Comment on GE Power Pro X500-WH 16 MP with 15 x Optical Zoom Digital Camera, White by exProphecy.
Fantastic Bridge Camera ^-^,
Like most people who are purchasing this camera, I have little or no experience in photography. Although I’ve dabbled in the arts of Skype and quick pics using my phone, this GE bridge camera is hardly in the same tier. So many features.. so little time..
Pros:
> Superb picture quality for the price
> Myriad of features packed in one
> Super ZOOM to the rescue!
> Build quality feels legit (ergo, a real, solid camera rather than a cheap toy)
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:
> Probably the worst problem this camera has are the picture quality of photos taken inside. (Don’t worry, the pros outweigh this problem by far)
> “HD” quality videos don’t really seem very “HD”
> Wish it came with a camera bag (not really a big deal since I bought one separately but it would’ve been nice?/ kinda looking for more cons since it’s a bit hard xD)
> Not really a con, but more of an improvement suggestion.. Maybe for smile detection, instead of having the need to press the shutter button THEN the camera will take the picture, it could be set up so that when smile detection is enabled, the camera automatically takes pictures when they smile. Also, it could be done so endlessly (meaning it takes pictures of people that smile multiple times, over and over).
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