Fujifilm FinePix F470

Pros: great snap shots, long battery life, vivid color and video capture

Cons: few manual controls, not-so-great low light shooting, 3x optical zoom

Summary: I love to see how throughly C-net reviews all of these products, but I some times feel they are way too harsh, & always want the high end features in EVERY item they review...the 6 score does not do this camera justice!... I digress,

This camera is fantastic!! Very compact and slim, & ready to shoot out of the box. The 2+ inch LCD has a high resolution for its size, and can be seen in direct sunlight quite well. There is no viewfinder, but it is not necessary with the 2.2in screen. We have no problems taking photos indoors or out, but there is some definate shading issues with low-light areas, & I mean LOW light (moonlight or less).

The picture quality is perfect, especially for a point & shoot camera (6MP). It even shoots video, and quite well. I was suprized to find that the mic would pick up clear sound from about 15 ft away.... bravo!
For a camera enthusiast (I own 6 cameras: 3 digital, 2 SLR, and 1 vintage), I love this camera. Sure you can not tweak the ISO settings that well, and there are just basic scene settings, etc, but that is not what this camera is about. It's about taking a light weight, slim, high picture taking quality camera out for the day!

The editing software is fair, but you can find great after market APPs that will do the job better than any proprietary one will do anyway. And you can't beat the $, as most 6MP with the features this has will generally run $400+.

If you are looking for a really nice vacation or day camera, this is defintely the one... take it from someone who carries at least one camera with him every where in the world.... Cheers.