My Nikon D70 camera takes really great pictures.  The zoom allows for clear pictures from a good distance.  Recently on a river boat trip I took pictures of people on shore, and it was like they were next to me. The camera is light and easy to handle. It focuses automatically and provides very clear and crisp pictures. The portrait setting provides excellant closup photos of people. This is my first SLR digital camera, and will not got back to a point and shoot camera, except in a need of a pocket camera.