C. H. Greene
I do professional photography for a living but wanted a small pocket camera for hiking/traveling/walking and quick things around the house without dragging out a bunch of equipment. It fits in a pocket perfectly! I dont know about you but if I take my pro gear out on a walking, I never actually get any exercise, I just stand around taking photos in one or two spots the whole time. Lol. So — my view on this is its not as good as previous point-n-shoots Ive had. They used to be heavier, more sturdy, better made and less expensive. This one is lighter, tad flimsy, pricier than Im used to (for the low quality) and not as good made. Comes with a rechargeable battery which is nice but I dont love it enough to buy a backup, although it does last a very long time, charged it for the first time after 2 months of use which is about 10mins every 3 days or so. Quality is so-so and many of the basic features and settings Im used to on most other point-n-shoots are not on this camera or very limited. An amateur can take good shots with it but only if you have the patience on the focusing. It can take a long time for it to focus on what you are trying for. For example, say you are trying to get a butterfly on a flower, it may continuously want to focus on the ground rather than the flower/butterfly area (see photo of what I mean or looks like Amazon isnt allowing all my photos so not sure if you can see it). It does AMAZING macro shots most of the time though, it automatically focuses them (best without flash on) but other shots farther away or if trying to do something quick not as great, so give it time to focus. Not the worse quality shots ever but not best either. A tiny bit muddy/painted look if you zoom into the images at 100% (see photo of 100%). The video (one attached) is decent, actually does better than photo stills. It also does not turn off ALL sounds. The settings allow you to turn off many sounds but it keeps the shutter sound, beeps when focusing and there is no way to turn it off. Personally, I dont like the sounds. If I had to choose a pocket camera for hiking and traveling again, I would save a little more and not get this one. If I only wanted to take quick macros inside for products etc, this is the camera to have. Ive attached 19 photos and 1 video straight from this camera without Ps edits. ~Happy Shooting~