Отзывы о Цифровой Фотоаппарат Canon PowerShot SX210 IS

We own older Canons and the advancement is remarkable. Could not find this one at the stores any more. Highly satisfied.

Great camera!. I took a nice photos on my vacations and I enjoy it always with my family. The camera coming with a good package and everything ok. Excelent zoom and resolution!

yes this an excellent p&s digital camera. i love this camera beacuse i learned a lot from this. it influenced me to buy a dslr/slt camera(i bought sony a55). it gave me an idea what dslr is. i bought this because for its zoom capability. 14x zoom extended up to 56x and its image quality. the reason i rated this a four star is because of it's low light capability. the camera can get confused in an artificial lights. i use flash when it happen, so its not a big deal for me. the build quality is very good. dslr has a better image quality but it will not always with you unlike this camera you can bring this anytime and every where you want to go. i like the fish-eye mode too. there is a lot of future of this camera that is fun to use...you can use this in a fast action too...i brought this in a concert and it did a good job. i took i videos and photos at about 100 meters away from us. even at night it performed well. i really appreciated those good reviewers that help me to buy this camera and my new slt a55. thank you to all of you..

I bought this camera after going on a camping trip with some friends who had this camera. She had just purchased it and was "playing" around with it all weekend. I didn't use it personally, but she raved about how much she liked it. 3 weeks before taking my son to Disneyland for the first time, my orginal camera came up missing. After turning the house upside down for a week, I decided that my camera was gone and needed to purchase a new one before our trip. After a few days of reading endless reviews, I settled on this camera and I couldn't be happier!First of all, I got the camera about 3 days before we left for our trip, so I didn't have much time to learn how to use it. That said, for a low tech. person such as myself, I found the camera very easy to use and was pleased with the many different shooting options. The zoom is the best feature by far. I was able to zoom in on my son's face as he watched the parade or I could set it to autoshoot and take several pictures in a row as he went around on the carousel or other circular rides. Some of the pics came out blurry in this setting but there was always one good "keeper"! Other things worth noting are the stabilized zoom (very nice), the large LCD screen, and how compact it is! Although I wouldn't suggest carrying it in your pocket, it is slim enough to do so in a pinch. And has the zoom capabilities of much more expensive and bulky cameras.Overall, I love this camera! I hope to use it for many years to come!

Best digital camera on the market. Great zoom and high quality photos. Easy to use and upload. Very high quality.

In my search for portability, I choose this camera over the Nikon coolpix 8100.To me, the canon sx210 edged the nikon just because the manual shooting mode.I own a DSLR and 2 prosumer camcorders, I also still own the canon S80 point and shoot, wich is an old model and I wanted an update in canon technology with the sx210. Recently I took this camera on a cruise ship, ( left my DSLR at home,did not want to hang a big chunk of camera on my neck) and this camera helped me do a pretty good job documenting my vacations with pics and videos. First of all I hated the zoom lever right away, is too small and flimsy it takes some use to it, the whole build of the camera feels flimsy, is plastic and very light in weight you have to be very delicate in the handling of this camera. The S80 feels more like a camera in every aspect.In the photo side of the house, color acrracy, exposure, metering, focus speed I found it exellent. The image stabilization works well with the large zoom, of course the more stable your the better your long distance shots are gonna come out.I found myself using the presets when I didn't have time to tweak, it worked out fine and i never lost the spur of the moment in any shots. In treaky situations manual mode is the way to go, if you use a DSLR before you'll feel right at home with this camera's manual mode. Also anybody with no experience with cameras can shoot very good pics in auto or easy modes in most shooting enviroments. The flash also works fine and you can increase or decrease the intensity, combine that with manual ISO, aperture and shutter speed and you will have perfect pics all the time.In the video side of the house. In broad daylight you will get a beautiful 720p High def video (mov file format) but guess what; in low light is a different story, the camera manages to mantain color acurracy and brightness but the noise plague is inevitable. In mid to low light the white balance is a little slow adjusting, but of course you have white balance presets to overcome that. Also in low light the focus starts hunting(all cameras do in low light)and some time is really hard to get it back, so I quickly switch to manual focus, avoid zooming and ohh! what a difference that made. That's a general rule to shoot in low light for any camera not just the canon sx210, you have to know your camera well to get the best out of it.I wanted portability and a little better quality of pics and vids than a smartphone. My overall experience with this camera has been very good so far. I did not expected DSLR nor prosumer camcorder performance but this camera can mimic such feats in a small tiny package.

Hi. I think this is a great camera and am glad I bought it. Got it on Black Friday 2010 on Amazon for $200, which was a heck of a deal.If you are looking to make a decision, here are some observations that may be helpful.I have been a photo enthusiast for 20 years. My main camera is a Nikon D40 with lenses ranging from 17 - 200mm. Have owned Canon compacts for over 10 years.The camera design has one interesting design aspect. The flash always wants to pop open and it's a smidge awkward to hold, but I am getting used to it. On the other hand, pushing it back down is a positive switch when you know you don't want the flash.The 28mm is wide enough for me. The magic is on the long end. Most cameras go to maybe 135mm. 400 is a huge difference. With the digital zoom on top of that, it's around 800mm which is ridiculous. I hike and camp a lot, so the 28mm is good for sunsets, etc. On the long end, I can get shots of shy birds, or shots of things I want to remember but don't want to get so close to - like bears and cougars. True story.This is marketed by Canon at a semi-advanced user, and one does get shutter, aperature, and full manual controls if you want to use them. Program mode works very well. Put it in Auto mode and hand it to someone to take pictures of you when you are out and about.I set mine to "Vivid" just because I like the saturated look.Probably the best feature is the command dial on the back. You can fine tune the exposure on the fly up and down by two stops if you are taking a picture of a high contrast situation and the meter doesn't give you what you are looking for. That's critical to me.Having the capability to take video up to HD quality is a bonus. Low light photography is also quite good.It can also overlay a composition grid and do a quick zoom on the focus area to ensure what you want is in focus.It's not a 'party camera' you can slide in your pocket like the SD1400. This thing has a BIG lens barrel.This is a 'travel' camera. It's not big by any stretch, but pocketable in a jacket. Very good picture quality with a long lens.So in the final analysis, I love my Nikon D40 and use it a lot when I am feeling artistic or have a special occasion and want to carry it around. This camera is fantastically capable, and I keep it with me all the time. Canon will eventually redesign the flash location. It's not a deal breaker for me, though some reviewers have a strong opinion on that one.It's not a DSLR in terms of image quality or speed. But it's 90% of what I could ask for as a hobbyist. This could replace my D40 if I didn't just enjoy using a DSLR.All in all, it's a great camera. I am glad I bought it, would buy it again, and would recommend to a friend.Cheers,R

This is not the smallest or lightest pocket camera you will find, but it has a couple of features that make it stand out from the rest, especially for traveling. First: the zoom. It's a 14x optical zoom. Not a 3x optical plus a useless "digital" multiplier. It's going to be tough to hold it steady enough at 14x to get sharp photos in all but the brightest conditions, but that's why they make tripods. With this lens you can zoom in on high-up building details or that strange bird across the marsh. I also use it to get photos of far-off signs I want to read. The other feature - and one I rarely see on cameras in this category - is a Manual setting for aperture and exposure. I admit that under normal conditions I usually leave it on P, or Av or Tv. But once in a while I want to do something the camera doesn't recommend and blur out running water or get a smaller depth of field or something like that. The M setting is why I bought this camera.I just got back from a trip to Yosemite and I was really happy with the shots I made with it. There is a bit more noise than with my DSLR but nothing terrible. Obviously, this won't replace a high-quality SLR under all conditions, but sometimes you really don't want the bulk. I haven't really used it with the flash but I assume it's about as useless as on most P&S cameras.I'm giving it five stars because of how well it works for me. But I do want to mention two little downsides: First, there's no viewfinder so for composing you have to use the screen. In bright light, this suffers the usual visibility problems. Second, the battery life is not very good. If you do a lot of in-camera review and deletions, the battery may not even last for one full day of shooting. I bought two extra (Canon brand) batteries and go out with at least one fully-charged spare on me. I have had to use my spare. Fortunately, the charger is fairly compact and easy to pack, so with a little organization you can easily charge up overnight and stay on top of batteries on a trip.

Hi. Thank you very much for such products. I am very pleased with this purchase :) It is very practical and very efficient. Thank you very much.

This is a great gift not expensive, very good brand and reliable. Canon is a great product cant complain. Enjoy it!

I don't understand the positive reviews for this camera. I hate it with a passion. I bought it as a compromise between my old clunky Olympus 12x zoom and my compact Canon Powershot 4x zoom, both of which had started to malfunction. I thought this camera would have it all - great pictures, powerful zoom, in a compact body. I was wrong. This camera is slow, SLOW, S-L-O-W!!! Takes too long to focus, terrible shutter lag so that you often miss the shot by the time the camera takes the photo. Also takes much too long in between shots. Its "burst" mode is laughable, don't even bother - .5 frames per second!!! To get anything resembling a decent burst mode (such as when you want to capture action shots during your kids' soccer games), you need to lower the image resolution to capture more than half a shot per second, so much so that the pictures end up not being usable. Not a good camera if you want to take photos of your kids - most of the time, you'll miss the shot. Photo quality is nothing special. Performance in low light is poor. I've put this camera away and don't even use it anymore, I hate it so much.

I bought one of these to replace my Canon A720is that SOMEONE in my house managed to ruin by putting a deep ol scratch dead center on the lens. (No one has fessed up yet either....)Part of me is glad that happened though as I now own a camera that I love and enjoy ten times more than my previous a720.This camera is simply amazing. Easy to use, has TONS of features and manual settings for the guys that like to take more control, and the pictures are outstanding. The quality of pictures I am getting over my a720is is incredible. I am getting a much sharper, clearer, and more colorful picture and I thought what I was seeing before was nice with that a720...This camera has a plethora of fun settings, smile detection, wink detection, blink detection, redeye removal and prevention, an amazing zoom length (14x OPTICAL!)and it's no slouch on the macros either. I also love that this camera not only tells you what setting you have chosen on screen, but it also explains WHAT THE FEATURE DOES FOR YOU! My wife, who knows ZIP about photography, is now taking better pictures than ever before and is beginning to understand what changing the settings will do for her. Very nice touch by Canon...I researched the daylights out of this camera and I couldn't find a negative professional review. I read a LOT of them too. If your budget is around three hundred dollars look no further.Oh, someone else here wrote a review and commented that the camera zooms very slowly. This is NOT true. Had he read the manual he would have discovered that pushing the zoom button a little harder makes the speed increase. You can almost snap zoom in on a subject if you want to. I LOVE how Canon designed the zoom because you can crawl or run while zooming in...it's your call.EDIT:I just got home after using this gem to shoot my daughters softball game. Let me tell you, it's so nice to sit in the stands and get a close up of her on second base! The 14x zoom is still surprising me! Last year when shooting pictures using my a720is I always had to get as close as possible to get a decent shot and that camera has a 6x optical zoom. The day was cold and cloudy yet every picture and video I shot looked fantastic.The video is what prompted me to edit this review a little. I set it to record in HD and shot her at bat and while running the bases. You can still zoom in and out while shooting video which is another plus I discovered by the way. When I got home I was amazed at the quality of the video it took! It even looks better than what my full blown, mid range Sony handy cam produces! I can't believe I am getting video this clear, colorful, and sharp from a pocket sized camera. I installed an 8 gig, class 6 HC SD card in the camera and still had a TON of room left. Granted I didn't shoot a lot of video that day but I know I can fit a decent amount on there if needed. You can also step down the quality to also not take up so much space.Anyway, just buy this camera. It packs a punch in every category and is easy to use.Oh, the 8g HC SD class 6 card I bought was from Transcend. It has worked flawlessly and is very, very fast. I purchased it here at Amazon for around 20 bucks. I also have a 4 gig card that's the same brand and it's worked great as well.

I have enjoyed using my camera for several years! I know I still have not used all of the features! It takes great close ups as well as telephoto shots! Good movies also! I would recommend to all novice camera users!

I'm not a photo techy. I don't do aperture and focal length and all of that jargon. I'm a mom who wants good quality memories of my family. What I was looking for in a camera:* Works with my 4 GB Eye-Fi card (my 3 year-old one did not)* Could fit in a shirt pocket or purse* Good battery life* Good quality photos in the auto settings* Quality photos when zoomed in* Fast recovery time between shots (kids move so fast I was always missing shots)* Ability to zoom in and refocus when shooting videoThis camera delivers all of that and more. I learned about this camera from the Eye-Fi site of compatible cameras so waited until there were some reviews of it. I was greatly encouraged that so many photo buffs bought this camera as their point and shoot option when they didn't want to lug around their SLRs. They obviously are going to be more particular than I on the photo quality and the fact that so many found the quality close to the quality of their SLRs was good enough for me.Was a little concerned about the flash placement but turns out not to be an issue. The flash opens fine if you have to have your finger there and I have quickly learned to turn the camera on one-handed, which is easy to do because of its size. No problem with stabilizing the camera either. You can take crisp shots one-handed in normal photo taking circumstances, indoors and out.I've had it two weeks now and the battery is about 3/4. I've only taken about 30 shots so far but at least it doesn't drain just sitting around.I think the photo quality when zoomed is fabulous! I took one across the room and I can see the texture of the wall in it. I uploaded here a couple of shots at 14x zoom through a dirty window and they are gorgeous. One was while the wind spinner was in motion and it looks just like it was still when the photo was shot. Though I did change the setting for that one to continuous action on the Kids & Pets setting. Looks like that setting shuts off the 2 second review photo. In that mode I can take a shot again as soon as I can think of it so should be great with my kids, maybe 2 seconds between shots. I did take shots using the digital zoom (56x digital zoom) and those were blurry but that was with me holding the camera. Would probably work on a tripod.The video works great and I love that I can zoom in and pan and it refocuses automatically. My old camera didn't do that. If you wanted to zoom, you had to stop, zoom and then restart. This one also doesn't seem to pick up the sound of my breathing in the video which my old one often did. The whole HD thing isn't something I can speak to. I want to be able to shoot video clips. I play them back on my computer not my TV. They are for me and the grandparents.The smile detection seemed like fun and worked pretty well. Haven't tried the wink thing yet. I'm not getting any shadow like one reviewer said but honestly haven't been using the flash much. It takes great shots inside in lower light and when I have used the flash I'm finding I'm not getting that flash overexposure you often get. Photos just look properly lit. And my son, who always seems to have red eye in flash photos didn't in the photos I took of him with flash indoors at night.I am really pleased with this camera. If you want a good point and shoot, this is an excellent choice in my opinion.

Initial impressions after one month of ownership.This camera was purchased to replace an SLR film camera which required manual adjustments of zoom, shutter speed and apeture settings with a fast 1.2 50 mm lense and a 2.8 200 mm lense.One of the most difficult aspects to overcome for me was the requirement to look at a screen rather than through the lens at the image being shot. I found this difficult for two reasons. The first reason is that the level of detail on the screen is just not as good as the image through the lens. The second reason has to do with factors such as glare, brightness and contrast, and a slight amount of far sightedness making it somewhat difficult to adjust focus from a distant object to the screened image. However, I found that with a little patience and practice the images shot with the new Cannon SX210IS came out well centered and the autofocus did a credible job of obtaining details. This is no doubt due to the great combination of the zoom and the 14.1 MP images. The patience and practice came in handy during my grandson's soccer games, trips to playgounds when photos of both grandkids were taken and during the Thanksgiving holidays when friends and family dropped by. One slightly negative note regarding the flash capacity at ten or more feet should not be considered a deterrent to purchase of this camera; but, should be a factor to consider when preparing to take a shot. I know from research and reading that there are ways to overcome some of the lighting issues with settings internal to the camera. However, I have not taken the time to reset them and experiment with them yet.This camera was also used to take video shots of a few moments duration and the imaging was very nice and stutter free. The microphone is a little on the tinny sounding side in my opinion and not quite as good as a purpose built video camera. However, for a small format camera that easily fits in your shirt pocket it is much less cumbersome and less intrusive as was noted during my granddaughter's Thanksgiving recital.In addition to the camera, I procured a very nice 16 GB class 10 sdhc memory card good for hours of video or hundreds of photos. I highly recommend this size card and the class 10 speed to make the most of the camera's capabilities. I also purchased an extra canon OEM battery which I have not even needed to use as the battery life of this camera has been very nice.I have had photos processed at local photo kiosks on up to 8 by 10 sizes and used similar and smaller sized printed photos on our home printer and been very happy with the output.

Just returned from a 10 day trip overseas and purchased the SX210 as my video camera/still camera for the trip.The trip was sightseeing outdoors, and the camera excels at photography in daylight. The images are beyond compare. I connected the camera to my 32" Panasonic Viera HD TV with an HDMI cable and stills look like you are there. Color and sharpness is outstanding.There are a few tricks I learned to getting good results from the camera:1) You must make sure you are focusing on the right thing. If you are shooting a photo of a person standing in front of the Grand Canyon, make sure the auto-focus focuses on the person's face and not a rock that's 5 miles away. You do this by centering the person in your picture and pushing the shutter button half way down. You will see the little focus target box in the viewfinder on your subjects face. Then compose the shot the way you want it to look.2) Flash is amazingly good for a little camera, at least compared to the other 4 digital camera's I've owned. I always use the flash for fill when taking pictures of people outdoors, and find the pop-up flash very useful. Here's why: I have the camera set for "always use flash," but the flash is disabled when you close the pop up flash. Now I don't have to navigate through menu's to turn the flash on and off. This is especially useful if you're looking for a dramatic effect by using existing light in dim or night time conditions.3) Pick up a few cheapie off-brand batteries here on Amazon. They're like $2 each, which is a lot better than Canon's battery price. Shooting video eats batteries a lot faster than shooting stills.4) I got some fantastic night time pictures by setting the camera onto manual, opening the lens to its widest f-stop and selecting the shutter speed as I watched the image brighten in the LCD screen. What you see is what you get, but if your shutter speed is under 1/30th of a second, you're going to need a tripod, or at least a flat surface to steady the camera. I got a 5 second exposure by holding the camera firmly on a fence post, and it looks darned good for a point and shoot.5) If your computer has an SD slot, you can transfer the images directly from the card to the PC without loading all of the Canon software. That's my preference.I was a little disappointed by the video, but I think it's because I failed to set the camera properly. Video generally looks crisp on the camera's LCD screen, but when played back on my HDTV, it's soft. There's quite a few more settings than just selecting "best quality," and I didn't read the manual, so my bad. The video's not horrible, just not up to the quality of some of the samples I've seen from other users in their on-line reviews.On my trip, four other people on our tour bus saw me shooting video with my point and shoot, and by the end of the day, they were all shooting video. Most of them didn't even realize their cameras could do it.

I own the gold and I really like the features that are on the camera. I do however have some concerns regarding the design of the actual camera.Everyone has discussed the "flash" misplacement. Terrible place for a flash however you can push it down and raise it up manually after the first turn on so I can deal with that.I have short stubby fingers and holding the camera with ease is a little difficult. There are no grips and it is a slippery camera to try to hold one handed without some type of curvature. My hand actually cramps up from holding it. The toggle switch used to zoom in and out is very tiny and I wish canon left it old style on the shutter button.The lcd is nice but I don't understand why they took away viewing for the entire screen for a picture leaving the sides blank. You will however save yourself a lot of money purchasing one with a rechargeable battery vs battery operated only cameras so if your thinking about the price think of the $10 plus dollars for lithium or double AA's you stuff in the other cameras and if you use them a lot like I do you will be running to the store frequently.I LOVE all the IDEAS of this camera and so many features but design is "killing" it -and me. Would I buy it again "YES" I am just hoping they can make a silicone sleeve for it! "lol"Construction is good everything feels like a camera should without that cheap plastic crap they have been making camera's out of that feel more like a kid toy than something you paid good money for.Now one more point. They made an updated version of this camera already. GPS sucks up the battery. It has less megapixals. And what was wrong with this one that they changed some major items? (sx230 hs)Here's to hopefully some rubber gripping. BTW --Great pics and video.

I bought this camera in the Cayman's while on a cruise about two years ago when my Sony Cybershot died on me. I was happy I was rekindling with Canon and had only switched to Sony because the Canon I previously owned was not small enough.I can't say I'm extremely happy with the camera. I have tried several settings but my pictures are always a disappointed. Like most I'm puzzled this camera is getting such great reviews. I'm not searching for a new camera.

I've owned two Canon cameras in the past, both which took great pictures and were your simple everyday point-and-shoot. I needed a new camera and this time, decided to go a little higher and buy the best point and shoot at the time. Boy, was I wrong. The camera takes great pictures, when you have light. The dark settings do nothing so any picture you take not under light comes out horrible. The 720p video is pix-elated and blurry, and I'm sure is not native 720p, because the picture is horrible. Not crisp or clear. And if you do manage to record a video you like, and want it on your computer, you'll probably end up with same problem I have and the video will be corrupted once its on your computer. I sent my camera in to Canon for repair since it was under warranty to see if they could fix the problem. The RMA said they replaced the motherboard, but when I got the camera back, I was still having the same problem. And for no reason after video recording for 20 minutes, the camera shuts off the record by itself and after recording for half an hour, the battery dies. I couldn't believe all the problems I had with this camera when I've only owned few cameras in my lifetime. Canon really disappointed me on this model, and if you want a good point-and-shoot with good video, DON'T BUY THIS.

I have owned this camera for well over a year now. I hate it. It is so unreliable. Indoor shots have a yellow cast to them no matter what conditions exist. I have tried several settings to shoot with and they all come out poorly. I have to edit every picture I take. The focus is slow as well. Outdoor shots are great, but I mostly use it indoors. I am switching back to a Nikon. I only bought this camera because it had high ratings. I really don't know why.

I personally really enjoy photography, and I like to use professional level equipment. I'm not talking about a having a digital SLR kit either, I'm talking about high quality professional glass, so when I go out shooting I take it very seriously. But as most people who enjoy semi-professional photography they don't enjoy lugging the equipment, and this Canon Powershot really is a nice addition to my equipment inventory that has really brought some joy to my overall experience. The macro images are really quite excellent, the landscape images are very good, and the ability to zoom in tight is really quite amazing. I find that I can actually take many pictures that I don't miss my SLR. Then there's the 720p video with a very good built-in condenser microphone.I like the adjustments and flexibility of the camera. You can easily over-ride the flash to fill, you can change the color settings fairly easy before shooting a video, and when changing color and white balance settings you immediately see your changes in the screen. You really just need to spend about a 1/2 hour messing with the device to figure out how it worked. Maybe it was an hour, anyway it wasn't difficult, and I didn't have to sit and read the manual. If you don't know photography you will need to read it, but otherwise you'll be fine. The function wheel is pretty cool, lightly touch the wheel in any of the four corners and macro, exposure adjustments, flash control, and timer pop onto the screen, so you can make quick adjustments without going thru the menus.The video quality is not on the level of the still image quality, and I was not able to figure out how to switch to manual focus shooting videos, but overall they are pretty good, 4/5. Still images don't give you the option of a raw format, jpg only, so 14 MP is desirable with JPG compression.Overall, amazingly awesome all around still and video camera that I can carry in my pants pocket!

I have been a long-time Canon customer (30 years) and, over the years, have owned many of their products including (back in the film days) the top of the line F-1 and A-1. I purchased this camera, as a "pocket" camera, about a year ago to replace a Canon Digital ELPH SD 500. That was a mistake. I have found that the images produced by this camera are substandard, dark and flat causing me to edit and brighten each and every picture through iphoto before I add them to our digital albums. Further, and perhaps the most frustrating problem, is the verrrrry slow autofocus which causes me to miss many photo opportunities. I have now gone back to using my Canon ELPH as a pocket camera because it is much smaller and therefore more convenient to carry and the images and autofocus are no worse than the SX210is. Irrespective of my 30 years of brand loyalty, I would give this one a pass.

This camera came with a warning that colors might not be true. They were correct. I cannot get any true color of nature. I am going back to my 10 year old Kodak.

I just tried out my new Canon SX210IS today and I am very happy with it. I've read some negative reviews about it so I was prepared for a disappointment. But I'm glad to say it works great for me. The pictures were mostly taken in bright sunny conditions and the bright scenes were a little washed out but iPhoto on my Mac lets me tweak them so they come out great. Nothing will help out of focus pictures though. I knew which ones I goofed on so it was no surprise when they came out blurry. I never used a tripod on any shots and as lightweight as this camera is you won't need a very big one to hold it anyway. I took all of the pictures on AUTO or Macro to start off and I will use all of the manual adjustments later. I was in such a hurry to see how they would come out I didn't read up on advanced settings yet. I still own a Canon G9 which takes beautiful pictures that can look outstanding with iPhoto in my Mac. It seems to have plenty of scene choices that can be accessed easily enough to experiment. The auto focus did hunt some in darker conditions in the swampy area I was photographing in. But I still got some great shots and used photo lock to focus on a near object then moved to the object I wanted. I will mostly be taking outdoor photos so auto focus in dark conditions won't be a problem for me. The zoom worked great too taking some full optical zoom pictures of wildlife that look great. I only used the video a couple of times so that's a work in progress keeping it steady,the auto focus worked good while filming and I zoomed in with no problem also. I only use video for a few minutes at a time so it's not that big a deal. This isn't a camcorder too! Just a little extra to use every so often. I took 102 photos and a couple minutes of video in about 2 hours in the park. I didn't check the battery afterwards, I just put it on to recharge when I got home. I can't really say how long the battery will last but I'm not a professional who'll be out all day shooting photos so I'm happy. I will say the small controls on the back are not made for people with large hands. I found it easier to use them the more pictures I took and made adjustments. The menus and the wheel to navigate them is pretty cool to. Just download the manual on your computer and read up on the things you want to try. Don't try to do everything in one day. Put it on auto and see how you do then move on . This camera easily fits in your pocket or a small holster. I just left the flash down until I needed it and that way it never got in my way when I was holding the camera. This was the biggest complaint by most people but you just open it manually for an easy solution to me. Overall I highly recommend this camera because it gives you the best of all worlds in such a small package.