I have been using Nikon cameras since 1975 and currently using a D200 and D300, but never been able to convince myself to buy a Nikon Point and Shoot before the P7000. You will find a couple of hand full of photos at the start of the shared photos intentionally made under less than desirable conditions. MOST of the shots posted were made with some obstacle - low light - overcast and drizzle - silly distances to test the digital zoom etc.. Most of the shots include camera data so you can see what the speed, aperture, and the focal length of the zoom lens in a 35mm format. If you know your D300 the function controls are familiar as are what the settings will do for you. The camera handled the challenges thrown at it surprisingly well. This is the most flexible camera in a point and shoot I have seen to date, and definitely the best value overall. It is larger than your typical P&S, similar to the Cannon G Series but the functions are more like like a Nikon DSLR than not. The P7000 is the ideal camera for three groups of people: 1. DSLR users that want a better back up camera with a long zoom, a more portable camera for everyday picture opportunites, and dislike the lens speed and quality and/or the lack of flexibility in most *not all* P&S offerings. 2. P&S shooters that are not interested in a DSLR but want better shots and the ability to be more creative, that may also want good shots were most P&S products fail them. 3. P&S shooters that aspire to owning a DSLR that want an easy transition to Nikon's DSLR family of products. A P&S P7000 owner will have a very small learning curve when they make the transition to Nikon's semi-pro and professional line. The PS7000 for this group will shorten the learning curve dramatically and the camera will still have value when they transition to the DSLR lineup. Moreover, the P7000 will still be useful as an everyday camera for the unexpected shot opportunities normally missed for not having a good enough camera, or getting a DSLR into action quickly enough. I think Nikon made some very wise decisions on this camera. One of them was limiting the optical zoom range to 28-200mm. The quality of zooms that drop below 28mm is generally poor if they zoom lower than 28mm and still go up to 200mm. The same is true of zooms that go from 28mm to over 200/250mm on the high end of the zoom. Adding to the zoom range on either side impacts the cost for good quality. Check out the price of Nikon's 28-300mm consumer lens and you will see the price sky rockets. The lowest aperture also goes up faster than most of us want on the high end of zoom. 28-200mm is the sweet spot for quality and cost effective. Nikon's digital zoom takes you to 300mm with a small amount of digital magnification that is acceptable and significantly reduces camera shake since you are really shooting at 200mm. I do not encourage it but have 800mm shot uploaded for you. Pushing this camera to 300mm with the Digital Zoom is a walk in the park and may save you time in cropping later in post processing. Anyone that has shot at extreme distances with a Nikkor 800mm f/5.6s IF-ED knows what I am talking about. Try carrying it all day and then setting up this 5kg plus lens, without the camera attached, fast and then manually focusing it for a shot that is time critical to capture the subject. Yes, the quality of the lens is awesome but last time I checked it was still well over 20 - 40 times as expensive as the P7000. Hand holding lenses in the 600-800mm is not that different from shooting ground hogs at 300-400 yards. It requires a steady hand and good breathing techniques. Nikon takes the pain out this by optically magnifying the 200mm lens which reduces the problem of camera shake dramatically. The picture angle of an 800mm lens is only 3 degrees so what Nikon has done with the P7000 makes sense. I like the Cannon G11 and G12. They are both good cameras and very similar. They take good pictures but they have no where near the flexibility of the P7000 for someone that that is or will take the time to learn how to use the functions built into the P7000. Some of the comments and comparisons about the two cameras are irrelevant to me in terms of taking real life pictures, especially the ones that require a long lens as is desirable for birding. Most menu settings are done prior to taking pictures based on the anticipated light, weather conditions, and activity or movement of the subject being captured. The adjustments needed to take pictures when shooting are readily available. The P7000 is made for catching candid shots when it is set up right for the task at hand. **** Note Insert ****** I seriously ticked off one of our readers when i mentioned the G11/G12. He thought it was confusing and not objective. While reviewing the P7000 here I felt the need to mention that the P7000 does have credible competition. Not only the Canon G12 but also the Panasonic Lumix LX5 which has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. When writing the above paragraph it also occurred to me that not everyone will want the learning curve to even notice some of the P7000 features that are important to me. They may not even want or need the additional features and the longer zoom lens on the P7000. Because of this I went through what I think about the two cameras in detail highlighting more than a few things about each of these cameras, and what each does best which is highly subjective. There is no one best fixed lens camera for every shooting situation. I like the extra sharp pictures the P7000 produces and think it is a great camera but it is not number one in every single category. ****** END ********* One of the cons I read here before buying the camera was that the zoom is not fast enough. The P7000 zoom and auto-focus are very quick in the optical zoom range. It is only when you get to the digital zoom range when it clicks incrementally that it slows down. Nikon is intentionally alerting you that you have left the optical zoom range because each click going forward will lessen the quality because lpm will decrease and the errors will be magnified by the digital zoom. Take a look at my hand held digital zoom shots using the Digital Zoom and judge for yourself but remember they were enhanced in post processing which will take a couple of minutes are more depending on your experience. Another con I read was the taking flash shots indoors. The P7000 wants a Nikon smart flash like the SB600 or SB900. Superior results on flash with the right flash attachment with this camera is very simple. The first thing I typically do with a point and shoot is turn the digital zoom off because my experience with zooms is that the overwhelming desire to get closer is more than most of us can resist. Nikon's digital zoom works fine if you are willing to take the time with post processing which the image will need if the subject is a small portion of the screen like the ones I took for testing the camera. The shot I posted is at 800mm is hand held and acceptable considering it was shot wide open at f/5.6 at about 1/100 second and ISO 400 intentionally to stress the camera along with others. Night shots are incredible with the P7000. Seriously good with no fiddling with settings. Anyone can take an excellent low available light picture with the P7000. The light has to be really low to even need a flash on the P7000 except for back lighted subjects. I took shots at up to 12800 by forcing the shutter speed up and or forcing the aperture to higher number and they look great. The lens and focus are plenty fast enough with VR to be pleasant but having the manual focus available for small objects is an option if or when you need it. The VR in the P7000 is excellent. Hand holding shot at f/2.5-3 stops works fine. Take at look at the night shot which taken at 1/6 second instead of 1/30th second which exceeds 3 stops hand held. The manual focus magnifies the center of the picture so when you see it in focus there you are good to go. The P7000 is a seriously remarkable camera in many respects at a very fair price. I would recommend it to anyone. Take time to read the manual. This camera has a lot of the same functions used by Nikon on their Digital SLRs. If you understand the functions and their settings you will have hours of fun with this camera and discover there are many ways to take a picture which is where the real fun is for me. This is like any other piece of equipment. You have to use it in a variety of situations to get the feel for how it performs when shooting. I found this camera is easier and faster to adjust than most. It does not take too long to get comfortable with the menus. Getting to the scene menu is not really hard but honestly not as fast and not really needed if you know what you are doing with the function settings available externally on the camera. You will not miss many shots with the P7000. The P7000 rocks in terms of picture quality for being a zoom lens! The zoom lens is not up to an 85mm f/1.4 fixed lens in resolving power, but that lens without the camera body is twice the price of this camera and lens. The reality is no one makes a zoom lens can Nikon's best 85mm f/1.4 ED manual focus lens. The P7000 lens produces better than necessary quality for most users. It produces shots that are definitely on a par with DSLR Lenses in the same price range as the P7000. This is one of the side benefits of the Nikon using the 1/1.7 sensor; we get affordable optics. I do not understand the obsession with shooting raw files as it is not really necessary for the bulk of most people's shooting. Yes raw files can be useful but not that often. The reality is that most people do not even need fine jpegs. When you are shooting with extreme situations or a once in a life time shot and you know it turn it on, but otherwise raw files just eat disk space and are not that necessary with today's processing software. Raw files do give us the ability to recover missing data from a miserable shot where something was wrong with the setup. The scene exceeds the camera's ability to handle the dynamic range leaving shadow detail out, or over exposing burns out the highlights of the jpeg. This is not an every day occurrence for most shots. This camera takes good pictures so why bother with raw unless you have situation where you need it. Nikon's 1.2 firmware update cuts write time roughly in half for raw file formats and improves save time for jpegs too so this is resolved now for those that feel they have to have raw files. The P7000 also offers accessories that are worth considering depending on how you will use the camera. One combination will give you a 21mm camera with no zoom which is exciting news for the wide range enthusiasts. The other is a wireless remote that is very inexpensive and worth every dime. Wireless remotes are very useful devices. Nikon's is fairly priced but others like Opteka's work as well. If you do not have any knowledge and do not care to know anything the P7000 will still give you great pictures, but knowing the options offers an assortment of creative options. When you receive your camera be sure to charge it - at longest an hour and half. While the battery charges register yourself and your camera at Nikon. Download the new 1.2 firmware for the P7000 with the instructions and the P7000 manual in a PDF format. Read the manual and play with the camera settings and you will discover a whole new world of fun in taking pictures if you are not a Nikon DSLR owner already. Nikon's new 1.2 firmware makes a major difference to the P7000 and also resolves the mechanical problem of the lens cover not closing 100 percent of the time. Do not be afraid to update the firmware in the P7000; read the instructions and follow then. It is easy for both Mac and PC users. Then have fun with this excellent camera!