Just bought one recently. Very pleased with the image quality, especially in low light. If you are used to a DSLR, you will be able to take full advantage of the high level of manual control that it has.

It is a little bulky for a compact, but it will go into a jacket pocket fairly easily, even in a pouch (I have a soft pouch for it, and I take the lens cap off when it is in the pouch).
I posted some results from it a while back. I think the title I used was "P7700 quick test run" or something like that. It was a while ago, so it's probably quite a few pages in by now.
Hope this helps. I'll try adding some images as attachments.

Twilight shot.


This scene was darker than it looks here


This was taken on a rather gloomy day without much sun.

I agree with everything that you said - especially that bit.

There's a bit of an artist in everybody, and photography allows you to exercise and develop it without having to develop and depend on things like drawing skills or whatever. I think that photography has encouraged me to see things the same way that an artist does (I'm assuming).

Just recently bought a monopod and found it to be far less of a bother than I was expecting. With the camera still attached and the leg collapsed down, it is very easy to carry around.

I would even go as far as recommending one to anybody who wants to improve the shots that they take. I suspect that camera shake can impact image quality negatively in several ways.

When I learn a bit more about manual controls, I intend to experiment with exposure times and aperture settings - I suspect that with a monopod or tripod you can safely use longer exposure times, which will allow a higher f setting, and this in turn will help to achieve a sharper focus. Does anybody care to confirm or contradict this?

That certainly strikes a chord with me. It might seem trivial sometimes, but it's a good way of exercising that inner "eye".

Another thing that I'm sure motivates a lot of snappers is seeing other people's pictures in magazines, forums etc, and thinking "Wow - I wish I had (or could have) done that". Appreciation tinged with envy. It's always in the back of my mind that one of these times I'm going to capture THAT image.

Another incredibly useful Scottish invention (it makes me so proud...).

Time for another Baileys - I mean another coffee. :-D

If you're new to DSLRs, maybe you aren't used to having to think about depth of field (please forgive me if I'm wrong).

If the DOF is too shallow, only some of the shot will be sharp, and the shallower the DOF, the less there will be in focus.

DSLRs are far more DOF-critical because of the larger sensor, and even experienced DSLR users can find it a tricky subject to deal with (going by some of the comments that I've seen).
If you took your shot with a wide aperture, you might find that, for example, the dog's nose is sharp but the rest of the shot is not.

There are more experienced people to advise you here, but maybe this will point you in the right direction.

Don't knock the Irish. I've just discovered the delights of putting a dash of Baileys or County Cream in my coffee. Mmmm....

Gude for yoo

Shakespeare could have said "Appreciation is twice blest"....

You may get something for your D80 secondhand. If that isn't enough, go on holiday in Egypt and sell your wife.
Thought this might help :-)

You won't find many farmers wanting lynx and the like reintroduced. The list would have to include bears which were once native.
I go for solitary walks in the countryside, and I would not like the thought of sharing my rural environment with wolves, bears, lynx and the like. I was told by someone who has Polish ancestry that children can be vulnerable to lynx attacks (I suspect that the same would apply to the other predators - only more so).

I tried resurrecting an old Technika camera and found that the computer successfully installed driver software for it but then failed to recognise it as an additional drive. If the computer won't recognise a camera like that, the only alternative as far as I can see is to use a card reader.

Thanks for that, Sixshooter. I'll add that to my gradually growing list.
Could you explain why wedding gowns? Is it a brightness/contrast thing?

I am in a similar situation to annielee in that I'm trying to wean myself off of depending too much on auto mode. What would help annielee and myself (and anybody else in a similar situation) would be a quick summary as to when auto will not give the best results.
For learners, auto mode is a nice reassuring comfort blanket and the thought of going cold turkey might be a bit daunting. I believe the truth is that most of the time auto mode will give reasonable results that only a pro would be able to improve on, but there will be some (probably very specific) situations where a step away from auto will easily and simply produce better results. Two examples that I've seen mentioned recently are photographing the moon and photographing snow.
Does anybody fancy giving a nice simple summary as to when auto mode is likely to NOT give the best results? (The simpler the better!).

Did something similar getting out of a bath. Made me realise how easily it can happen. I now have a bath mat, and I would be very wary of using a bath that doesn't have one.

Anyone wanting to find out where some Americanisms come from should check out Chaucer.