I deliberated long and hard before I purchased this camera. I did try out one of the earlier versions but found that the macro was terrible in anything other than perfect light. As this is what I really needed the camera for, I was slightly worried that I would be dissapointed with this - but the reviews generally seemed promising.

I've now used it on several occasions and have found it a dream to use. Nice and easy to understand and you don't really need to read the instructions. The macro options are great! You get lots for your money here and I'm so pleased that I did not go and spend more. It's not too big and so its nice to take out and not feel that you are carrying a brick with you. I love the option to view through the eye piece or the LCD screen - it;s extremely useful to have both options.

I've not had any problems with the automatic focus and all images have come out nice a crisp. The smile detection surprised me in that it worked! I was not expecting that, but you do need to make sure that you have good light for this.

I have not given it 5 stars - because of the problems with the software. I put the software onto my computer and had so many problems with it that I took it off (which itself was not easy) and just used Windows for downloading. It really was not worth the trouble. All in all, the camera is great - but the software is problematic, but still a great buy.