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Great pictures for little camera
I went back and forth on this and the Nikon Cool-Pix s8000, eventually going with this one because of lower price. It's taking me some time to get use to various settings, especially no view finder. When zooming, this is biggest problem, the picture(my hands aren't steady) appears to move around. But once I take the shot, it's not bad! I wanted something compact to take on hikes and school programs, so this is fitting it's purpose. The macro does a fairly good job too. The colors are true and does a great job of darks and lights together. The only thing I really don't like is no delete button for picture just takened. On my Canon, you can delete immediatedly if it's a bad shot, on the Panasonic you have to switch a button and go to the picture. Just another step. It won't replace my dslr, but I am happy with picture quality, I'll just need more time to learn some of the features. So far I'm pleased with the purchase.

Fine camera!
A fine camera. Simple to use if you like simple (the "Intelligent Auto" setting is pretty darn intelligent), but easy to customize settings whenever you prefer. Image stabilization, zoom, HD (720) videos (including zoom) help produce sharp,rich photos. Wide angle also proving very useful.

12x zoom - really?
I purchased this camera to replace the Panasonic DMC-TZ5 camera I had owned for perhaps 2 years...my older camera had performed to my satisfaction the entire time I owned it up until October, when the zoom feature suddenly malfunctioned entirely. I urgently needed zoom for my usage, since I need to photograph signs from a great distance and I do need the zoom feature. I figured I had better purchase the 12x zoom and upgrade instead of buying a camera that went down to an 8x zoom. For the money, I thought this newer updated version of the Panasonic would be the best choice. However, when I opened it up and held it for the first time, I was shocked at how cheap it felt. It seems so much lighter and flimsy compared to the TZ5. I was at first greatly concerned over the quality of the newer camera, based on how light-weight and "cheap" it felt in my hands...not to mention that the so-called instruction book included with it was about 2 pages, and not much info at all. They did include a software disk with a PDF file of instructions, but upon opening it and reading it, I was let down again. Not much info there either. Since I didn't want to go through the hassle of a return or an exchange, I decided to keep the newer camera and try and deal with it. It isn't a BAD camera, in fact, it seems almost as good a photo quality as my older camera. The so-called 12x zoom is no different in my opinion than the previous 10x zoom. Not much difference at all, if any. But, considering the fact that the older camera actually has NO zoom at all at this time, I suppose I should be grateful. I don't suppose I have the system mastered with this new camera, as far as deciding how to set anything before taking any pictures, but there isn't any help from the instructions, so I am having to wing it on my own. I am not as fully satisfied with the picture quality, and I am hoping it is just something that I am not setting right...although I cannot figure out what.

Great little camera
This is a great little 12.1 megapixels digital camera but sells with only it's own internal memory......if you want to use a camera card that is an additional purchase. I bought a 8 GB card for my camera for about an extra $20 and it holds a large number of high quality photos.I bought this camera after seeing the photo results from, and hearing the raves about, one my sister bought. It is a very versatile camera and is compact enough to slip in a pocket. It comes in black(my sister's),silver(which I have),blue, and red. It comes with its own compact quick charge battery (2 hours)and charger and it operates an extended time between charges. It has an excellent Leica 12X zoom and wide angle lens. It takes great close up and low light pictures and has a stabilization program to reduce camera shake distortion. It can be operated in simple point and shoot automatic mode or can be controlled manually for real camera buffs. The owner's manual is very basic with no detailed information and you must use the included DVD to discover all the capabilities of the camera. The camera also takes movies but I have not used that feature and that uses a lot of camera memory and will require the additional camera card. The included software program for downloading photos from the camera is easy but working with your camera photos is not as good as an old Olympus camera program I have. I rate the camera a 10 out of 10, but don't like the lack of information in the owner's manual and having to use the DVD to answer any questions about the camera.

Great camara for the price.
This is a really nice camara, the 12.1 mp and de 12x are incredible, I really love the resolution, the wide angle is perfect and the zoom is great. so far I give this Pana an A+