Nikon Coolpix 5200 is my first digital camera, bought after siginificant web research. I used SLR cameras in the past and was initially reluctant to use digital point-and-shoot. After having used this new camera of mine, I must agree it is not bad at all. Let me list down some positives and negatives that I have noted so far:

Positives:
1. Very light weight. When I compare with my friend's Canon A85, etc. this one is really light.
2. Clear picture, nice color balance. Quality lens.
3. Decent battery life + rechargeable battery.
4. Great look, nice design. You feel proud.
5. In-built Red Eye.

Negatives:
1. The auto focus is not up to the mark. Unless you are very careful, there is a high chance you will land up in out-of-focus shots.
2. The potrait mode comes with default Red-Eye reduction and you cannot permanently change it. The problem with Red Eye reduction is that several flashes are triggered and wastes battery life. Note that you don't necessarily need Red Eye for all potrait shots. So for every shot you need to change the mode to single-flash.
3. Too many modes unnecessarily create confusion. Pictures taken in different modes not necessarily are different.
4. In-built Red Eye works, but not always. I have got quite a few Red Eyes even using Red Eye reduction mode.
5. 3x optical zoom is barely enough.

A few tips on purchasing digital camera:
1. Don't go by the megapixel bandwagon. I rarely use the 5 megapixel feature of this camera and almost always use it in 2 megapixel mode to store more shots in my 128 MB flash.
2. 2 megapixel shots are good enough for up to 8x10 enlargements.
3. A good camera is defined by its lens, metering ability, focusing, zoom, low distortion, color balance, etc. They come from the digital processing and the lens function.

Hope this helps.

I bought this camera 2 weeks ago, and I love it! I have two Nikon SLR cameras already, so I decided to go once more with Nikon for my first digital camera. I bought an extra battery (batteries take 2 hours to charge, but battery life is good), a 512 mb card, which holds a LOT of pictures, and a camera case. Most of my pictures have turned out pretty good. I have had a few that were blurry. I have also had some reddish skintones, but by trial-and-error, I have come to the conclusion that it was from poor indoor lighting. The red-eye feature is great, but if your kids more around as fast as mine do, using this feature slows the shutter speed, and you miss the actual picture you were trying to get! I think the few minor problems I have found with this camera are due to my mistakes. I have yet to try out several of the other features. You will have little problem with this camera if you READ THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL!!! I looked over mine while the battery charged the first time. It saved me a lot of time. Nikon wins again!

I purchased this camera and have been very happy with it. It is a great size and weight. My pictures have turned out great!

The program it comes with to edit your pictures has a great email feature... It automatically reduces the size of the picture from 5MP (or whatever you took the picture in...) to 640x480 for easy and quick emailing. It sends the picture(s) directly to your email software.

I have only 2 problems with the camera...

(1) you can't rotate pictures on the camera. If you take a picture lengthwise, usually a camera (like many Cannon and many Sony cameras) will have a feature that allows you to rotate the picture so you can view it without holding the camera sideways. Nikon should have added this simple, but useful feature. You can, however, rotate the pictures once you upload them to Picture Project before emailing them. But, it takes time to go through each photo and make sure it is positioned correctly for email, but at least you can do it so people don't have to lay their heads on their desks to view your pictures!

(2) the Picture Project software that comes with the camera makes it very easy to post your pictures to Nikon's website, but it takes alot of time to post your pictures to (for example) Ofoto.com or Sams's Club.com. Both of those companies print cheap digital prints (Ofoto is .29 cents and Sam's Club is .18 cents per print)... I think Nikon.net's price was .45 cents per print (no thanks!).

A BIG plus to buying this camera is their technical online help. They were GREAT!!! I emailed my questions about my two "problems" above and they emailed me back with solutions within 3 days and it was FREE! I can wait up to 3 days for an answer if it is free. No problem!!

All in all I think this is a GREAT camera and I would purchase it again even with the two MINOR problems I've had!! It was even rated "Editor's Choice" in a few magazine's. I'm very happy with the Nikon 5200!

It is a great camera. It takes great action shots in the light, good portrait shots anywhere. and really great regular shots. Battery life is great and size is perfect. It just works and does the thing its supposed to do, TAKE GOOD PICTURES. You won't be disapointed.

Don't forget to get at least 256MB for memory card)

This is an excellent camera!

I particularly like the speed of wich it takes picures in the "sports" mode. No other cameras I have experience with is anywhere close to its 2,5 pics per second (you'll probably need a good quality SLR to match this). If you, like me, plan to take action pictures (skiing, etc.), no other compact camera is better.

The picture quality is very good, and the "red eye-fixer" is working allmost perfectly (I think I've seen red eyes ONCE during my first couple of hundred pics). The user friendlyness is also very good, logical and easy to understand, even for me that have little prior experience with Nikon.

The only downside with the camera is the screen size which does not match many of today's new cameras. Besides the size the screen is good, with excellent visibility in most situations. And in my opinion, cameras are constructed to TAKE pictures, slide shows should be on your tv or computer..