Samsung WB600 Digital Camera - Black (12MP, 15x Optical Zoom) 3.0 inch LCD

This is a lot of camera for the price. The build and feel are solid. Be aware these ultrazoom cameras are chunkier than many; i chose this one largely because it was the least thick of this genre (bar the new fuji FX80 (10X zoom) camera), as well as the amazing zoom.
Startup time is amazing even when flash is used. Controls are easy to work out. Battery life seems fine; I took the camera for a long weekend to Madrid and it coped with shooting all day and into the evening including some short videos without apparently running low. It comes with a plug adapter and USB charger cable for in-camera charging which is a very compact arrangement for travel (unless desperate to be charging one battery while using another i much prefer an in camera charger).
The back screen is prone to minor scratching as with all cameras of this type. The front lens has a protective screen which is easy to clean.
Images are crisp and colour balance appears good to my taste. Camera performance in challenging lighting conditions is astonishing; in both automatic modes it intelligently picks out lighting areas as well as subjects on which to focus; my previous camera was a canon IXUS 950 IS and in the 2 years or so since i bought that the smartware has progressed in leaps and bounds. The only gizmoware i have fiddled with is "beautyshot" which is flattering and clever if a little overprocessed for my taste.
Be aware it is not shipped with an SD card so out of the box you can only take a few pics with the on board memory.
HD Video and sound reproduction seem good. I have one gripe however: when zooming during video the sound drops out. Other than this i can't fault this camera and am very pleased with it.

After much research I ordered this in preference to the Panasonic tz7 because of the many negative reviews re the fragility of the Panasonic screen and the cost of spare batteries.
The wide angle lens is a joy to use and the few pictures I have taken so far in both daylight and with flash have been of excellent quality. The impressive zoom capability is also a bonus.
The controls are simple to operate. So far it has been used as a simple point and shoot with very good results.
BE AWARE there is NO memory card included with this camera.
I bought a Samsung 8gb and a card reader at the same time, both of which work very well and connect painlessly with my mac OSX, as does the CD manual.
On the basis of only a couple of days use I can highly recommend. There are cheaper cameras out there for sure, but this one ticks every box for me and was worth paying the little extra for.

Purchased this camera at the end of August and 2 days later took it on an extended tour of Spain.
I bought this particular model to get the benefit of the double image stabilisation, ( my hands are not as steady as they used to be ) and in reality did not really have time to get used to it before my holiday. I didn't need to, it was simplicity itself to use, the zoom is incredible, battery life is excellent and it seems to take a good photo whatever I try with it. I am no expert photographer and no doubt some experts would pick holes in my pictures but for what I need - sharp pictures, good colour, flexible to use, great zoom and video it is brilliant and the "anti shake" has extended my photography lifeline which I was ready to give up as I could not get the results I wanted from other cameras, even my son who uses one of those fancy SLR things is impressed by the results!