Highly Recommended!

This camera takes amazing pictures! I bought the camera at Best Buy because I needed a new camera, (my old one was a 2MP Fujifilm) one that had optical zoom, optical image stabilization and a large LCD screen. There are many different advanced settings and scene modes. It has a histogram which is a graph that is displayed on the LCD that will let you know if the picture will come out under or over exposed. I have read a review that the camera takes awhile to start up, but I have had no problem with that as it will take no more than 2 seconds to start. The camera can record video clips with audio, but there is no speaker on the camera to hear what you recorded, but the quality of the videos are pretty decent. The optical zoom can be combined with the digital zoom for up to a 24x zoom. When using the optical zoom pictures appear just the same as no zoom, and the image stabilizer works extremely well, and has two settings. I did a test picture on a ceiling fan set on high, and when I reviewed it on my PC there was no blur whatsoever. One of the shooting modes on the camera is simple mode which doesn't need anything big to be setup, so basically all you have to do is take the picture. The maximum resolution for pictures are 28x21, and it can be set to take smaller pictures and also take pictures in a 3:2, 4:3, and 16:9 aspect ratio and is able to record audio and attach it to the picture being taken. The battery life is good and I purchased a 15 min. battery recharger, which requires special types of batteries, with the camera. Panasonic's special OxyRide batteries work better than any battery as it will take more pictures and will last longer. It has an auto focus, with a few different settings but I am not sure what they are, it works very well, takes about 2 seconds and lets you know if the subject is too close or if the picture may come out blurry, not a problem with the stabilizer, it tells you the aperture value and the shutter speed it decides would be best for the picture. This is a great camera and I am so glad I bought it. I highly recommend it to anyone.