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"Good little camera, lots to offer. some flaws." on by fet123456
Pros: Small camera, big 3" Screen, good pictures, good movie mode
Cons: Could use more zoom, and optical zoom during movie mode
Summary: I been looking for a camera for a month now, I bought the Sony T100, Panasonic TZ3 and Canon TX1 and returned them all, you can read why on their own reviews in Cnet.com.
I recently bought this camera and I guess I had to make some sacrifices, but got some good stuff in return. This camera is nice and small and to be honest the 3" screen is amazing. I guess I had to realize what I needed more, and when from there. I mostly use my cameras during snowboarding trips. So I need something small, and with a wide lens to get nice scenery pictures, plus it helps for the self portraits.
The camera is faster than the tx1, and it produces better result as far as picture quality goes, much less noise and sharper pictures. the video is pretty good except you can only use the digital zoom, and not the optical. this is due to amount of noise the optical zoom makes and the microphone would pick it up. The noise in the pictures is keep well under range, much much better than the tx1 and the t100, but not as good as the TZ3, but then again people complain that panazonic is pushing the limit with the noise reduction, and creating to many artifacts.
Low light performance is pretty good, the flash is somewhat powerful, better than the TX1. Colors are kept nice and strong during lower light situations and amount of detail is well kept as well.
The battery is nice and strong, it should be more than enough for 2 days or so, close to 300 pictures. The camera is light 153gr, somewhat small.
The BEST option this camera offer is the 28mm lens, it is simply the best. You can get better shots and get a lot more detail than a 35mm, I believe about 33% more detail in each picture.
Yes I lost the HD video but I more about pictures than video, although it would been nice to have the HD video as swell.
People complain about the view finder, to be honest this is why I bought this one instead of the SD800 IS, if you want a viewfinder get that one, it's the same camera. I personally love the 3" screen. Yes they could of left some of the plastics out of the camera, but it's not that bad, I bought the silver one in my opinion it looks better that the black one.
I guess between the 4 cameras I bought the only two I would consider are this one and the Panasonic TZ3, the only thing holding me on the TZ3 is the size of the camera and the lack of color accuracy in the pictures and the fact that you cannot even use the digital zoom in the video(but the again you get a 28mm-290mm lens, instead of 28mm-105mm lens).
here are some pictures for you to look at
http://www.flickr.com/gp/10297837@N05/096Rpe
I will try to upload the video later on. -
"It DOES have exposure controls" on by sergloewe
Pros: Size, image quality
Cons: More plastic used?
Summary: Why do you guys keep saying sd cameras don't have exposure controls? WIth this camera (as with any other canon elph or sd) if you shoot in manual mode you can compensate exposure, with the -/+ slider under the ironically named "Exposure Compensation" menu item .... Figures....
What you can not do is adjust shutter speed or aperture ...
Image quality is great for snaps, i.s. works great, etc... unfortunately, display quality control leaves a lot to be desired as it is my third with dead pixels. Also, not a fan of the excessive amount of plastic used around the frame. -
"Glad I swapped the Sony DSC-t100 for this" on by bramz
Pros: Killer screen, great low-light performance, wide angle
Cons: A bit thick, confusing navigation
Summary: This camera replaces my Canon SD20 (I've owned two of those). Cnet gave the Sony DSC-100 a slightly higher rating, so I bought one of those for $100 less. Without going into details redundant to other reviews, in my opinion this camera simply outperforms the Sony in what I consider an ultra-compact's most important role -- low-light, no-flash indoor shots. Much less grainy noise, and easier to set the ISO. I still get lost trying to navigate through the features, but in the end I end up with pretty good shots. As others have said, it is pretty plastic-y, but it's what's on the inside that counts.
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"Picture quality not as good as reviewed" on by darrinjoiner
Pros: It was shiney, and has a great display.
Cons: Quality of picture not what I expected. Lots of grain when you close in. Indoor pictures were terrible. Zoom button is wrapped around the shutter button and feels horrible on your finger (I still prefer thumb zoom and finger shutter).
Summary: I bought several cameras (Canon SD870, 890 and SX100) trying to replace my old canon 2.1 MP camera and returned them all. I visit every camera review site gathering info before I buy. Each time, the photos don't match up with the camera reviewers. I have yet to find one that rivals the quality of my old canon with increased detail. Seems detail (megapixels) = more grain. I find that the new canon powershots using the DIGIC 3 processor all suffer from the same problems. Flash photos are all over exposed, macro photos lack consistant detail, any low light photos are grainy. I am still waiting for a powerful compact camera that has a decent zoom (6x) and takes fantastic pictures regardless of the lighting conditions. Hey CANON, stop focusing on facial recognition and other gimicks, and really make a camera that takes great pictures.
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"Big spots on LCD after 2 years of very gentle use!" on by canonsucksthebigone
Pros: The 28mm lens is outstanding. Battery life was great. Controls are intuitive.
Cons: I kept this camera very protected. I never dropped it nor did it ever get hit. I always kept it in a padded case. However the beautiful 3" LCD developed two gray circles last week. When I called Canon they would not offer any consideration.
Summary: I will never buy another Canon product again. I understand that warranties have limitations but I would expect some flexibility when it comes to an obvious defective component.
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