A top camera for the serious user

( - 11/17/04) This is a really great performer, easy to use functions, very intuitive and top results from the Carl Zeiss optics. Anyone who grew up with Hasselblad would recognize how good those lenses are. Image quality is superb. It is impossible to pick A4 glossy prints apart from film-produced ones, without magnification and color rendition straight from the camera is top notch (I tested it with a direct PictBridge connection to a Canon iP8500 8-ink printer). Movie mode in VX fine is as good on screen as any digital handi-cam can offer. Battery life is surprisingly good, despite the rather small (4.4watt-hour) capacity. The LCD measures a genuine 2.5" diagonal and what a great asset that is, under all lighting conditions. The "Night-framing" function that focuses in total darkness, then takes a normal flash pic is one of the best features. No more black LCD's in dim room light that make framing difficult and force you to use the optical viewfinder. On the down side, I can't find too much to criticize. The mode buttons are a touch small and I don't like the flimsy plastic port covers. These pop up and are attached by a short split plastic bit ... they're gonna break off, for sure. Why didn't they just use a swiveling pivot point at the end of the plastic, like on some Canon models? I guess it's still better than nothing and there are many units on the market with no covers at all to stop dirt and crud from getting in. I'm not real sure about the "Night-shot" function. It seems to be of limited use, with a bright circle in the middle, less than a third of the frame size, tapering off to darkness at the edges .. a kind of heavy vignetting. Even frame illumination cuts in at normal ambient light levels, but in total darkness, all you get is a "hot-spot" in the middle. I don't know if that's just peculiar to my camera, or is normal, but it makes sense that an infra-red illuminator would be concentrated in a narrow beam, like a spotlight. If it was strong enough to light up the whole frame, it would drain that battery a whole lot quicker. Overall, a truly great unit with excellent features and performance. I would stress though .. you MUST read the instructions through before actually using it. A CF memory card must be formatted in the camera before starting, or results can be unpredictable (Memory Stick Pro cards come already formatted). I initially thought it was not possible to do a bulk image erase, until I read the instructions. Resist the temptation to "point and shoot" without studying all the functions in the book.