I happened to have the F30 on my hip when we stopped at a nursery to buy a couple of bushes and out of the corner of my eye saw a lot of activity at a butterfly bush. It was literally covered with tiny very active butterflies that moved too fast to catch. I did, however, spy this HUGE bee that was going about its business very slowly so I started shooting it. Found I could get very close and didn't have to zoom and shot literally a couple of inches away from it. It would not be perturbed by the camera - I even turned on the flash. I love the way the F30 squelches the flash power so subjects aren't overexposed. It seems to have a particularly well engineered flash. (Of course, pbase is not going to show whether or not the flash was used. If you'd like to know, the EXIF (under "more properties")in Flickr will indicate that: http://www.flickr.com/photos/isabel95/