Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8

Excellent – I have this camera for a few years, and that was one of the best purchases I did. Looking through my photographs lately, I realized that I manage to make more than 20,0000 photographs with this camera! There is no need for copier any more, if I like something in the magazines, or books, just take a photo, it is easy to read it on the computer! This was my first contact with digital photography and I manage to "get it" immediately!

It is light, and fits in my medium size bag, and I carry it most of the time.

For this size camera, optical zoom is fantastic. Digital zoom needs tripod if you want perfect photo.

Good – Generally very happy with the camera. Easy to use and very few dud shots. Better than some other digital cameras I have used Great pictures and image stabilization. Reasonable size and weight and good battery life.Burst option good for people/group pictures A little slow on shutter release although better than my FZ20. A little noise under some circumstances

Good – Great camera. I am happy with my purchase and would recommend to others. Particularly now as it is so cheap. I would also consider the Canon IS5 as a very good alternative. Great pics. Good optical image stabilisation. I used this when I went on safari and the quality of pics were excellent - particularly as there was lots of light. That said, I did use a tripod for the excellent quality. Excellent zoom lens on this baby! It is quite big, so not really a point and shoot or good if you are doing any adventure stuff. I found taking family snaps of my little one difficult, as he would move and the shutter speed seemed to slow and I would find his arm blurry as it was moving. Also does not have face recognition which seems to be the thing to have with cameras of this ilk.