- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 18 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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15 out of 15 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Great cam and near perfect pictures more than make up for no IS like its little brother."
Pros: Everything about the camera is amazing.
Cons: Only room for improvement would be the lowlight shooting. IS would have made this THE camera to have for the year and raised the bar.
Summary: Yesterday, I got home with my new sd800. And due to the scrutiny of the forums, I immediately had to test it. I compared exact duplicate shots from my SD550 to this ?upgrade? sd800. I am very sad to say that in normal shooting conditions, this model just couldn?t keep up. The main things I saw the sd800 losing horribly to the sd550 in were: picture clarity, sharpness (edge to edge) and color accuracy (the sd800?s produces a very warm shot, too much yellow & red). This was a disappointment indeed when you compare the fact that my sd550 is almost a year old.
Now, on the flip-side, and should you ever find yourself in ?overhead fan lighting,? this will be where the true benefits of the sd800 become VERY clear. If this is how you shoot, the IS will become a lifesaver for every single shot. But aside from a museum or other ?no flash,? location, RARELY am I not using the flash on my camera. And I found the trick to not having over-saturation or too much flash contrast (whatever the model) is to just lower the brightness setting prior to shooting and use a bit of Photoshop shadow highlight love. (Although this can never fully prevent your shot from the flashlight effect left on objects from shooting, but it helps). This camera is only ideal for shooting in an IS situation. Period. Or at least IMHO, but it is my review right? lol
My solution was simple. I ended up taking a risk against better judgment, returned the sd800, and got the sd900. Let me just say that the quality from this camera will NEVER be achievable from an SD800. So make the call. If IS is your ?make or break feature,? go for the 700is, or800is. However if its quality you want from your shots, and you aren?t found in low light situations often, the 550 or 900 are the way to go! Price per mega pixel being the only difference.
PS- Cnets review of both the sd900 and the sd800 showed such a fanboy lack of effort in thier lust for the sd800 they almost lost all credibility with me. It just shows how little they do know about the things they speak. Sad.
- 3 replies to this review
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I liked your review about the SD900. The picture clarity is what drew me more the model. I do have a question for you, though.
I am trying to choose between the 800 and the 900. I am going to use it mainly indoors/low light with mostly people and pets. I will have some pictures of landscapes/outdoors. Which one do you think I should go for?
Thanks. Any input would be much appreciated. ^_^ -
I was inclined to purchase the SD800IS because of it's low light capabilities. However, after reading this comment I checked the lowest user ratings for the SD800 and found several postings that criticize the picture quality. They appear to be objective and a few had earlier Canon models that they felt outperformed the SD800IS. So I found this posting most helpful.
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I try myself and found picture quality was perfect & consistence. Maybe the poster doesn't have enough time to play with this camera. I can't give any opinion on comparison with sd550/sd900 since this is my first sd series camera. I own nikon D50 with 18-70mm lens but I can't tell my D50 picture quality better than this expecially on macro shot and stabilization mode. Those two features are excellent in my opinion.
Where to buy
Canon PowerShot SD900:
$489.95
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$489.95 | Yes |
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