can't zoom after recording has started. I guess there's another: the quality isn't that great, but hey, it's a still camera not a camcorder.

The red light next to the viewfinder can be annoying at night - if you're using the viewfinder instead of the LCD.

If you modify any settings in the menu then change the mode wheel (say from Auto to Landscape) the changes you made in the menu are reset to default (such as exposure time). Same goes for the flash.

This camera was definitely worth the money, as were the extra lenses. The software needs some work though.