Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm not sure what kind of photography people are using this for as it seems to have good reviews overall. I read those first and decided it was worth it. It's not for me. I wanted an good zoom in a bridge camera for bird photography and the description on this says it takes clear and crisp pictures at the maximum zoom. No it doesn't unless it's mounted on a tripod. It is impossible to hand hold at maximum length and get clear photos. The camera will zoom in on a target than use AF to continually try to keep a focus. By the time you actually think you see a clear shot, the subject is gone. There is very little image stabilization at 42x. If you want a camera that takes good photos of a still image or when not in zoom mode, it does okay. I tried using a fast shutter speed for birds but then the aperture was slow and so not enough light was let in. You cannot change aperture when in shutter mode, the camera does it for you. Also I fully charge the battery before going out. After one hour and approximately 100 shots, the battery is drained. That's not what they advertise and I called the company and they said an hour of continuous shooting is about right. When shooting in continuous frame mode, you can just see the battery dumping power. And finally, I constantly zoom in and out when focusing on a subject to get the best shot. The lens actually got stuck a couple times and I had to turn the camera off to retract the lens and start all over. This is not acceptable for field work. If you want a nice camera for vacations, pet pictures, people, landscapes, this camera does a good job but not for anything that moves. As for the sticky lens, if it does this on a new camera, I don't expect it to last very long. And there is no EVF which is really difficult for outside work. The LCD screen picks up a lot of glare and light on a sunny day and you can't even seen what you are shooting at that point. It's going back and I'll spring for something better. you can see the quality of pictures using the scene mode sunset for one and the other using a fast shutter speed with aperture open to the corresponding shutter speed of 1/1000. Not enough light. I do have a pricey DSLR but wanted something quick and lightweight when out for a couple hours. This doesn't cut it.