I have spent over 1 year waiting to buy the right camera. In that Time I have switched between a Canon and Panasonic as my brand of choice. I finally plumped on the F30 for three reasons;
1. Battery life, it is fantastic, I have filled a 1GB card twice and it is still on full charge from its first charge.
2. Low light capability, ever since I saw some test photos from the F10, I have been convinced about the value os high ISO. At 3200 it is way ahead of others in the sub £200 range. Most of my photos are indoors, birtdays, Christmas, parties etc. It is great for these scenarios. It also has a neat feature that takes 2 photos in quick succession, first at a high ISO with no flash and then at an average ISO with the flash. You compare the photos and choose to keep or delete both etc.
3. Video capability. I have a Canon MV650i camcorder, which is great. However it is usually only taken out on holidays, etc. For everyday video clips the F30 is great. 640x480 30fps is fine. My main use is to convert to .SWF and quicktime files for the net. It has given great results so far, both inside and out. Of course the quality is not as sharp as a my Canon MV650i, but perfectly suitable.
Pros:
Battery life
Low light capability
Picture quality, crisp and clear.
Very compact, good build quality
Clear screen 2.5" is great
Lots of options to fiddle with
Good options to preview shots on a TV with some simple transitions
A few minor gripes:
1. XD Cards!!! It seems that Fujifilm have seen sense and newer models have SD cards. I managed to get a 1GB xd card for £17 from Amazon, which is OK but not as competative as SD cards. Overall this is not a major issue.
2. Colour can be a little flat, I have iPhoto and nearly every shot needs a little colour correction, nothing too serious. The camera does have a solour enhanced mode which boosts the colour, however it goes a little too far. Again not a big problem.
3.USB charger flap is a bit fiddly, I have scratched the metal around it as the lid is stiff and unpredicatable...
Over all these are minor gripes, it is still a great camera and well worth 5 stars. Amazon were spot on, as ever on deliver and cost.