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I recently purchased a new GE X500 Power Series digital camera with 16 megapixel and 15x optical zoom, 27mm wide angle lens, image stabilization, 2.7’ LCD, 3200 ISO, face auto exposure, auto scene mode, pancapture, and smile/blink/face detection.
Right out of the box this impressively inexpensive camera looks like one of the big boys, and has a lot of power and features to make it comparable to some of the other point and shoot / LSR cams out there. The camera itself only weighs in at 2lbs and is comfortable to hold with its ergonomic design.
The fully extendable lens makes getting those far away shots a breeze with the 15x optical zoom. I was able to stand about 40 yards away and was able to take a clear picture of a couple sitting on a bench.
I took the picture in both black and white and on vivid color modes. The Black and White picture was at 10x zoom, the color photo was at 7x zoom and I was about 40 yards away from them.
As you can see from both photos there is no loss of quality or distortion as there are in other camera’s on the market, which makes this a nice camera for beginners and hobbyists alike. Also being at this distance you can really tell that the image stabilizer helped.
The other thing that I love about this camera is the manual flash. It stays closed until you press the release button thus opening it, and its instantly charged. The other great thing about this camera is the large 2.7’ LCD screen.
I’ve had camera’s in the past that have had nice LCD screens but this one takes the cake. I was shooting on a sunny day, above a beach, and I had no problem seeing the screen, unlike some cameras that force you to have to cover them to see the display. Another great thing about the display is the button on the top right corner that reads LCD/EVF. The GE X500 Power Series is equipped with an Electronic View Finder which is a neat and unexpected feature that I wasn’t aware of when purchasing this camera. You also have the choice of turning the display off to conserve battery life. However, I don’t know about you but I use the LCD screen to frame my shots. For power the camera is ran on 4 AA batteries 
While playing around with it, because you know like most men we never read an instruction manual, and prefer to meander through learning any new piece of tech like a monkey doing a math problem. That being said….Navigation of this camera is a bit confusing. Depending on the setting that you have it on depends on what menu options you have. It wasn’t until about 15minutes of messing with it that I found the settings for vivid color, black and white, and sepia. I also discovered some boarders for special ‘framing’ of pictures which was sadly lacking as they are very generic but still fun and whimsical.
There are also some fun camera modes like fish eye effect and one called sketch which makes the whole picture look like it was drawn with a pencil.
The next feature the Pancapture mode is by far the best surprise about this camera. I have never taken a panoramic picture before so I was a little scared when doing it, but the on screen navigation for this function was simple to use and follow. When you take set the camera up it asks you which direction you are wanting to film from, you use the directional keys and make your selection. Then you take your first shot and a line with a + at the end shows you where to move your camera to. If you fail to line the shot up you have to start all over again, but as soon as you line up it snaps the second shot and moves to the third and final shot, resulting in crisp full shots.
The GE X500 also allows for you to record movies which makes it like a high price handycam too. You still have access to some of the features that you do with the camera part of it, like the full zoom, image stabilization, and clean crisp audio.
All and All I give the GE X500 Power Seriesem> camera a 8 out of 10 stars. For the price it’s a great camera. However, menu navigation is not intuitive. The user manual is on a CD so there isnt a paper copy you can keep with you while you are out and about. I recommend this camera for anyone who wants to start taking pictures or are looking for a new camera to buy. I did some shopping around and found this camera ranging from $119 – $140 and refurbished from about $90 – $100. I first saw the camera at Wal-Mart and it was on sale. I looked on eBay, Amazon, CircuitCity.com, Frys.com, NewEgg.com, and TigerDirect.com and found that Amazon had the best deal. For $144.00 I was able to get a packaged deal that included the GE X500, a set of rechargeable batteries, a tripod, a 8gb memory card, a USB card reader, lens care kit, and a camera bag.
The other nice thing about having shopped on Amazon, was that I was able to find a 2 year replacement warranty that included drops and spills for $30 that covered $150-$170. For for $206 after taxes it was shipped.
I am super happy with it, and am looking forward to taking many great pictures. So if your on the market for a new camera, check out this guy.
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