I began using this camera about a year ago, and since then I have learned much about it. It takes very good quality video, featuring 500 lines of resolution. The still photos, however, were very lacking in quality. With the exception of outdoors during the day, the still photo mode was poor. You may as well not even take a picture inside under incandescent lights because it will turn out bad. There are a great many features and a very easy to use in-screen menu system for selecting them. I see that someone said the zoom is too fast, I will have to disagree on that. The zoom is totally variable speed, depending on how far you move the zoom lever. My favorite aspect of this camcorder is the huge 3.5" LCD screen. This may not sound big, but it is a huge difference between a 2.5". The color viewfinder is a nice option as well. Lens filters can be somewhat difficult to find because of the 30mm lens diameter, I had to get a adapter ring to bring the diameter up to 37mm. As far as durability goes, I have used this camera in a boat to capture wakeboarding, I have used it sitting on the back of a 4-wheeler, inside cars, a wedding, prom, just about everywhere inside and out and it still works like new. The sound is great too. With crisp vocals and a full range of bass and treble recording capabilities.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 700