Just what I wanted...and more.

I've always had trouble shooting in a hockey arena. The lighting conditions conspire against photography.....low light, fast action, horrible color cast, and long distances. I felt the 4X optical zoom might be inadequate, unless I sat in the front row. This is the first camera I can actually recommend the digital zoom function. Because you start with 9 megapixels, using the digital zoom doesn't lower the image quality to any great degree. The anti-blur program takes care of the "long zoom shakes". Exposure and color balance was excellent. This camera starts up quickly, switches modes easily, and the shutter lag is as fast as I've experienced on a compact digital camera. It does what they say it will.