I love the camera features. The effects are very simple and you can get creative. The camera is lightweight and the screen is very easy to see. The kids love it when I flip the screen and they see them being taped. Connecting to a computer via I-Link is a snap, but the Firewire connection allows you to capture digital footage entirely from the videotape itself. eliminates the need for a memory card. I can't say enough about how cool the video and photo editing is over an I-Link (Firewire) connection. In fact, you can control the camcorder from the computer screen (FF, rewind and play without touching the camera, just press the screen and get digital stills straight from the tape). If you take a lot of close-ups and good shots on video, you can easily save them as digital photos after connecting to a PC. It's true that the picture quality isn't up to par with a 3 megapixel digital camera, but the VGA pictures I took are suitable for full screen zoom on a PC screen and everyone I showed them to loved the pictures since most PC images aren't quite as sharp, unless they definitely look like huge image files. You can always keep a regular camera (or buy a digital camera) if you want to take great shots, this is a CINEMA camera after all. And it makes great video, and the picture looks just as good, if not better than what you see on the connected video screen. The memory card is a nice feature, but image quality is just as good, if not better, direct from digital tape. I really enjoy using this camera, it's light, portable and well made.