Macro photography - focuses to 1" with great clarity and accurate exposure
Great point and shoot capability

Continuous mode for action photos - slow to focus, does not re-focus.
All the knobs and dials are very easy to inadvertantly change settiings, including menu options.

I purchased this camera for two reasons: 1) it was the update of an earlier coolpix which many of my colleagues use for macro photography of mineral specimens and wildflowers, and 2) the continuous modes. I've not been disappointed in the macro modes - excellent close up capabilities resulting in very nice images (especially for a point and shoot). This is alot easier to pack around than my Canon F1 with a couple of lenses. However, I've been generally disappointed in the continuous mode for sports photography - seems the camera is rather slow to focus and holds the focus from the first image, assuming you had time for it to focus in the first place. The result is quite a few fuzzy ski photos, especially as the subject gets close enough to fill the frame. That's certainly one thing where my 10 lbs of Canon hardware excels. Overall, a good quality camera with lots of features, takes great close ups, stills and portraits, not so great for action photos.

Customer Service

B& H was great - fast shipping, great prices, everything I needed in stock.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 5200, Fuji finepix 4800, lots of Canon film cameras.