Very satisfied

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great video, good stills, super small, fits all my needs

Cons: manual controls are not practical, user's manual is TOO simple

The Bottom Line: 
It represents the latest technology very well, and at a reasonable price. I would not trade for any another model.

Author's Review
The other reviews seem very comprehensive, so I will try to add only what they left out.

The basic controls are intuitive and easy to understand. But as soon as you try to do something as tricky as a video transfer you need the manual to see which default to change to make it work. The manual is very easy to understand.

If you're good with your pinky finger the touch screen works well. I got used to it very quickly and now prefer it to an excessive amount of buttons. However, it is difficult to hold the camera steady while operating the manual focus and manual exposure on the screen. The engineers must have assumed that no one really uses these.

The image stabilizer is great. Turn it off once and you'll think you're coming down with Parkinsons. Using the 10X zoom without it is a big mistake.

I was worried that 10X was not enough because some other cameras have more. But it has proved more than sufficient for my uses (tourist and family stuff). You can limit the amount of digital zoom in the setup screen and there is an indicator to let you know when you go from optical to digital zoom. This is a nice touch. The zoom button is sensitive, but it can be smooth once you get used to it.

The included video editing software is a lot of fun. The help function is easy to understand but lacks any technical description whatsoever. For example, there are about 20 different video formats that you can copy a movie into. I want the best resolution at a reasonable file size. The only way to compare the formats is to convert your file to each one, watch the video and then look at the file size. Very time consuming.

The default resolution for downloads using the USB cable (supplied) is 320x240. This is good but not great. If you want better you have to use software interpolation (i.e. not true resolution). But at >4meg per minute, 320x240 is the biggest I would use for short emailable clips.

I had hoped to make CD copies of all my videos. But the video loss when downloading to a computer at 320x240 makes this unuseful. The FireWire cable (not included) may be the solution. Again the user's manual offers no technical information here.

I am very happy with the stills. Be aware that the max resolution is 1152x864 in the camera mode, but if you try to snap pictures while recording video you only get 640x480. I don't think this is mentioned in the manual either.

I never even charged the tiny battery that came with the camera. I bought the 8 hour battery and I use only it. It doesn't last anywhere near 8 hours of shooting time but it's more than enough for a full day of tourist-type shooting.

Overall I am very pleased with the camera. It took me a while to get used to it and to adjust my expectations to meet reality, but I haven't seen any other model that I would rather have.

Note: If you already have a good Hi-8 camera but you want to upgrade to digital, consider an analog-to-digital device for your computer. For less than $100 you can get a USB device that will digitize any video signals for email or any other purpose. The difference in quality may not be worth the difference in price.