Superb picture quality and detail
Ease of use
Flexible, easy to operate zoom
Tough
Battery life good, and easy to find anywhere (AA)
Nice controls
Pocket size
Decent view finder
Durable latch for lanyard
SD card memory

Needs a few seconds to auto-focus
Always could use more zoom
No sound on movie mode
Flash is good for no more than about ten feet in low light/darkness

For several years now, I have beat the crap out of this camera, dropped it five feet onto a concrete sidewalk, took it snowmobiling dozens and dozens of times, many times in below zero conditions. Except for a few times when the shutter needed a flick of a finger to release, probably due to frozen water, this camera has amazed me and many of the people I showed its luscious and detailed pictures to. One handed operation is simple.

The AA battery life is good to great (but does dwindle in the extreme cold), and the controls are very easy to manage and work well, with a decent macro setting for flowers. Colours are perfect, true to life, vivid, and except for some reds (reddish/orangey velvety roses), which sometimes appear to be a tiny bit washed out, the detail and range of focus is superb, as long as you allow the camera enough time to auto-focus. Quality of pictures taken in low lighting is marginal, like at a kids choir concert. I have yet to see any camera that works well in those conditions, though.

Customer Service

Hasn't needed any, for this price, if you can still find one, one of the best cameras I've seen.

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Casio Exilim ex z60
Sony w80
Olympus 2100 UZ

film cameras

The greatest features for my personal preference are the macro mode, the starry night mode which can really catch the stars or light up a night scene like day, and the 3.5 second time frame from when you flick it on to the time the photo is focused fairly accurately, taken, and ready for the next. The macro mode, which can focus way closer than a human eye could think of, around 1 inch away from the lens, is amazing for taking pictures of small items such as flowers and textures of rocks and anything you need to get up close and personal with. This is also a very rugged camera. I rock climb a lot and its taken some pretty nasty falls and been bumped onto so many hard surfaces, yet despite the scratches and bruises its always worked like new. I've pointed it straight at a California mid-summer and mid-day sun and it made it look a 100watt bulb as well. The rotating mode selector on the top makes it easy to switch around the more popular modes. The 3X optical zoom is the same for most at price, but with the 4.5X extended optical zoom on mid to lower resolutions it can get even closer. Another couple of cool features, one, tied in with the O.I.S gyro is when you take a picture with the camera rotated 90 degrees from level, is the photo in the review is right side up at level. The colors can be set to vivid, natural, standard and even black and white and sepia like old time photos to give it an extra edge when making professional-like photos ready out of the camera.

The only things I don't like about the camera is the lower ISO ability, the lack of any audio with the fairly good video capture, and not having a manual focus mode. But the focus isn't designed for that really. If you're looking for perfection, this isn't it. However, it will out perform and out shoot most of the cameras of other brands I've tried, even up to $250.

This camera is very, very good for the money. The sheer amount of scene modes that are designed specifically for each named setting is wonderful. It's even got a 'Food' mode. All come out with amazing quality, I've tested this one on every level possible with my photography and it's never failed to take the perfect shot. The macro can get very close and the point and shoot time is immaculate. The color and depth of the photos with this are like what you see in National Geographic. A perfect camera for a first time user or a good sidekick for the more professional photographers and cameras. It can be connected to printers capable of photo printing directly from cameras as well. The flash is versatile and can light up a good 20 feet but also tone down the intensity for closer shots. And they come out clear and not too bright even in the pitch black, mostly.

Similar Products Used:

I also currently own a Nikon Coolpix S550, and have had a Kodak EasyShare M1033 and Sony Cybershot DSCW120. Also some lower end cameras but not relevant to this particular one. Even though the others have better zooms (Nikon 5X and Sony 4X) and/or higher resolutions (8-10MP), I still prefer to use the Panasonic wherever I go. The pictures are much clearer, the colors are deeper and more natural and its much more versatile and quick to learn. I will most definitely be sticking with the good quality I've come across with Panasonic products.