I was looking for a new digital camera and was only looking at the Nikon brand, because that was what I was replacing and had been happy with my previous one.  The only thing my old Nikon was missing was a good zoom lens. Hubby surprised me with a brand new Pentax X90 Digital camera, and I could not be happier.  I have to admit, I was a little bit unhappy at first, when I saw the price tag and the instruction manual.  But, my doubts quickly disappeared as I began taking pictures with this camera.  It is so simple to use and it produces the best pictures I have ever taken with a camera. The camera just came out in February 2010.  It has an extra wide zoom, longer battery life than its predecessor and an electronic viewfinder.  The key feature of this camera is the 26X megazoom, super-telephoto lens, also designed with a Macro mode that focuses to less than one inch away to capture images of subjects that are near or far away. Other features include: - 12.1 megapixel sensor, ideal for large prints or cropping flexibility - 2.7 inch LCD with anti reflection coating or alternatively, the electronic viewfinder - Eye-Fi wireless SD memory card connectivity for built-in Wi-Fi capability to transfer photos and videos from the camera to a computer or an on-line sharing site such as Facebook - HDMI port plays back beautiful high resolution images and video on HDTV - A perfect blend of compact digital and SLR technology - Triple Shake Reduction technology includes a high quality mechanical sensor-shift SR mechanism, Digital Pixel Track and high ISO SR and Movie SR - High continuous shooting up to 11 frames per second - Fast face Detection technology quickly finds up to 32 faces - Powerful lightweight Litium ion battery and improved power efficiency I am definitely not an expert photographer and my photography training has been limited to the instruction manuals that were packaged with any cameras I purchased.  I was amazed at how quickly I was taking great pictures.  The camera is definitely easy to use and there is a lot I have to learn about all its features.  I have not used the video function as yet.  When I do, I will update my review. The battery life is truly fantastic.  Basically, we had to charge my old Nikon almost every night while on vacation.  With the new Pentax, I took over 150 pictures over the course of 2 weeks before it required a charge. Pictures of people are better than I have ever taken.  Pictures of scenery are far better than any I have ever taken.  I can remember taking pictures of something I thought was really beautiful with the old Nikon, and then being disappointed when I loaded the pictures onto my computer.  This has not happened with the Pentax.  The pictures are just as grandeur as I remember in person. I would truly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a digital camera that takes great  pictures, is easy to use and can often be found on sale on-line.       Image Quality I am by no means a great photographer. But I can take amazing pictures with this camera and I am sometimes amazed at how beautiful they turn out. Performance Performance is fine. There are many features that I have not used and will probably never use because I do not have time to learn how to use them. Ease of Use As I mentioned earlier, I am an amateur photographer, and this camera is very easy to use. The Instruction manual is clear and the directions are easy to follow. Durability Durability is great. Actually, I have dropped the camera, and it was not damaged at all. Battery Life Battery life is fine as far as I am concerned. I have two batteries, so I can charge and use one and be charging another in the interim. Portability The camera is not tiny, but it is easy to carry. I have a nice Pentax bag for it.

viewkgr

Boca Raton, FL

I purchased this camera after much research and was looking forward to having a great camera. I take hundreds of pictures a week - mostly of children and events they participate in, as well as crafting and such to put on my blog. My old point and shoot finally died, so I figured this would be a great time to move a step up. Paying two and a half times more than I paid for my point and shoot, I figured having clear, beautiful pictures would be a given. It wasn't. I was very disappointed in the quality of the photos this camera produced - soft edges, grainy, and very poor color. In fact, I had two big outdoor events to cover, and it was snowy. Most of those pictures were washed out, and snowy areas were so bright white that they only showed up as glare, and not clearly defined snow. Inside was just as bad, even set on the portrait mode, faces had areas of glare so bad that there was an absense of color on cheeks and foreheads. I have a wonderful SLR - very old Nikon camera, and used to be a reporter, covering hundreds of events for our local paper, so I do know how to use the different features on a camera. I went completely through the manual and tried all the different setting adjustments, but couldn't notice any difference to the pictures it took. I hope this was just a lemon, but I doubt it. The camera seemed to operate just fine. I returned it and have ordered a different model to try. What a disappointment!

tjboyce

Pinedale, WY

I have had a Pentax - X90 for a few months now and have literally taken thousands of pictures.  My husband is a die-hard Nikon fan.  (He is a semi-professional photographer.)  I, however, lack the patience and know-how to take the kind of pictures he does.  I was not interested in carrying around a big bag full of different lenses that had to be changed depending on the type of pictures I was going to take.  Much to his dismay, I decided to get the X90.  It is perfect for me.  The zoom capacity for outdoes his unless he gets out his major lenses.  The save time for the pictures is acceptable.  And although I use it in auto mode most of the time, it does have many options for settings and even has a program mode that you can use if you use a certain setting on the camera more often than others.  While it doesn't always get the perfect shot that you can get with the different lenses, it totally is great for the amateur photographer that wants to get excellent shots.

pamso

Hyde Park, UT