Review on Pentax Optio RZ-18: 16 MP Digital Camera with 18x Optical Zoom - Black | High-performance Photography Equipment by Bob Trapp

it's a bit bigger than I expected but I'm very impressed with the macro capabilities. For years I used my zd8612IS Kodak and the macro was. e. in the best case. I photographed the raindrops on the windshield and my lizard's eyeball in great detail, and I managed to get a cute picture of the freckle my daughter has in the corner of her eye. The flash is a bit uncomfortable, earlier put my finger in the upper right corner. where the flash is, but I like the speaker/mic design and placement, unlike my Kodak I can be a foot away from the speaker and chirp a scream and it doesn't sound so loud it hurts my ears (I shoot a lot of horses and riders, so sometimes while filming I have to ask them to try something new with this camera, it doesn't sound like I WILL BE, but my voice got a little louder) I like the feel of the anti-vibration module. Super expensive camera, it fits in the side pocket of most of my cargo jeans which is handy for me, my only gripe is the clasp. It's so flimsy that I had already reached my bag and unknowingly was squeezing the latch with my fingers and pulling it out with my finger on the lens, so I bought a carrying case. I love playing with photo editing software. In camera (PC PROGRAM FOR THIS SHIT. Better use Windows Live Photo). I don't know how many shots as I haven't tested it to its full potential yet, but I'm an intermediate level photographer. along with my 2011 pentax kr dslr camera i love this little spot and shoot as much as my kr if not a bit more due to its small but effective size. Something bright, sunsets and moon photos are not good for us. I'll be with this little guy unless you can screw a moonlighting filter on your lens, but I found that even at the lowest or highest ISO there is horrible flare, my friend is pretty good with cameras as well at an intermediate level and he was confused. why the sunset mode isn't as good as it hoped either. The action setting is great, as I said before I shoot a lot of videos and photos with horses, with the setting to quickly take 10 shots (forgive my ignorance of camera terms, just using what I know). I can get a perfect set of images of horses walking at ALL paces which is sometimes difficult, when I got bored watching TV one evening I decided to play around with this feature and took a TV image that I watched every 1st minute for a good 2 minutes /2 second which led me to believe 30 frames. Looking through them is like watching TV again. This is a GREAT hiking camera, it starts up quickly and is up and running in a second or two so you don't miss that "season closing shot" which for me yesterday was a bald eagle flying out from a seated position in the air . AMAZING image quality. in a nutshell. This camera is GREAT for a backpacker, biker, hiker or just a mum who stays at home and wants to capture those special moments (free shipping as I just ordered one) at 4gb the total length of the movies is 12 minutes a full 16mp i believe . I don't think I'll ever get rid of this camera. and also grab a mid-size Swiss gear camera bag with a waist strap from your local Best Buy for $16 I think, and have a screen protector or smudge-free cloth handy if the screen (like all LCD cameras is fingerprint-savvy) is the BEST of 5 cameras I've ever owned and kicks my DSLR up to speed to be my favorite. Well worth $$$$$$