The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 is light enough to bring along just about anywhere, and the lens stays in closer than competing 18x designs, a design feature that will likely minimize damage over the life of this fine digital camera. If the lens is the big story with the Panasonic FZ18, the rest is just gravy. Face detect autofocus, multiple aspect ratios, optical image stabilization, white balance fine-tuning, adjustable flash intensity, and live histogram are all good to have with this excellent optic.