Canon PowerShot SX260 HS 12.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 20x Image Stabilized Zoom 25mm Wide-Angle Optical Lens and 1080p HD Video (Black)

I had bought this camera a few years ago for my wife to replace an older Canon point and shoot. The old one took great pictures, but noise or artifacts started to show up in the pictures in the form of dots here and there. Then bought another one for her mother few years later.Right away, when she started using the new camera, she noticed that it took great, sharp pictures. What the difference was that by just using the auto setting, the pictures came out great, effortlessly. No need to fuss with the settings for anything particular. The camera did the adjustments quite accurately, enough.The camera is full of useful features. One I was interested in was the burst modes, where you can take several shots in a row. I took a sequence shot of my kid jumping off from a swing. It captured the path that she took to where she landed in the sand.I've read comments about noises/hissing with video mode. We never noticed any noises until I compared the second SX260 with my old Sanyo video camera. Sure enough, there was hissing. Then I compared the first SX260 and the same hissing was there as well.I don't know if the hissing I heard is the same as ones mentioned in other comments, though. But it wasn't bad enough that we didn't even realize until they were compared.There were other comments about speed. This camera can be fast in bright settings, but will yield poor/blurred images in darker situations. I'd guess that this is related to the size of the optical sensor where the light is absorbed. So, (in simplified form) if you have lots of light, the "shutter" speed can be fast, but with low light, the shutter has to be slower. Therefore, blurred images.So, this camera may not be for taking sports scenes in all types of lighting. Find a camera with much larger sensor(s) if you want to take fast action shots.Lastly, this camera has been obsoleted a while ago when the SX280 came out. It turns out that the SX280 is inferior to SX260 in quality. They have low ratings for being a "lemon." So, at that time of purchase, SX280 was selling for much less than the SX260. That is if you can find SX260 any more. The SX260 seems to be getting harder to find, so I was afraid that some of the stores that are still selling these, may be the last of the returned items. They could be defective/refurbished, or last of the leftover stocks. The one I got turned out fine. Everything seems to be in order. But then, we haven't used it much, since it's a gift to my wife's mother.

I am stunned that this camera has such high ranking feedback. I assume the picture quality is very good (I've yet to download and see my photos.) The issue is--TAKING THE PHOTOS! Good luck. There's multiple huge issues: The mechanical FLASH is placed exactly where most people hold the camera with their left hand. The shutter release button is right next to the Power on/off switch on the right side top of the camera. AGAIN? After All These Years!? How long have digital cameras been around now? I remember having this crazy-making issue (accidentally shutting the camera off rather than snapping the photo) on cameras years and years ago. After inadvertenly shutting the camera off, now you have the ten second restart cycle and the picture is gone. WHY HAS CANON NOT LEARNED THIS? (Yes, the power button is shaped differently. So what? When taking a picture, one's left and right brain are most likely occupied with the subject and the picture.) I'll tell you why the on/off button is next to the shutter--because the engineers put it there and do not care about what the consumers/users want or need. It's a classic example of "The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity"--This is a book written over ten years ago and available here on Amazon. BTW, I am an engineer with an MSEE---I know when I see tech decisions that totally ignore common street smarts. (I owned a Ford Explorer where the change holder was immediately next to the CD player cartridge door. Coins would fall into the player and destroy it. Ford's solution---they placed a sticker on the CD player which read: DO NOT DROP COINS INTO THE CD PLAYER--making it YOUR PROBLEM.) 'pretty bad, but it really gets worse. The brilliant, crack engineering team put the flash unit (which mechanically rises out of the camera) on the exact opposite (top left) side of the camera, where most everybody (symmetrically) holds the camera. Your right hand/finger are on the right at the shutter/power button, and your left hand/finger are now on the left side, covering the flash unit. SHAME ON YOU! So what happens? You're trying to get a picture off---you're lucky enough not to shut the camera off with the power button, then the flash struggles to pop up through your finger...then it jams. Not only is the picture lost---but it gets user-unfriendly WORSE from here. The camera's software now goes into an error mode. The flash can no longer be used with the camera. An ERROR MESSAGE comes up on the screen telling you that you must restart the camera before the FLASH can be used again. WOW!! I'm writing this from the floor. Really? Imagine if airline software or even automobile software was written this way. You'd have to pull off the road and restart the car because you didn't get your seatbelt on right. WHY can't the software itself reboot without your attention? BTW: Canon's solution to this: MAKE IT YOUR PROBLEM: In the instruction manual they tell you how you should hold the camera---palm down under the bottom. Really? Good thing Canon does not (re)design forks or knives. We'd be holding them in some foreign way. So now, again, you are in a power-recycle mode trying to get a picture taken. FRUSTRATING frustrating FRuStRaTiNg! We want to take pictures of our ACTIVE five year old. The reason I bought this specific camera after hours of research was because its response time was supposedly quick. We completely miss the shots with all this nonsense---and guess what? Its response time is miserable anyway---pathetic---even if you manage to get your fingers in all of the right places. Lastly (in the physically ridiculous department) the battery goes in MORE EASILY backwards. One needs to struggle to get it in correctly. It's easier to "plop" it in backwards. You only then know it's backwards because it will not seat the remaining 5% of the way down. YIKES again! I am so disappointed with this design-disaster. I believe the optical/electronic engineers did their job, but the interface engineers were out to lunch. Shameful---after years and years of people using cameras, they ignore how people use cameras and the booby traps that they so easily fall into. I want to cry or smack a designer after all of the time and trouble I put into choosing this camera FOR MY WIFE for Christmas. Rather than showing her how easy it is to use, I have to show her the many things to avoid, watch out for, and how to RECOVER from the problem once engaged. Sad.