Look For Ge Power Pro X500 Wh 16 Mp With 15 X at Amazon
| Most helpful customer reviews 151 of 152 people found the following review helpful. Pros. The 16 megapixel sensor is great. Most entry level cameras of any type and brand start off at about 12 MP right now. GE has this model at 16. I think the other 16 MP cameras are over twice the price of this one. You can see the difference when you zoom in on your computer, the clarity is apparent. Cons. The screen resolution and quality isn’t the greatest (I have a 3 year old Creative mp3 player that has a much nicer screen and it’s smaller.) Like most cameras though you look at the screen and its grainy and the color doesn’t look quite right but you snap the picture/ upload and it looks like it should when its on the computer screen (or printed out.) I think they had to cut corners somewhere. Bottom line is I’m not sure how long the X500 will last (because I got it in the mail two days ago) but so far I’m very glad that I bought this camera. It’s a lot like Fuji’s bridge camera and if you know the menus and buttons from their cameras then this thing will be a snap because its pretty much a carbon copy. The layout is simple enough for a beginner or teen who’s looking into photography and it wont break the bank like a nikon or canon with the same specs. 93 of 94 people found the following review helpful. I’ll go more in depth with the features. My favorite feature is the HDR conversion of photos. After you take a photo, you go to the photo you just took by hitting the > (play) button. Then hit menu and go all the way down. There’s an option called “HDR” which converts your photo to “High Dynamic Range” quality. Simply put, it enhances the colors of the photo, making it brighter and more vivid. Another great feature is smile detection. Press the little smiling button right next to the “waving hand” (that’s image stabilization which I always have on =]). If you press it once, it will be in face detection mode. Press it twice and you’ll see a smiling face on your digital screen instead. Now, press the shutter button and you’ll notice it won’t actually take any pictures.. until someone smiles! =D My other favorite feature is the panorama mode, of course! I honestly imagined taking panorama photos to be much more arduous but it’s quite simple. You start your photo from the left then you just move your camera to the right while lining up the crosses on the screen! Those are my favorite features so far but there are much, much more I personally haven’t played with such as manual mode (more for experts where they set aperture and shutter priority). Cons: All in all, I am extremely pleased with this purchase. An excellent bridge camera (an in-between point and shoot and DSLR camera) for $140 (which I believe is the most inexpensive bridge camera of this quality out there) is a great buy! Oh on a side note, if you’re thinking of purchasing the white version, you won’t be disappointed. I personally like the white on this camera. I didn’t want it to look just like EVERY other camera out there so I got the white so it could kind of “pop-out.” Definitely pops out and is pretty noticeable! =] Also, I uploaded some photos for you folks interested in purchasing this product. I demonstrated a little preview of the Panorama mode and HDR setting for you =D 103 of 109 people found the following review helpful. Out of the box, the camera seems pretty solid, although the compact (but FAT) build is a little weird and takes some getting used to. I initially did a comparison to my $130 12MP Coolpix point-and-shoot, and immediately saw some issues with the photo quality. Like other reviews have stated, indoor pictures are not great, but actually not as bad as some. My Coolpix (like most point and shoot cameras) had some problems as well, but the quality was still noticeably better than the GE. When using the indoor program mode, the shots were acceptable. The outdoor shots were better, but not super great, either. Comparing the same shots with my Coolpix, the Nikon had consistently better pictures. While for most this wouldn’t be too much of a problem, when viewing the photos and zooming in past 100%, there is significant pixel noise on the GE. Again, comparing to my 12MP Coolpix, the same shot at the same zoom had significantly less noise on my Nikon than the GE. Overall, the biggest problem was the inconsistency of the photos. Even using the same settings only a few seconds apart, there were often differences in the exposure, balance, etc. My hundreds of outdoor shots were all over the place in terms of quality. The shots often had a washed-out appearance (which could be fixed in post-processing if necessary). I took the GE on several hiking trips, and took hundreds of photos, using different program modes and settings, which improved the quality overall, but did not eliminate the inconsistency issue. The zoom was quick and the image stabilization worked very well. The battery life was excellent (although I did not use the flash too much). The focus is moderately quick compared to most point and shoot cameras, although slower than my Nikon. The video mode was poor, but that was expected. I also used the GE in a couple of museums, and using the Museum program mode, it took surprisingly good shots. I also toured an indoor wildlife museum, and using the flash it took some very fine pictures. Unfortunately, after viewing all of the pictures, I decided to return the camera. I don’t necessarily want to talk anyone out of buying this…for most casual users, this camera can take good shots, and the 15x zoom is awesome at this price. For still pictures, outdoor and lit indoor shots, the photo quality is fine (especially using the program modes or manual controls). To get this level of control and zoom, you’re going to be paying over $200 for something else, and probably over $300 for anything really significantly better. However, as I often print my photos for framing, the inconsistent quality and extreme noise, even compared to my cheap Nikon, left me wanting a bit more. PROS- CONS- |
A great starter camera if you want better pics than a point and shoot.
Not bad…but not great, either
