Sony DSC-WX500 Digital Compact High Zoom Travel Camera with 180 Degrees Tiltable LCD Screen (18.2 MP, 30 x Optical Zoom, Wi-Fi, NFC) - Black

I don't know where to start this camera is so good. I bought it to replace my old Kodak point and shoot. I am neither a professional nor an enthusiastic amateur. I just want to be able to take good pictures quickly with as little thought as possible. This does that.Key features are TWO magic button modes - one is the straight forward point and shoot and the other does even more to prevent wobble or over-exposure. It does have a panoramic option and I have read the instructions and it seems easy to use but I haven't - yet. It also has other options - but again I haven't used those. In magic mode it recognised the type of shoot (night, portrait, scenic etc) very quickly and set appropriately. It was also very easy to switch from still to video - so much so I have taken a lot more video than usually. The battery life is excellent - it did 3 Florida theme parks plus lots of play back before needing a charge. However I had bought and charged a spare battery just in case. You can get bargains - I bought a Maxsimafoto one which was much cheaper than Sony (off Amazon) and just as good. I did use a very good quality SD card as this camera takes HD video. I bought a Memzi Ultima Pro SDHC card (off Amazon) which are recommended for these cameras. It did work very well but of course I can't tell you how another would have done. I have reviewed and downloaded my pictures and videos and they are excellent quality - even the sound. At a recent car show my son (aged 10) also used this and found it really easy and took some great photos.I have also used the wifi connection which is really useful but as I take a lot of photos I tend to take the card out and insert into my printer for transfer.This camera is light but feels well made. The controls are not too fiddly to work with long nails. It sits in the hand comfortably ready to use but is not so small you feel you have a toy. My only issue is the review and playback and I'm certain that's user error! It does have a lot of options on review which makes it harder to just look at the picture and then those before.

First, a bit of context. I am a Sony loyalist when it comes to point and shoots. My previous camera was the W530 14.1 MP Cybershot with a Carl Zeiss lense, and for the price I got it for, nothing came near it. My only reason for replacing it was that over the course of a few years the software on it had become glitchy, so it kept uncontrollably switching between focus modes. The photographs it could produce, especially in good light, were sensational for a camera of its time and class. So my next point and shoot had quite a job on its hands.The WX350 was acquired in the Black Friday deals, having already been cheaper than my old camera so that was a good start. It is quite fast on start up but not the quickest, taking around 2 seconds to get from off to photo-ready. The wheel for the shooting modes is nice and intuitive, and doesn't easily rotate on its own in the pocket. If you rotate it once the camera is active, you will be taken to a menu to fine tune your options. The menus are easy to navigate and comprehensive.The optical zoom is the most powerful I have come across for this camera type, and the resolution of daytime / well-lit images is superb. The biggest improvement on my old camera is the video mode; the HD resolution is a big step up, as is the sound capture. Other nice modes include handheld twighlight for shooting dim scenes without a tripod - it won't produce the highest quality images for print and display but it will capture memories and moments nicely and easily, and will be detected for use in the generally decent intelligent auto modes.Like all point and shoots, it isn't all plain sailing. The camera I have now is a replacement - the first one suffered after a few months of use probably as a result of me trying to do rapid snaps; turning the camera on and off too often too quickly. My advice would be to let the photo load after snapping and disappear before turning the camera off. The replacement has had no issues, and was organised efficiently by Amazon.The camera suffers from that old Sony fault of defaulting to macro in the auto mode for no apparent reason on rare occasions; this is corrected by aiming at backlighting, not difficult to address by not ideal. The back screen needs to be viewed from more or less dead on to get a good handle on the image captured - for me this is a very minor gripe. Far more problematic is the lack of shutter speed control; the camera does all the work. The camera generally does a good job but there are times when it would be handy to experiment.The truth is that no point and shoot is perfect. This camera however is very good for its class, and superb value at the price. I would not hesitate to buy it, and am happy to recommend it.