Top of it's Game

Wow, this thing is just so far head of everything else. It's a gorgeous bit of kit , & not too slim , like some of the compacts, but it is still small. The Titanium coating on the stainless steel body is gorgeous & makes it tougher & more scratch resistant.The menu system is a dream plus very easy to use. Having just upgraded from a"Big"Fuji 6800 that I bought in 2000, this seems tiny & hi-tech. Other than all the mega pixels , the main draw point for me was the inclusion of an optical view-finder which can extend your shot capacity per battery charge by having the screen off. The Fuji had one , but it is almost impossible to find a compact with one these days. I hate composing your shot on the screen, I must be old fashioned I guess, but I love having the big screen to browse through the menu, & what an array of options.Black & white was a new one to me but one I hope to use a lot , as I like to draw, & to draw in pencil from a B & W subject matter is far easier to transpose to the correct shades. Smile recognition is a sticky one though & I have a feeling this may not work all the time, but then again who knows ? Overall ? WOW ! Brilliant. Top Dog.

Excellent camera!

I started using this bad-boy last March, and I fully loved it. The image quality is superb, the controls are clever yet simple, and the design is very innovative and quite ahead of its time. I've had three compacts before this one; a samsung, and two kodaks, and they didn't compare in the slightest. The macro and digital macro modes are great fun and flawless in my eyes. The camera is very small and handy, and the 3" screen is gorgeous. I even dropped the camera by accident when I was on holiday and feared that might've been the end, but it's a sturdy wee thing and nothing was wrong with it. Just be careful with it at the beach though, I got some sand in the zoom of the lens and it was never quite the same again. Eventually the lens wouldn't contract any longer and I'm very sad to say I had to stop using it. So don't make the same mistake as me! The price of this camera now is a bargain so whether you're new to photography or have had some disappointments in the past, definitely give this camera a try, I doubt you'll be disappointed!

Great under water camera for scuba diving

Took this great camera with me on several trips now to Egypt and Bonaire and although it is rated for use to a maximum depth of 10 meters is has been deeper with me without any problems. Battery life may vary but it is easy to use and has a clear display. Fits easily in the pocket of your BCD. Clip it to a D-ring because it will sink if you let it go.
Overall good quality pics both above and under water. Love it and if I would lose it I would order another one before my next trip !

Excellent.

My parents bought me this camera for Christmas - for a bargain price of £45 from ASDA, I might add - along with a 2GB memory card, and I am so pleased with it. It goes everywhere with me - it's very light and handy for travel, fitting easily into my handbag and slightly less easily into my pockets. It comes with a strap, which is excellent if, like me, things are prone to leaping unexpectedly from your hands, and is really easy to use on the Auto setting to take quick snaps of your daily adventures, and it's also very simple to change flash settings, with a nice setting for preventing red-eye - handy for those blue-eyed people you know. :)

For those more camera-savvy who are interested in more high-tech photography, the scene settings are quite varied, with settings for snow scenes, action shots, self portraits and many more. It also has a good macro setting for taking close-up photographs, as well as a very capbable auto-focus with center-focus and multi-focus settings which I've found help to take clear, sharp pictures whatever the subject.

It also features a fairly decent capability for taking videos - although a high-capacity memory card is recommended for those who do want to make a lot of use out of the video function, as they take up a lot of space. Videos have to be uploaded to a computer in order to play sound and I haven't yet previewed any videos on my computer, but the image playback on the camera screen is of quite a good quality and it's extremely simple to take a video with the camera; simply switch the setting to 'video' and then press the shutter button to record.

The camera also features the ability to crop photos and 'One Touch technology', which is a really simple photo-editor built into the camera. It's not quite Photoshop, and it doesn't work very well on all pictures, but some pictures can be made to look much brighter and clearer with just a few button presses.

It's also really easy to review the pictures you have taken (simple press the 'review' button!), and the camera displays both how many picutres you have taken (via a photo number in the top corner of each photograph) and how many you have left to fit onto your memory card, so you'll never run out of space without warning. With the Easychare software for your computer you can easily arrange your photos into albums both on your computer and on your camera.

Another extremely helpful feature is the Help/Information button - for every option on all of the camera's different menus, you simply have to press this button and it tells you exactly what each option does. It's just like having a manual built into your camera, and far easier than having to check the index of a paper manual whenever you get a bit lost while you're learning how your camera works.

I've noticed that some people find the camera's lack of an integral battery and chrager to be a slight drawback, but I disagree. Instead of your camera having to be out of action while it charges, you simply have to put new batteries in. However, with regular AA batteries you might find this to be a very expensive venture - I recommend instead buying two Kodak Ni-MH AA rechargable battery packs and a charger for them. I've found that these batteries have a comparatively long life (around 4-7 days, depending on on frequency of use) for each charge, and while one set is recharging you can use the other set.

All in all, so far I have found it to be an excellent camera choice, whether for a beginner or an experienced photographer. It's by far worth more than the bargain sale price that my parents purchased it for, and is even worth paying more for it than it's priced here on Amazon. I have no doubt that there are better cameras out there, but if you're not willing or able to spend hundreds of pounds then I truly recommend this camera - you'll be hard-pressed to find another camera of its calibre for less than £100.

Good picture

I bought this camera 3 months ago. Though I am very impressed with picture quality, the video quality is very poor. In fact, I am disappointed with video quality. Kodak camera with similar specification would produce much better video quality.

Great waterproof anywhere - anytime camcorder

I own an SLR but i needed something i could wack in my pocket and take anywhere to video with half decent quality , so i opted for the CA65.
It has exceeded my requirements by far! the camera switches on virtually instantly, it has a crisp bright display, and it's so easy to use.
Love this camera and would recomend to anyone who wants a camcorder that fits in their pocket and use anywhere without the worry of it getting wet in the rain (or whilst swimming in the carribean !)

Not Quite there

I've had this camera for a few months now. I've recently traveled around the world and I took this along for the ride. There are some really nice features to the camera:

* Touch sensitive buttons
* Nice big crystal clear display
*Pretty decent battery life
* HD Movies
* Wide angle lens
* Smile detection is a great feature

Unfortunately to get anything near usable picture wise you really have to fight with the camera to get results, the picture quality for what the cameras spec promises in pictures with no flash there is a lot of noise in both the back and foreground, the night shots are really unusable, very poor. The image processing during night mode is frustrating at times.

Another major gripe is Face detection, in most cameras it just works but on the NV24HD it works when it feels like it, zooming in on the subject encourages the face detection software to kick in but otherwise stays dormant.

Image stabilization is again just not quite there.

The HD movie mode is great BUT the sounds cuts out when you zoom in and out and is really irritating. It's odd how the movie mode out performs the still images at night, I'm not quite sure how Samsung have worked that one.

I'll put my hands up and say that i was suckered in by the HD movie mode which yes produces great quailty video but is let down by the sound, perhaps it can be fixed in a future firmware update.

That aside i don't think the image quality is reparable from a firmware update, i feel rather cheated when something as basic as image quality is overlooked in my opinion.

I wouldn't recommend this camera just solely on the basis of poor images, look elsewhere for that, don't get me wrong it is a fun camera to use but I think Samsung need to re look at the way the camera processes images.

Excellent best seller

I use this camera for work. Pro, excellent output quality, shooting modes previewed on lcd as you select with text description, saves squinting at the dial, excellent build quality, good software/menu easy to use, battery life outstanding. I shoot about 150 shots per week and I am now in week three after first charge. It has been easy to use and the lcd screen has a good resolution. Against and hence four stars only Sony, why not use the 'standard ' sd memoey card instead of Sony only memory card, and why non standard usb connection on the camera. Hope I dont loose the connecting cable because I bet the replacement from Sony will cost. Small gripes though for a well designed, good looking, good value digital camera which I shall take on holiday as it will fit easily in my pocket. by the way buy a case as its too nice to scratch.

Nice one

It is very handy camera. Colours could not be that real. Espically indoor shots are almost perfect for this small camera. I definetly see that I have given right desicion to buy this camera. Economic and it does everything what you expect from a compact machine. Nice one... Strongly recommended.

Well pleased

This is a cracking bit of kit. It is an ideal home movie camera for taking shots of the kids and other home movie type stuff such as holidays and days out. The quality of picture is fine for this type of stuff. It is really simple to use and you can even do basic editing on the camera itself (cutting and joining clips). It is really easy to view shots on your TV and to copy onto either video or DVD. You also get a 9MP still camera as well and it fits in your pocket as it is not much bigger than a large mobile phone!! I bought it to replace my broken Panasonic mini DV camcorder and for £160 I think it is a bargain. I am well pleased with it.

Cheap camera with average results

Bought this camera almost an year ago. Results were never consistently satisfactory. Flash seems to be slow in response and less powerful, giving dull pictures. Had a fault with the auto-focus recently and luckily getting rid of it as it is still under warranty.

Movie file format

I have read the reviews about the battery life and agree 100% with the recommendation to buy rechargeables - the larger the capacity the better. Battery life is fine with these.

The movie file format is .AVI which the latest version of software such as Microsoft PowerPoint will load OK, but PowerPoint 2002 and probably earlier versions cannot load this type of movie file. If this is a major issue with you, do not buy this camera but otherwise it is great performer.

excellent little snapper

Although made of plastic, the camera feels robust and is a doddle to use. Shame they did not include an additional lens cover, but have not scratched the clear glass that covers the lens yet- Pictures are vibrant and easily edited within the camera..Going on holiday to Cornwall soon and can't wait to use it in the water!!

Sanyo Xacti CG65

I bought one of these on amazon pre christmas.Great little camera. It is remarkably compact and fits in a suit or jacket pocket without being noticed. That feature is good if you are carrying a phone and other gadgets. The second thing I noticed was it was lightweight and had a real quality feel about it. Flip out screen is a nice size and picture quality is good. Video quality was found to be very satisfactory as was the 6m pixel still camera. Handy zoom lens. It is intuitive to operate so users will not need to spend much time on the chunky manual. I bought a 2 gig card which gives me more or less 2 hours of video. I am not likely to need a larger card before downloading. Comes with usb and tv leads plus sep charger. Lens cap was included and a pouch. Would have liked to have seen a Sanyo leather case with the package. Camera looks very neat in black. I am very happy with this purchase and would highly recommend it to readers.

Is it a d860 or is it an s860?

I recently purchased this camera in its 'D860'guise, (although I fail to see any difference apart from a slight cosmetic change to the silver bar to the front of the unit the 'specs' being exactly the same), to replace a Samsung 5 mega pixel camera that I have been using trouble free for two years. I wanted a higher spec camera and after looking around I had convinced myself that I wanted a Canon 8mp camera, but upon seeing this on special offer at less than half price, £60.00, I couldn't justify the £120.00 price difference for the Canon, so plumped for another Samsung. I am glad that I did as it has everything required to take fantastic snap shots. It is a good looking unit, the screen is really clear although there seems to be a marked improvement in the quality of the pics once downloaded onto the pc, the colour and sharpness seem much better so dont be tempted to erase the pics until you have reviewed them first. The face detection has become a must use and the anti shake facility comes in useful for those late night in the taverna or bar holiday shots that would otherwise be ruined due to the demon drink! If you need all of the whistles and bells that are great but you never quite get around to using there are better choices to be had but not at this price. I doubt very much that you could do better and in summary, it's a fantastic camera at a budget price. Enjoy.

Watch the batteries

A good all round camera and good value for money. My only gripe is that the eats batteries like there is no tomorrow. Would have prefered a Lith. ion battery, but beggers can't be choosers!

L11 Nikon Coolpix - Great

My 8 year old received this as a birthday present. It is easy to use. The instruction book is easy to follow. The software downloaded without any problems. Very good value for money, and it comes with a 2 year guarentee.