I really wanted to like this camera, but found that I couldn't.
The first problem that I had with it was the "ergonomic grip" on the camera. It's fine for just holding the camera, and would work well for video shooting. I just found the buttons to be hard to use for still photos when trying to use it with one hand. The camera never felt comfortable in my had when trying to rotate my thumb up to hit the photo or video button. When it comes to using the D-ring and the center button, they felt fine.
The next major issue I had was with the image stabilization for photos. According the the manual the image stabilization won't be used under the following conditions.
1. Setting the flash mode to forced flash
2. Setting the shooting mode to the sequential shots mode
3. Setting flicker reduction to "ON"
4. Setting the scene select function to the night view portrait, fireworks, or lamp mode.
What I found is if you set the flash to any mode other than "OFF" the image stabilization automatically turns off. Then you have to deal with the crazy menu system to turn it back on. There's no easy way that I could find to have it temporarily shut off for the above situations then automatically turn back on. Given that I was concerned about camera movement while rotating my thumb up to the button on one handed use, image stabilization seems really important.
I also didn't like the confusing menu system on the camera. By default the menu system is in "normal mode" and then there's a "simple mode" that you can select. That all sounds find in theory. The only thing is I expect every function to be adjustable in the normal mode, and then basic functions to be available in the simple mode. That somewhat seemed to be the case, but it wasn't clear what some of the options really were in simple mode. For example to adjust the video recording in the normal menu it give you a lot of different TV options and a couple of different web options. How do those relate to the selection of recording size in the simple menu? Maybe I just didn't find the answer in the manual, but I don't think that was the case.
As far as the water proof, it's really limited to 5 feet of depth. Not something that will be useful if you go scuba diving, but maybe will be ok for light snorkeling. I think for the most part it's just a gimmick to lure people into buying an inferior product.
I really can't comment on the actual photo or video quality. Because I got so frustrated with the menu system, the image stabilization, and how awkward it seemed to use; I never bothered transferring the data to my computer to check it out.
All in all, I would say avoid this camera and see what else is out there.Get more detail about Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 Digital Camcorder and 8 MP Digital Camera (Blue).
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