I bought this camera for my wife after doing some semi-extensive research into the best products of this type on the market in this price-range. I was not dissappointed - it's a beautiful little camera with stylish (and more importantly sturdy) metal casing. Moreover, i've been blown away by the quality of the pictures. I own a digi-SLR myself and was expecting the pictures from a camera of this price to be comparatively shoddy. I was mistaken - the picture quality is markedly superior to that of other point-and-shoot digis that friends of mine own. The automatic function for taking pictures is great, but there are options for more manual settings should you wish to have greater control over the camera in specific conditions. The re-chargeable battery lasts a long time, which is obviously preferable to AA-battery operated alternatives on the market.

One drawback, common to most digital cameras in this price range, is that you have to count on buying a larger memory card than the one included in the box. It comes with a laughable 32 MB card which will fit about four pictures on the high setting - but before you look elsewhere you should know that this is common practise. Thus, you will need to invest in a 1GB card if you want to go on holiday and not have to worry about image storage. Also worth noting is that you ought to buy a leather camera pouch to protect it, as there is no such item included with this product. Enjoy.