I bought this as a gift for my mom to replace her nice, but bulky digital SLR. Her requirements were the camera must take excellent pictures, be user friendly or intuitive, and also be easy to grasp and hold while taking a photo.

The Sony DSC-H70 passed all three by me, and more importantly by my technologically declined mom.

The 10x optical zoom on the camera is sweet, while it isn't as flawless as the alpha models lenses or carl zeiss lenses it comes really close. It has a very high-quality lens and internal components. For the price/quality tradeoff I think this camera beats out all camera's under $300 currently on the market. I think the 16 MP is probably overkill, but it doesn't seem to sacrifice image richness so the more the merrier. Also, the blue color looks classy.

A huge selling point is the smart design of the camera. It has a groove for your thumb on the back, and the front has a slightly raised and concave area opposite of the lens side... Read more

This is my 3rd Sony camera and like the others it takes great pictures. What I mainly like about the camera is the SteadyShot stabilization and the Active mode that is available for videos. Other cameras usually only have an electronic stabilization which doesn't really do anything. Sony's actually physically moves the sensor. Getting up in years, my hands are not as steady as they used to be and at full zoom, taking a picture or video with other cameras at full zoom is very jumpy. Another cool feature is the Sweep Panorama which creates some great shots. Unfortunately the only way I have found to view them in sweep mode is using the included PMB software. Viewing them in a slideshow only gives a static image though. All-in-all, you can't go wrong with this camera.

PRO's - Steadyshot, great pictures. zoom range
CON's - Zoom noise is very prevalent in videos

I really like this Sony. I bought it because I needed a portable camera. I use a Canon S10 IS but it is too big to carry around on vacation or casual events. I was wary because the reviews on Amazon were varied but a digital camera review site gave it extremely high marks. After having this camera for 3 weeks, here are the pros and cons:
PROS:
The best auto - mode I have seen anywhere. I took pics in Disney world in daytime and low light conditions, indoor and out, and the pictures came out great with no flash needed...ISO adjusted automatically
Burst mode - press and hold button to take 3 consecutive shots
10x zoom - almost unheard of for a camera this small
Shutter speed is great, yes really. But if you are in auto mode and the setting has changed (daytime to twilight for example) your first shot will be delayed while it changes to the new mode
Portrait mode will recognize up to 8 faces in your picture, great for families or group shots
Sony... Read more