Nikon gets it!

While looking for a pocketable and powerful digital camera I tried out the Pentax 555, Optio, Sony T-1, Canon S500...and the Nikon 5200. And the 5200 simply takes the highest honors and my hard-earned cash--$410 from AMPhoto.com!

While each of the cameras I compared and tested are small and pocketable-the Nikon was the easiest to reach in/pull out and "know" which end you have-which is important when catching spur-of-the-moment pictures at parties or other events.

The grip and feel in the hand is great and can easily be operated one-handed-unless you have very small hands.

The display is bright and easy to read-even in regular sunlight. The auto-gain for the display the camera uses while "looking" at a dark area is ingenious and incredibly useful.

Controls/buttons are well-placed and thought-out.

The menu system is great and very intuitive-no guessing/digging for features in menus.

Pictures simply are wonderful. Contrary to other reviews-I have had no issues with color being off for people.

This is a FAST CAMERA. Start-up is under 2 seconds. Without the flash picture-to-picture time is just over a second. With the flash picture-to-picture time is about 2 seconds.

Nobody has talked about about how FAST the zoom is! While looking at the other cameras I thought all zooms were lethargic-but Nikon's zoom is incredibly F-A-S-T!!! I did heavily consider the Pentax 555 but its zoom was so lethargic that I'd miss the action before it zoomed all the way in!

Macro mode is a blast and VERY good. The focus for macro is as close as an inch which allows you to get up close and personal with the object/subject

The movie mode is just incredible! While not camcorder quality, the 640x480 30 fps rate is great and a lot of fun for clips. I don't know why other camera manufacturers put limitations on the amount of video you can take...but Nikon gets it-if you’ve got the memory the use all you want for whatever you want!

Battery life hasn't been an issue and the fast charger which is INCLUDED lives up to the promise of fully charging a dead battery in 2 hours. I do wish Nikon had included the AC adapter but no matter...it can easily be picked up for $30.

I would recommend BUY AN EXTRA BATTERY! They are small and light-and you'll definitely be taking lots of pictures with this baby, and while battery life is good-the last thing you want to do is run out of juice when the party is just getting started!

Also buy as much SD memory as you can afford!

**Please note-this is a point-and-shoot camera with a few advanced features to play and have fun with... it takes the guesswork out of pictures. While the camera has a host of features to help you take better pictures based on the situation and lighting, it does not prevent or protect the user from taking bad or poorly composed pictures. Read the manual for the basics then get out there, take lots of pictures and find out how to improve yourself!