Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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60 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great all around camera for casual user...., July 25, 2006
This proves to be a great all around casual camera for most people who shoot everyday photos, home photos, vacation photos and such thing, print them out on a 4x6 up to 8x11 size for their albums.
For a camera of this price and size, there are several unbeatable features that simply cannot be ignored. First is the image stablizer which does work and worked well. Second is the 6x optical zoom when most cameras like this only come in 3x. Finally the ease of use where most people with some prior experience with a digital can probably used this camera without reading the instructions and those with no experiences can used this camera within a hour.
One element of this camera which have been slammed dunk by many of the on-line and magazine critics is the "high sensitivity" mode which artifically boost up the ISO up to 1600 if needed. This allowed the photo to be taken with little light. What they say is true, if you blow up these images taken with that mode, there will be a lot of noise and almost unuseable. However, you really have to blow it up, poster size almost for that to happened. I took a nighttime shot of Hooter Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas in a moving car without a flash with that mode and it came out looking perfect. For most users like myself who will only print it out at most, in 8x11 size, this mode works perfectly and its a highly useful feature, perhaps the most useful feature in the entire camera. People who will buy this camera will not buy it to take professional photos. So we don't have to judge the "high sensitivity" mode as a professional but as a casual shooter and its works just fine for us.
For casual photographs, this camera shoot just fine and results are quite remarkable. It may not passed the muster for high demanding photographer who happened to be a perfectionist but for the rest of the casual world, this camera take great images.
The battery power is pretty good. If you used their special Panasonic batteries, its better but you probably want to use the rechargable sooner or later. LCD screen is 2.5 inches large of small amount of pixal. Its clear and colorful but not definite. I thought this was the only major weakness of the camera. Its uses SD card, it got enough scene modes to satisfied most users and flash proves to be more intelligent then most of its competitors. The camera is lightweight, compact and easy to use and hold. Image stablizer works just fine although it there to help with the hand shaking and not the blur of the target moving very fast. Many of the senior citizens may find this most helpful. Nervous photographers may find this most helpful.
Overall, I won't repeat that already been written by other reviewers and Amazon's own description. I would add my voice that this is one terrific camera for casual photographer and for all its features, it definitely worth the price since you won't get better features for such a price.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
OIS really works, May 23, 2006
Camera takes excellent pictures. I took all those pictures and have'nt even looked at the manual yet. I'm also a novice novice.
pros:
Good battery life and great macro ability. The OIS is excellent with low light especially zoom. Really bright LCD
Cons: 80000pixel display not sharp enough for me
But for the price with all these features i would'nt go with anything else.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great value for an everyday camera, January 20, 2007
Update: This is an outdated model. I paid $200 new for it 01/2007
I needed an everyday point and shoot camera to take short video clips, good 4x6 to 8x10 pictures, and to be compact enough to fit in a coat pocket, but still large enough to hold. I wanted a good zoom lens, at least 4-5x optical. I also wanted affordable. I didn't need a fancy top of the line 10MP camera or anything. I currently have an EOS 300D Digital Rebel, but I wanted something I could take with me without dragging around large lenses etc.
My thoughts? Keep in mind while reading this I am coming from a 6MP SLR camera, so I have pretty high standards. Format the memory card PRIOR to use, I received memory errors about 1/3rd of the way through, formatted with the camera and it was fine.
pros:
-image stabilization works well
-6x optical zoom lens (many cameras only have 3x)
-nice image quality (at low ISO, 80 or 100) without messing around with settings
-camera can be forced to use a specific ISO
-long battery life with AA batteries
-good selection of built in scenes that work well
cons:
-slow flash recharge time, about 5 seconds (done to save the AA batteries)
-very noisy images at ISO 200 and 400 (1)
-no full manual mode, but that is what my SLR camera is for
bottom line: Great value for a point and shoot camera to supplement an SLR or as an only camera. If you want full manual, aperture/shutter priority, look elsewhere.
(1) I haven't tried the high sensitivity images (800 and 1600), but I hear they are better
Image stabilization helps for taking pictures in dark rooms, but by forcing it to ISO 100 as I do it counteracts much of the improvement. It is a nice to have feature though. In general I notice a lot more noise than my 6MP SLR, but the pictures are still very good. This doesn't work well when the subject is moving, only for reducing camera shake of course.
The lens is nice without much distortion. The macro mode works well up close, allowing for nice close ups as long as light is adequate. Another one of my reasons for purchasing a point and shoot camera, it costs less than just a good macro lens for my SLR. However, there isn't a wide angle mode for this lens, it is 1 to 6x. This might make it inadequate for taking pictures of a room inside a house (applies to real estate agents)
The continuous shoot modes are nice, 6 pictures over 2 seconds or so for the full resolution, and indefinite mode the rate is determine by your memory card, but peaks at about 1.5 frames/second. These only work with the flash off (best forced to disabled)
I love the AA batteries, they are cheap and last a long, long, time. I think I got at least 100 pictures, many with flash, using the included oxyride batteries. I would strongly recommend the use of NiMH rechargeable batteries, because they last a long time and recharge quickly, just carry some non-rechargeable batteries for emergency use (NiMH batteries discharge rapidly when cold and only hold a charge for about 30 days). Instructions explicitly say NOT to use lithium batteries, although others say they have used E2 lithiums from Energizer without any trouble. They don't specify what lithium does, but the general comment says it might cause the battery life meter to read wrong (who cares), or it might cause overheating and memory corruption (important, but this might not apply to lithium cells, I don't know).
Video is good, but you can't change zoom levels once you start recording. Not much else to say. It will work for my purposes. It is much faster to get the point and shoot camera out when I see something funny than it is to dig out the video specific camera.
I would buy the same camera again. For the price it is a great buy and it fits my needs perfectly. My 4 star review is because of the noise at higher ISO settings, to me, it really does reduce the image quality and it is hard for me to look at the pictures. It might not bother you if you are used to point and shoot cameras.
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