One reviewer mentioned that their L1 broke on the 29th picture. I never even got that far - it arrived with a malfunctioning zoom. Also, image quality has been highly erratic (could be the flourescent problem another user mentioned). This is my first digital - I'm an experienced SLR and computer user, but I found the menu to be cumbersome, and the LCD very small. The camera is very "cute" and compact, but I'll be looking into either a different Sony or Canon for an exchange.

This is the first digital camera I ever got, and man, did I not regret purchasing it. There is so much that I can say about this camera, but I want to keep it down too a minimum.

Pros:
*Design - Slick and portable: Pretty much the height and length of a credit card, and the width of two CD Cases. So compact, I easily lose it in my pocket sometimes!
*Picture Quality - 3x Optical Zoom with 3.4 Megapixels and a Carl Zeiss lensframe. Don't understand what I'm saying? Neither do I, but damn if these pictures aren't good looking.
*Weight - Remember the really old cameras where you had to put them on a tripod, put your hand up holding a huge bulb, and hide your head under a cloth to take a picture? Well yeah, this isn't anything like it :-P
*Video - Not really something to point out here, but I just love filming video on my camera with friends (I've made over 100 videos, and I have a 1 GB Stick, allowing to film up to 46 minutes per video!)

Cons:
*Microphone - Filming takes a little used to, considering the microphone is on top of the camera where I usually put my index finger to rest
*Scroll button - Looking through the menus and previews of pictures/videos can be tough, being that the scroll is just a tiny knob that you have to push to the left/right/up/down.

In my opinion, a great first buy for me. I worship this thing for what it can do, even if it does not do as much compared to other types of cameras. If you want to start out small and relatively cheap, this product can be a great thing to buy.

I've been a long time user of Sony digital cameras. The two I currently have (P5 and P100) have performed beautifully over the years. I've never had a lick of problem with either. So, when I decided to buy a small compact camera that I could throw in a pocket I decided to go with Sony again. After looking at the T1 model, I wasn't too impressed with the picture quality. Too much of a compromise was made to get the unit small. Then I can across the L1. It has been the perfect little camera. It's small- about the size of a Snicker's bar- so I can keep it in my pocket. The pictures are terrific- 4Mp meets all my needs. The picture quality has been superb too. Much better than the T1. Although I mostly run it off of full auto mode, it does have nearly as many manual options as my P100 has (ISO, scenes, quality). And to top it off, the camera is fast. Power on to first shot plus shot to shot timing is lightning fast. I've been very happy with this camera.

There are a few things that keep me from giving it a full 5 stars. First, while the LCD is sharp and works well in most lighting, it's still on the small size compared to other cameras. There is room on the camera where they could have put in a 1.8" or even 2" LCD instead. That would have made a big difference. Also for some reason, Sony chose to go with a separate bracket for tripod attachment instead of putting the screw mount right on the camera. This is a pain. Fortunately, I don't use a tripod with the L1 very often.

Overall the L1 is a great little camera. For the cost, it's portability and picture quality can't be beat

I have to admit that Sony, one of my favorite eletronics brand, really had a great idea to launch this model. It's small, quick and it has a Carl Zeiss lens, but I really think Sony will change this model.

I bougth two of those, and both are broken within less than a month of very small and carefull use. The first broke the small command lever located on the back of the camera, and the second the lens got stuck into the camera when I was going the take the 29th picture with the camera !!?! Impressive!

Those were my third Sony digicam model, having owned previewisly a F717 and a P9, never had problems, but this model may have been launched in a hurry for the 2004 Xmas sales and might have not been kept for testing for the necessary period of time.

I hope I can save some of you from having trouble.

BIG PROBLEM if you're a traveler: if you're planning to travel abroad, make sure you have a voltage converter or extra batteries...

i just assumed that this would work, now i'm abroad without a backup plan!!!