Overall great camera

The Kodak Z612 with 12x Optical Zoom and Image Stabilization is a great camera for beginners or novices. Takes outstanding pictures, battery life is excellent, my only complaint is the size of the camera. I bought this camera for the 12x optical zoom, which has really came in handy. I took this camera for a trip to Disney World and the pics were wonderful. When looking at my pics everyone asks what kind of camera I have. I just found myself not picking it up as much where I normally would take a camera, because of the size. I also was not crazy about having a lens cover, scared of the lens getting scratched with sand at the beach, etc. Personally I could not tell much difference in the image stabilization feature as with other cameras that don't have it. The camera has a strong resolution 2.5" LCD that can be seen even in bright light, but also has an optical viewfinder for those who want it. The z612 powers up in less than 2 seconds and there is very little time between shots (even when using the flash). Burst mode works wonderfully. The Kodak menu options give all types of settings: Beach, Snow, Flowers, Fireworks, Sports, etc. but I found the Automatic setting to work well for everything I needed. Nighttime shots are sometimes good, sometimes not, which I have found to be the case with most point and shoot cameras.

Also love the fact that the camera can be set on a compatible dock to charge the camera, transfer photos to computer, and print pics.

All in all I would definitely recommend this camera to anyone who didn't mind the size. For the price, the quality of photos cannot be beat. I only wish Kodak would make this exact camera more compact with an automatic lens cover. If so, it would be the "perfect" camera.