guala's bulky camera!
351365
Been buying PANASONIC LUMIX cameras since 2005 or 2006, they've worked great for an all around basic camera, so I bought this for my mom (to replace her previous 2007 lumix version which was making super slow and making weird noises ),same brand, one that used the same memory and had the same type of commands she already knew form her previous camera.....The thing is, you'd think that as a model advances to a new one, everything should be improved!, not with this cam though, IT IS SUPER HEAVY AND BULKY! compared to many many out there, who, for the same price offer much more freedom of bulkyness!! the pictures are good, as LUMIX should be expected to, but my mom does not carry it around as much as she used to the past camera... you've guessed it,  because of the weight or it doesnt fit in her gowing-out-mini purses...next time i see this big of a discount on a camera.... ILL TRIPLE CHECK, OR I WONT BUY AGAIN!.. so disappointed....
1654577
I received the camera quickly from Amazon.com and I was impressed how the packaging was done from sony, tight, small, minimal.

I was able to play with this camera for a few days before I finally decided to return it though. The camera takes amazing macro shots up close to a variety of items. The zoom is ok for being 4x optical. I've never owned such a slim camera before, and I was impressed how the zoom didn't extend out of the body. Having the slide up/down cover was also nice for protecting the Carl Zeiss lense.

Probably my biggest negative issue with the camera is the touch screen. With other touch screen cameras having multi touch, and being responsive, I felt like I was using a touch screen from 5+ years ago. You had to press hard and where you wanted to touch. I was heavily dissapointed because of the cost of the camera, and how poor the touch screen sensitivity, and resolution was. You can literally see the gaps between each pixel, and it's to the point you cant even tell if you're last shot photo is sharp or not.

Another issue was the quality of the images. Sure they're 16.1MP, but they aren't the greatest. My old 7MP canon SD1000 took better photos at a smaller file size. A camera this expensive should atleast perform better.

For the specs of this camera, I'd look into Sony's other cameras. Let style and thinness slide by this time, get performance and quality in another camera instead.
1734607
I bought this camera 1 year ago. I thought that because it was Sony and was expensive, it would be a good camera. I also loved the sleek design and the large LCD touch screen. Although this camera isn't terrible, there are definitely better out there (and for less $!). I have a 1 year old and thanks to this camera I have missed out on some special moments. I've been surprised to find that pictures that look good on the LCD screen are in fact blurry, something you don't always notice until you upload them to your computer. Here are the good and bad things I've noticed with this camera over the last year.
Pros:
-Large, crisp LCD screen
-Pictures taken outdoors can come out beautifully!
-Battery charge lasts a decent amount of time
-Sleek, slim design is eye-catching takes up little room in your bag
-You can hook it up to your TV for a slide show (which you can add music  to by uploading the music to your camera)
-You can draw on your pics using the stylus and you can add 'stamps' to pics, too
-You can remove red eye and crop photos right there on the camera!

Cons:
-Although the touch screen was appealing at first, it's more of a pain. It gets so dirty, and the menu is ridiculous. You have to go through way too many options just to review your pics.
-The lens is in an awkward place...if you're used to holding your camera with two hands while you take a pic, it's very likely that one of your fingers is going to be in your picture!
-You must use SONY everything...not convenient if you happen to want or need a new battery.
-This camera uses memory stick pro duo rather than a plain old sd card...more $$$
-Pics taken in lighting that is not absolutely PERFECT will most likely come out burry or dark. The flash doesn't always know when to go off when in auto mode
-For some reason, I often can see dust in my pictures because the light from the flash reflects off of it somehow
-It takes a while to focus in order to get a clear pic, not good for someone trying to take pics of a busy toddler
-Shutter speed could be faster
-Face detection is hit or miss, and without it most pics of my son come out blurry
-Smile shutter was completely useless for me b/c it really only detects huge, cheesy smiles that you wouldn't want a picture of anyway

That's all I can think of. I just went today and purchased a Canon SD790IS and I hope I will be pleased with that camera. I would never buy a Sony camera again...it was way too expensive and the fancy features don't make up for the bad picture quality.
2288820
I have used many types of digital cameras. I bought this one for my trip to Africa. I have used it for three years. It zooms well but burns batteries too fast! Four batteries will be burned out in a 6-hour excursion even though I didn't leave it on all the time. Kodak is behind bit time in terms digital technologies!
3548617
My husband and I bought this camera just before a recent canyoneering trip to Monterrey, Mexico.  Our Olympus failed on the last trip (to be fair - it took quite a beating), so we thought we would get something with better photo/video quality that could still handle the harsh environment.  We were concerned about the size and shape of this camera, as it really is too big to slip into your shirt pocket (or any other pocket for that matter), but thought that the markedly better photo/video quality would make up for the bulkiness in lugging it around.  Plus, we have had very good experiences with Canon customer service in the past, and not so much with Olympus, so we thought we'd give the Canon waterproof camera a chance.  HUGE mistake!

The main problem that we have with this camera, is that the lens does NOT shed water.  It's not a problem if you have any possible way of drying the lens, but as an avid canyoneer - once you get into that wetsuit for a wet canyon, every dry item you have is stored in the dry bag or keg and not easily accessible until you're out of the canyon. We tried everything we could possibly think of to get the water off the lens -

 *dipping the camera in the water again and shaking it (works with most other waterproof cameras) - no go here
 *someone suggested wiping with a bandana (supposedly helps even when wet) - didn't work
 *wiping with fingers with and without neoprene gloves - it just spread the water around
 *Q-tips in a ziplock in the camera case - ziplock wasn't strong enough to keep out the water, plus it's extremely inconvenient anyway
 *licking the lens (laugh if you want, but we were desperate!) - helps a little, but in the end I decided the risk in unfamiliar water wasn't worth it

So, at the end of the spectacular water canyon (Matacanes) we have dreamed about going to for well over a year, at least 30-40% of our pictures were so blurred by the water spots, they weren't even worth keeping. Most of the others had blurry spots in them, but they were at least decent enough to preserve the memory.  I got to where I mostly shot video, as at least I didn't have to worry about the camera getting confused as to what it should focus on (I'm assuming that was part of the problem with the still shots and all of the water, but I don't know a lot about photography, I just enjoy it).  The videos are still fairly blurry, but they are better than not having anything.

So, all in all, this camera takes great photos/videos COMPLETELY OUT OF THE WATER, or COMPLETELY SUBMERGED IN THE WATER.  If you just want a waterproof camera because you are worried about splashing on it at the beach or pool, or the kids spilling koolaid on it (and you will always have a way to dry off the lens for pictures outside of the water) - then this camera would probably be a good fit for you.  I would also imagine it would be good for snorkeling or scuba diving.  However, if you are consistently in and out of the water and picture quality is important to you both in and out of the water - DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA!!!  You will be sorely disappointed!!  We will be sending ours back.

A few more things... some positives... I did like the way the camera has 4 points of attaching the hand loop. That can come in handy. I also like the idea of the accessory pack - the chest harness (we just thought it was extremely overpriced so we decided against it).  The camera did seem very durable and handled temperature change well without condensation underneath the lens (I was told this had to do with temp change, but maybe humidity as well?).  The battery/memory card compartment was a bit of a challenge to open as it had a very good, tight seal on it - this is a good thing.

Also fyi - the battery does not have an impressive life.  Ours died about 2/3 of the way through the canyon, after a full charge.  Our friends with Olympus and Pentax cameras lasted well beyond ours.

Thanks and good luck!!
1531140
Does not fit right and cannot use the camera! I returned it
1019761
An over qualified camera for the pictures that I take of landscapes but I love it!
4756015
I should really give this thing three stars because it has a lot of unnecessary bulk, and you are better off with an Amazon large DSLR gadget bag, which I have reviewed and love. Of you have one camera and a telephoto - and just want a throw-around case with more protection than a standard leather body-fit arrangement - then this is okay. But it doesn't offer the storage of the large DSLR gadget bag, in spite of being almost as big. I could see using this for a backup camera - maybe - but not as a primary camera case.
4054327
I do not like this. My camera doesn't fit. It's bulky. It's awkward. Putting it in back of my closet to never use while I search for another one.
2026895
I am a professional photographer and my almost 3 yr old daughter loves to pretend to take pictures like mommy so i knew she would love this camera! The design of the camera is very appealing because it looks like a "real" camera. It's built to be extremely kid friendly with it's chunky size and rubbery hand grips. My little girl loves the snapping sounds it makes when you take a picture and the fact that you can select funny animal faces and crazy cartoon heads to transform your photos. We had fun taking pics of eachother and turning each other into an elephant or a pirate! the reason I gave this product only 3 stars is because the picture quality seen on the camera screen is horrible! It looks dark, fuzzy and it's just hard to make out what the picture is!  Also, there is no USB cable included, which is required to transfer the photos to a computer. Lastly, I was a little disappointed that to make your picture have a silly animal face, you have to select one first, then compose your picture, lining it up to fit the image. This is a little advanced for a 3 year old. The recommended age range is 3-7 and for the younger kids, I'd say this camera is fine but for older kids who are really interested in photography, this product probably isn't for them. Overall though, it's still really cute and fun. The fact that I got such a good deal on it on Amazon compared to some other sites definately makes this camera a good buy! My daughter loves it and I would buy it again.
2424481
It works as advertised and the quality is pretty decent (720p) - night vision is really good. The software (you need to download it) is easy to use and works. BUT, this camera is huge! I expected the camera to be about the size of a toilet paper tube. This thing is about as round as a Pringles can.
1375321
Okay, I didn't read the description.  I got it in my mind that this thing was smaller.  I had planned to keep it in my camera bag.  It works great, but it isn't practical for keeping in your bag, unless you want to leave one of your lenses at home.

I LOL'd when I saw it in person....it's comically large.
4736032
We were half way to Washington D.C. for our family vacation when we realized that someone forgot the camera.  So we stopped in at the first Walmart we saw and did some quick comparisons and made a purchase of the Kodak M380.  It had a good feature set, including 10 Mpixels and a 5x optical zoom.

I took a few pictures with it to make sure it was OK and then put in a 4GB SD card.  When I then powered it up, it locked up and made a soft buzzing sound.  The only way I could get it working again was to pop out the battery and put it back in.  (I've used the SD card before, in another camera (the one left behind), so I know the SD card is OK.) I thought maybe this was a one-time glitch, so I kept the camera.  After half a day taking pictures in D.C., it happened again.  And then at night, when the card was almost full, the camera again stopped responding, this time with a slightly different lock-up.

Even if it was the SD card, the camera should be able to protect itself against a bad card.  Looks like I'll be stopping by that Walmart in the way home....
4644849
I love the camera, but I thought I should point out that this camera takes a full size SD card and not the micro card it's being advertised with on Amazon.
4850934
We purchased this from Costco because of the advertised low light performance with the F 2.0 lens.  The camera takes sub standard pictures.  The white balance and focus are very unstable when in auto modes. I have taken several pictures of the same event within about a 20 second time frame and the white balance is all over the place.  Keeps going into and out of focus during filming my very stationary 6 month old daughter.  If you will never enlarge a picture greater than 4" bu 6" this camera will be great for you.  I have been photographing digitally since 2002 and have owned three canon digitals prior to this one, I currently own a digital SLR and bought this one because it had HD video to film the little ones and my wife needed a small one she can carry around.  I generally highly recommend canon cameras and have been a repeat buyer of canons since 2003, maybe we just got a lemon, thank heavens for the Costco return policy!!
2203533
If anything in your shot is moving, this camera takes nothing but blurry pictures no matter what settings you may use.  Buyer beware!  This camera stinks!
2724202
Had a previous Stealth Cam that worked great.  When it died I purchased this model.  The trigger on this camera is very slow.  I get lots of pictures of nothing.  Might work great if I was photographing snails.  I purchased an external battery to go with it which I really like.  Don't like the idea of using disposable batteries that just go in the landfill.  So now I need to find a camera that has the same battery port.
Also the sd card is difficult to take out.