Bought this camera for my husband for his birthday. I figured, i can't afford to go all out and buy him one that has all the bells and whistles, so i'll get him this one and hope he likes it. Well, he LOVED it! Raves about the quality of the pictures it takes! We just purchased our second one for our daughter who is turning 16 in a few days. She's excited because it has a fixed lens and she can take it into the arena to the One Direction concert, lol !!! Would i recommend this camera to a friend? YES!!!!!
I don't know much about cameras so I was looking for something easy to figure out for pictures around home etc. The manual is written as if you already know what you are doing, but, I did figure out the menu and even filmed a video & posted it on facebook after experimenting for awhile. The pictures turned out good and the video was also good, I was surprised how good the sound was.
This camera is great! It has all sorts of settings, like outdoor and indoor picture taking modes, panoramic option, and many other things I am still getting used to. The zoom is awesome, I have been taking pictures of birds and getting really great quality photos. The only thing I have a hard time with is the battery life, which I was already aware of before I bought the camera based on other reviews. What I've been doing when I take my camera with me is I'll take a couple photos, turn the camera off, then turn it back on to take another photo or two later on. It works better than to leave it on in between shots. I've taken about 20 pictures on this current charge and I've only lost one bar, compared to taking continuous shots you'll only get about 10 pictures per charge.\nI definitely recommend this camera to any casual photo takers because of the quality of photos, durability of the camera and the wide array of settings.
I'VE PURCHASED OTHER CAMERAS BEFORE MOSTLY THE MORE POPULAR\/EXPENSIVE ONES AND THEY DON'T MEET MY EXPECTATIONS. THIS CAMERA IS GREAT FOR EVERYONE YOUNG AND OLDER FOLKS IT'S EASY TO OPERATE IT HAS LOTS OF COOL OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM SO YOUR PICTURES COME OUT GREAT, AND MOST OF ALL IT'S PRICE IS A REAL BARGAIN! MY FRIEND BOUGHT THIS CAMERA BEFORE I DID AND I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT SO I HAD TO GET MY OWN, IT TAKES AWSOME PICTURES, THE ZOOM IS INCREDIBLE BETTER THAN MY COOLPIX CAMERA AND IT VIDEO RECORDS SO SHARP I LOVE IT. TOO BAD IT DOSEN'T HAVE A CHARGER IT USES BATTERIES THAT'S THE ONLY DOWN SIDE.
I find this camera quite fascinating. First the price, considering the body and lens only it is already a bargain. The zoom is quite impressive (tripod required, a cheap bower does it perfectly), I have taken shots of the moon and the city skyline as good as any pro. So many interesting features. Love the manual white balance, the full HD video (get a cable from ebay for a couple of bucks so you can plug it to your HDTV) and the high speed vga video, that\u2019s lots of fun (also get a LEDs video lamp from amazon and your night videos will rock, just like $15). High speed shots work like a charm, the macro is really good and sharp. The mini electronic viewfinder is quite useful during the day and when you don\u2019t want others to see the photos that you have taken). 30 seconds maximum exposure is quite a lot but you will see hot pixels beyond 10 seconds. The battery life is quite good and charging time acceptable.\nNow what I dislike: I find the photos over softened (when you see them full size). It does not have manual focus so focusing to infinity under low light is a challenge. The camera resets the zoom after some seconds while reviewing the photos already taken so you will have to zoom it in again. Use ISO 100 or 200, more than that and your photos will degrade drastically. It only saves the photos in JPEG (RAW should be there). The lens doesn\u2019t accept threaded filters (but use your imagination, I have already two nice filters IR and CPL that work wonderfully).\nIn few words: It is not a pro camera but if you know a little bit about photography and have a big imagination, you can do wonders.\nNote: keep visiting the GE website for firmware updates they keep working on it.