I was holding out for a Digital SLR, but this camera changed my mind

Author's Rating:

Pros: It combines the best of D-SLR and Advanced Digital Cameras.

Cons: It takes a little study time to fully understand all the advanced features.

The Bottom Line: 
Buy this camera if you are a serious enthusiast of digital or film photography. It's great.

Author's Review
This is a great camera for me. I mainly use a camera for: outdoor landscape photography, some macro photos, some people shots and occasionally some product photos for clients. I have been using the camera for a few weeks and it meets my needs for these situations (and more) quite well. I like to enlarge the photos to 12X18 or 8X10 on my photo printer.

I was holding out for a digital SLR so I could buy different lenses. However with my regular SLR, I found myself using only a 28-200 lense for everything. It suits me fine for just about all the things I want to do. If you are someone that may need a longer telephoto over 200, you may need an SLR. Or if you need a wider than 28MM lens, you may need an SLR. But other than that, this 28-200 lens handles most situations.

The one thing I didn't like about the D-SLR's is that I was forced to use the regular glass viewfinder to compose the photos. The LCD screens were only for post-shot review. I really like the idea of the LCD 'live' viewfinder. And this camera has it, and has options to increase/decrease the brightness too. It also has a small standard eyecup viewfinder like you would find in an SLR, but there is another LCD screen in there. This is great in bright daylight -- making it very easy to see. AND>>> the camera has a swiveling ability so you can move the LCD screen to the angle you need, like looking down when the camera is above your head, or looking up when the camera is below.

A couple of other features that I like are the Auto Exposure lock and the movable auto focus range. The AE lock allows me to set the exposure for a particular subject, and then move the subject. For example, when I want palm trees sillhouetted against a sunset, I expose for the sunset properly. Then I shift the camera to the palm trees. This creates dark palm trees and a great effect. This is usually more complicated in other cameras. Also, the movable auto focus allows me to choose where in the frame I want to have in focus. This is very useful when you want sharp subjects and out of focus backgrounds.

The bottom line for me was that the camera had many of the advanced features I needed from a D-SLR, and many of the advanced features I needed from a Advanced Digital. All combined into one camera that will satisfy my needs for some time.

The camera is also simple enough for me to hand to my wife so she can just push the button and go -- with none of the too-commonly found lag time. The colors come out great and I can now print 12X18's for my wall with great results.