Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver) (OLD MODEL)

Let me start by saying that I am not a big picture taker. In fact, this is my first real camera outside of the ones I have had on my cell phones over the years so this review is coming from a very casual picture taker. That being said, I think this camera is absolutely fantastic. It takes great pictures and the camcorder feature is pretty decent too. It is very easy to use and when in auto mode the camera sets up everything perfectly everytime. I have had no issues with a picture not coming out like I expected. The LCD screen is very good and the pictures look real sharp in them plus when you are taking pictures you can either use the LCD or the viewfinder which I like a lot. I have seen some cameras in this price range that do not include a viewfinder. The camera is very compact and light weight and slides easiler in your front pants pocket. I really cannot find anyting that I do not like about this camera and at this price it is just an amazing value.

I had purchased a Canon Rebel XT DSLR as my "main" camera, but wanted something really small and simple that my wife could stick in her purse. The SD1000 was just the right size and that was the main reason I bought it. To my great surprise I quickly fell in love with this little camera and my wife doesn't get that much chance to use it. It's not a substitute for my DSLR, but it takes great pictures for its size and sure is handy to pack along. I bought the matching Canon camera case and hang it on my belt whenever I think I might want to have a camera along -- it is small and unobtrusive and the magnetic catch on the cover makes it easy to pull out the camera and snap a one-handed shot at a moments notice (makes me feel like an old-West gunslinger!) Another nice surprise is the video capability, which I wasn't even thinking about when I bought this. I setup the programmable button to enable video recording and I find that I use that a lot. It takes surprisingly good videos, and it's so simple and inconspicuous that I don't have to make a big production of it. (You can capture a lot of video on a 2GB card!) Actually, even when I get out my DSLR and assorted lenses for "serious" photograpy, I almost always take the little guy along too. It allows me to mix still pictures and videos, and when I've got a long lens on the DSLR, I can pop out the 1000 for a quick reasonably-wide-angle shot without worrying about changing lenses. There are probably "better" general-purpose cameras, but I've had this little gem for over a year now and am still delighted with its tiny size and big capability. A postscript -- I'm currently in Vail and have been packing this camera along to take pictures while snowshoeing and skiing. Not only is it really convenient, but the rest of my party has been amazed at the quality of the photos. The detail, contrast, and color is great and rarely is there any reason for subsequent photoshop enhancement -- even in snow scenes. The pictures I've been getting actually hold their own with the very expensive (and very heavy) professional style Canon DSLR used by one of the other folks on this trip, but I have mine with me all the time, whereas his mostly sits back at the lodge. I wouldn't claim this little point-and-shoot takes pictures at a par with a good DLSR with large-aperture lenses, but it sure won't embarass you either!

Not only is this camera a great bargain, it's a darn fine bit of kit. You know the specs; now add in pretty speedy shot-to-shot and darn fast setting change/OS response time and yes indeedy, even some key manual controls for when you actually do need/want to get into that. I've used several Canon cameras and enjoyed the ease of use and good service when I needed it (just once.) Know that Canon compact camera shots do have a certain slight softness to them, but the reality is you just cannot have it all. I much prefer the portability. Carrying around an elephant trunk is not for me. On the SD1000, the controls are large and simple to use, the screen is ridiculously large and clear, and it plays lovely, zooming slideshows and the whole thing barely makes a visible bulge in your pocket. (Thing is *tiny,* truly.) I love natural and low-light shots and this cam does not disappoint in either of those departments. (The flash works fine too; I just don't much care for the flash pic look.) If you are the type who likes to chuck the manual in the corner of your closet and brag about how you never, ever read instructions, you probably won't get the most this camera has to offer. It has a *lot* of settings and options, in addition to the goof-proof, just-dial-it-up modes. So read up. It's worth your time. Oh sure, you can certainly take fine pix/videos without ever doing that. But you can really go to town and maybe get that truly magic shot of life that brings joy forever if you do. There's really no downside to this camera if what you want is a simple, inexpensive, quality camera that shoots video with sound and uses cheaper-by-the-minute SD memory cards. (And if you want pin-sharp, professional, RAW-capable equipment, why would you be reading this?!) Nuff said ... buy it and try it before it is gone.

I had a canon A75 for 3 years and all of a sudden one day, the monitor became violet and it stopped taking pictures. The screen has black and violet lines and there was no coming back. If you google this problem, you will see that it happened to many people. Even I was perfectly satisfied with my camera I had to say good bye to it just because sth was wrong with it. I never dropped my camera, I took perfect care of it, so it is sth that canon has to do. I bought my A75 for 230 dollars when they were first in the market. Now, I bought this Elph camera. Looks good, so small. Sometimes I think it will fall from my hands, I feel like I need to tie it around my hand. It takes pretty high quality pictures but the pictures are not great. Even it is high quality picture, it is a poor picture, cannot reflect the real image. This is my opinion, some people might think different. But, if you are looking for sth that you just wonna carry in your purse and take pcitures, buy this one. Otherwise this is not a professional product. 3x zoom is good, too. by the way, canon, are you kidding us? What is 32 mb memory for?:)))) We have to buy the 2 gb card. I mean if you produce sth like this and selling it for 160 bucks and you already put the sd card in. why not make it, 1 gb or 2 gb? anyways.I really feel like, this camera will also go bad in couple of years but still it was a good deal and I bought it.

Pro's:Quick turn on Quick reshot time Great quality- not grainy Great qulaity for the price Has speaker Great video quality Small and sleek Holds battery life Con's: Need to add bigger memory The manual is on disk Great product. It offers many great features for the price. To give you prespective I am still in school so I needed something within my price range and great for point and shoot pictures. This camera is perfect for that- turns on and ready for next picture quickly. Takes great pictures- not grainy or off colored. It is also small enough to fir in my pocket or small purse. (I keep it in a small for fitting case to protect the back screen which broke on my last camera in my purse) I did add a bigger memory chip which was helpful for a recent trip with friends and I often forget to delete photos after loaded to my computer (However, you can find those cheap online or look for sales at stores like Circuit City or Best Buy). Also, I used the video feature for a class project. I was able to film many small videos (about 10 minutes total along with about 150-200 picture on the memory card) with great quality picture and sound. The only thing I have not figured out how to do is make the actual camera's speaker turn up but it sounds perfectly clear on my computer. Lastly, I did not have to download any special software to use the pictures. I put the memory card into my reader and just went on my way. I am super excited to travel around europe with this camera. Highly suggest this camera!

First, this is not a review about all the technical features and a electronics expert review. This review is from a non-techy perspective on the Canon PowerShot. Please do read some of the other reviews for that from electronics experts. I needed to get a camera that was... 1. Really GOOD (Took Great Photos) 2. Super Easy to Use 3. Easily Portable. The Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1MP meets all three of those criteria like a CHAMP. I carry it with me just about everywhere because I can it is such a PERFECT portable size. So I have a small camera with me at the restaurant when I am with my cousins. And I have a small camera with me when we visit Disneyland. And the picture quality is excellent. Again, I am not aiming for professional quality photographs. But I did want excellent quality photographs. My Canon totally delivers that. Where were you this past year where you were kicking yourself because you either didn't have a portable camera or where the quality of you camera (like the one on most digital phones) was poor? Well, buy this camera, and end that happening again in the future. Because this is your portable digital camera, you will want to also purchase a protective case for it to avoid scratches and nicks. Something like Kroo Camera Case for Canon Powershot Camera Digital Camera + Bonus Bundled with Universal LCD Screen Protector Kit + Cloth (Many Color Available) (Slim NylonPink) for the color options, Protective Case For CANON PowerShot Digital Cameras ***Includes Convenient Shoulder Strap & Mini Tripod*** which has both the case and cool mini-tripod for about the same price, or one of the spiffy leather cases like Canon PSC-55 Deluxe Leather Compact Case SD Series Digital Cameras . The one product "drawback" is that the Memory Card holds really only about 15 pix. Which is fine for one evening out with your family. However, when you are traveling for vacation or on a weekend wine country jaunt, you want the freedom to take LOTS of pix without having to run to your laptop and download them to clear some memory. While you are ordering your Canon here, just add a more robust memory card (I bought two because I just NEVER wanted it to be an issue and they are super cheap.) BLAZING 4GB Secure Digital SDHC Memory Card and you are good to go and have fun.

This camera is replacing my SD110 Digital Elph from close to 4 years ago. The basic operating controls are simpler than the older camera, as there are fewer of them. The Print share button is now programmible in the shooting mode, and should be set to Exposure Compensation. This gives the photographer very good manual control of the camera without having to delve into the Main or Set Menu, if not in the classical sense. The body is quite small, about 1/4 inch thinner than the SD110, but still quite solid in feel. The rubber cap allowing access to the USB and AV connections has been replaced by a hinged, close fitting matching plastic door. The build quality is equal to or better than the older camera, but Canon should have kept the turned metallic surrounding lens treatment of the SD110, and perhaps reversed the black treatment of the black model. Battery and memory access is equally good in both cameras. Battery life is very good in the SD1000, but warning of the need to be charged is short. In fact, it's non existant. You get warned, you might get one more shot (or not). Buy an extra battery, keep it charged, and keep it with you. Overall, the camera is worth the effort. If you've been using almost any small digital more than about 2 years old, with an optical viewfinder (or even a larger camera, like my D70 or my daughter's Digital Rebel), you will love the LCD screen on the SD1000. The optical viewfinder on the new Elph, by my reconing, shows about 2/3 to 3/4 of what the camera actually picks up, at all zoom settings. I think that optical viewfinders belong on any camera that represents itself as a serious camera, and the accuracy should be closer to 90% at distances of over 3 feet. All in all, if you also own a DSLR, this is a very nice little "daily driver". It's a small, solid and (if you carry a charged extra battery) very reliable companion. If this will be your only digital camera, start at the top and look at the Canon G7, and work your way down in price through the A700 series to the A500 series. Here you will find pretty full (almost classic?) manual control, optical viewfinders, easy program modes, and still pretty portable cameras. .....Tom

I've bought dozens of electronics from Amazon.com over the past 5 years, and non of them needed any warranty service nor exchange. This well crafted Canon certainly looks like it will last, but I've sold it at a loss after a month's evaluation - cannot bring myself to return such a quality product, yet, it's just not for me. Here is the gist: pictures look fuzzy upon close inspection. This is especially evident in scenes with foliage. I cannot get the clean texture nor the 3-dimensional look as from my Canon Powershot S2IS. Initially I thought the problem was with over-aggressive JPEG compression, a lens sharpness issue, or even slight camera shake, but after comparing file sizes and various settings I think that it is mostly an imager noise issue. Even at ISO 80, the minimum ISO possible, under the brightest of scenes, objects lose their "true look" and don't look like "objects" anymore. Perhaps Canon used a poor sensor, perhaps this is the limit of CCD imagers. The controls are also very "one-dimensional." Again, coming from my S2IS, which has controls on every surface operable with both hands, it's much faster to get the shot you want. In the SD1000, all controls except zoom are on the back, and its various features (hackable using CDHK - Google for the wiki) require quick fingers since they're buried in the menus. It's like talking with someone without using any contractions. I bought this as a companion to my S2IS, having tried another Panasonic Lumix. The Lumix FX10 is especially heavy handed with JPEG compression, and its notoriously noisy sensor likewise ruined its otherwise excellent feature set for me. This is a personal opinion piece by someone spoiled by a bulky, big-lens Powershot S2IS, so you might still find great things to like about this tiny jewel - its minute charger, precision color display, metal body, quick response (impress friends with continous flash photography @ over 1 fps), all screaming top of the line Canon design and Made in Japan precision. If only they fit their next SD series (after their current SD1100IS, which features minor improvements aside from the Image Stabilizer) with some miracle sensor like Foveon or Canon CMOS...

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