Canon Reviews

This is a fantastic camera. I bought it for my wife as a general point and shoot and after playing with it found it to be far more capable. Excellent feedback, easy menus, lots of little "neato" features such as black and white, sepia toning, oversaturdation, signal histograms, 50-400 ISO range, video recording, etc. Enough features to make it a worthy tool for even more serious photography.

It's shortfalls are few. It lacks a manual focus capability, the zoom range is limited, video record times are somewhat limited, and though its small size is abundantly convenient, it makes holding the camera steady for slow shutter and telephoto shots difficult.

Nevertheless, it is a lot of camera for the price. Go to Amazon and spend the $... to buy a 128MB or 256MB Compact Flash card. The extra storage will be appreciated. Enjoy!

I recently sold my Canon S30. While it was an EXCELLENT camera, I still found myself wanting a more compact design. It wasn't difficult to decide upon the S230 from the Digital ELPH line of camera's once they had a 3.2MP version.

I'll say this, everything about this camera is top notch. If your looking for a high quality, well built camera that easily fits in your pocket, look no further.

Only bad thing I can think of is the rubber door that covers the proprietary connection port on the side of the camera. It seems pretty flimsy and eventually with enough opening and closing may just wear off. It's a very thin piece of rubber. Other then that, that's all I can think of.

You can try and knock the flash or the weak optical zoom, but if you consider the size of camera your working with I'd say they are more then adequate. If you need a lot of flash power, or a big zoom lense, look for another camera.

What a work horse, plus the great size, just fits in my shirt pocket. Battery life is outstanding, but get a backup, plus this one uses compact flash so I was able to get the Sandisk II 512meg CF card also at Amazon for about $100. It's so good I bought a camera for everyone in my family.

We got an E6 Error on our camera, sent it to the Canon Authorized Repair in Illinois. We received an estimate for $155, with a note that it could cost more to repair. There was no explanation of the problem, just "fix due to E6 error." So we bought a new camera (Sony) and gave up on the Canon. We owned the camera for 2 years and 3 days.

I "upgraded" from a Nikon 950 digital camera to the S20 for 2 reasons, longer battery life and smaller form factor. However I wish I would have stuck with the Nikon. This picture quality of the S20 is good, but not great. The Nikon 950 beats it easily as the jpeg compression seems to be much better.

Looking back I probably should have invested in some rechargable batteries for my Nikon as the S20 is better but not that much on battery life. I ended up having to buy the rechargable battery kit from Amazon as the replacements for the S20 are super expensive while the Nikon used standard AA batteries.

My other problem I have had is after 3-4 days of extensive use, the camera has become scratched and nicked very easily. I was carrying it in my pocket with keys (ouch), and I did set it on several different surfaces to take "timer" pictures with my wife, but is seems that is was way to easy to nick up. So be careful with it and always keep it in the case if possible. I wanted the smaller form factor so I could carry it around with ease!

So in summary: 1.) Picture quality is good, but not great 2.) I love the smaller form factor (major buying decision base on this fact) 3.) Semi nice deal from Amazon on this package 4.) Case is nice, but should be included for free standard 5.) 16MB card at high resolutiuon and high quality holds only 6-7 pictures! 6.) Get the Viking 128MB CF card from Amazon... because you will ned the space

If I had it to do over again, I would have kept the Nikon...happy with Amazon service and product none the less.

I would strongly recomend this camera, I bought it to supplement my SLR for trips where I don't have room to carry a big camera around. It is very small and fits nicely into my pocket which is great for travel to countries where you don't want people to know you have money. I would definitely recomend buying the rechargeable battery kit, a spare battery and at least 128MB of extra memory. The picture quality is very good especially in the manual mode where you can change the type of light metering, the white balance and many other adjustments.

I've owned this camera for about two years, and I'm generally pretty unhappy with it.

My biggest complaint is the incredible delay between the time you hit the shutter button and the time this thing actually snaps off a picture ... it varies depending on conditions, but usually is a full 2-3 seconds. That doesn't sound like much, but try counting it to yourself ... one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi ... and imagine trying to take any kind of action shot with that sort of delay. Forget about kid pictures, they don't sit still long enough for this thing! I've gotten more pictures of the backs of my kids' heads than I can count.

The digital zoom is hokey and clumsy to use. The optical zoom works well, but is underwhelming at 2x power.

The detail in the full 3 megapixel shots is very nice, but the color balance and exposure are often too dark, too orange, whatever. Outdoor shots in full light usually look good with nice contrast and detail. The flash is weak, as noted by other reviewers.

Nearly all of this camera's functions are dependent on a fragile four-way "joypad" control. Mine broke after a few months, and was replaced free (after another 2 months of delay) by Canon. The knob on the top that selects operating modes feels very flimsy, and sticks out such that it is easily jarred into an "on" setting when the camera is slipped into or out of a pocket or bag.

Canon's lack of inclusion of a rechargeable battery and recharger are inexcusable for a camera that burns through $15 disposable batteries in a few days.

One last complaint -- this camera is heavy for its size! The metal body (aside from the flimsy controls) has a rugged feel, but you will definitely feel the weight of this unit if you lug it around in a pocket.

I have one of these in my glove box and use it all the time. My other Camera is a G2 and admit the G2 is far better than the S20. As most will agree the battery is flat too soon to trust for more than 20 mins. I've built some Li-ion batteries for this camera and solved the problem. I now can run almost 3hrs. before a charge in needed. Canon made a big mistake powering this with 5 AAA Ni-MH cells, should have been the Li-ion's like my G2. The G2 goes forever on a charge and the Li-ion batteries hold a solid charge with a very low rate of static dicharge.
The S20 is still a valid camera in my bag and many of my local news photos are shots taken with my S20. Its been a solid kick around digital thats hit the floor many more times than any plastic model could ever take, and if its too heavy for some then I guess you'd be crying about why Canon made the case out of plastic. Yes I have dents in my S20 but the case is why my S20 has lasted the many miles and bumps it has. OK so the S20 is a basic camera in todays market but as a used 3.3MP (Amazon's, header incorrectly states 3.2)
Digital its been time and road tested to be an Excelent example.

The Canon S20 is the perfect combination of simplicity, function, and high technology. The camera takes fantastic pictures that are consistently clear, ungrainy, and in focus, even in odd lighting conditions. The metering system is great, as is the autofocus and the telephoto; all work near-flawlessly.

The S20's greatest strengths is its simplicity and its size. Although it does not offer advanced features (such shutter-speed priority, full manual, etc.) that some of the Nikons and more expensive Canons do, even an inexperienced camera user (digital or not) will have no problem taking great photographs. All of the moderately complicated features on the Canon such as macro-mode, toggling the flash, and red-eye reduction are as easy as hitting a clearly labelled, obvious button. Additionally, the S20 is just like a "regular old camera." There are no bizare swivling things like on the Nikons, and more importantly, the camera is small enough to fit easily in a small bag or large pocket.

Please note that in addition to the camera itself, you will have to buy the battery recharger and, unless you want to be limited to a few megs, an extra PC card which will both add some money to your purchase. Still, for the camera you get, the extra purchases are not a big deal.

Overall, a fantastic little camera. Look no further.

The Canon S-10 is perhaps one of the best compact digital cameras out there. Everything about this camera says canon quality. The body, except for the battery and flash storage doors is all around metal. Front plate, top, back plate, lens bezel, all magnesium and aluminum. Another reviewer talked about breaking one of the doors, I'm not quite sure what sort of torture test he was putting his camera through. It's a camera people. Not a hammer, or a brick. Dont drop it.

The next great thing about this camera is, well the lens and the CCD. Canon gained alot of experience in building small optics with their hit Elph Cameras, it is employed here. While small, the lens is a fast f 2.8 giving you an edge over most digital cameras, as you can better utilize existing light, without having to resort to flash. The CCD, image sensor is bar none. I think it may be the best 2.1 megapixel sensor made. This camera produces great images that unlike on other digital cameras, dont need to be sampled down. They're very low noise, and when printed produce good 8x10"s. I would say that the S-10's practical resolution is on par with most point and shoot APS cameras. Another plus is the Low-Glare Color LCD on the back of the camera. Best of any digital camera I've used, and I use it alot to frame pictures. For the more experienced photographers, the S-10 has some manual controls, Exposure compensation +/- 2 stops in 1/3 increments, Selectable White Balance, Spot Metering (with real time preview through the LCD screen) and Variable ISO 100-400.

Downside: This camera uses 2CR5 Lithium photo batteries which are expensive.. Canon does make a rechargeable battery, and a charger (Kit DK10) but it dosent come with the camera in the US. So you will probably want to spend a bit extra on one of these. My only other nag, is the lack of a PC connector for an external flash. But this camera is more of a point and shoot, so that's a little superflous.

Other nice things: USB suppourt, and suppourt for IBM's microdrive cards, so you can cram 1GB worth of picture storage memory into this little silver camera.

It dosent come much better than this.

Wow what a camera. The Cannon PowerShot S10 is a fantastic, made in Japan well designed camera. It is easy to operate, takes great photos and is built to last. Quality and ease of use are present in all parts of this product. The doors to access the battery and memory card are opened by moving a switch. No more turning red with anger opening those cheap plastic battery doors. A lot of the cameras out there only do USB, this camera does both Serial and USB connections. The sofware bundle is great. The ... Value package adds a 32 meg memory card, extra battery and case. The Memory card sells for ... ... if bought seperatly. I bought the power kit for the camera right away. Having recharable batteries is a must and being able to also run on house current is helpful if you use the LCD screen a lot. If you add up the value of the extras (memory ... extra batt. $10 case $10) and sales tax savings ... (in my case) how can you beat this deal. So after you get that headache from looking at too many Digi Cameras online, take two aspirin and get the PowerShot S10 you'll feel better in the morning!

The Cannon S10 was the first digital camera I have ever owned, having bought it close to two years ago. I decided to up-grade to a higher megapixal camera so a few days ago I bought the Minolta 404. I wanted a camera that I could add audio to the pics so I would know when I downloaded the pictures what pictures they were. Seen one mountain, seen them all but which is which? I figured the added audio would solve that problem. Second, I wanted a camera that was small enough to carry on my belt but able to shoot short movies, like when you see wildlife walking. So I spent big bucks, bought the Minolta 404 took some pictures with it at the settings I have my Cannon set to and was very disappointed in the quality of the pictures. I just arrived home after returning the Minolta 404.
I may not be able to add audio to my pictures with the Cannon S10 but one thing for sure, it shoots far superior, cleaner and clearer pictures then the Minolta. Lets face it, audio would be nice but quality pictures is what I really want and the S10 Cannon is the best so far. By the way, the Minolta had 4 megapixals and the Cannon has only 2.1 but the pictures of the Cannon are a lot better. I have several photos blown up to 8 X 10 and they are great. Don't buy [an expensive ]camera and print on a [cheap] printer,,,you will be disappointed. With a good camera and a good printer you can't go wrong. I use a HP Photosmart 1218 printer. Nice thing is I can take the media card and use it directly in the printer and download my pictures that way without using up batter power. On batteries, I use a battery charger and always keep an extra batter on hand and never have I had any problems running out of power. I also don't use the LCD screen, just the view finder.

The S10 packs a lot of features into a compact form. As a tote-around point-and-shoot, it's a good choice. The retracting lens and automatic cover make it easy to pack, and the ability to take high capacity memory cards or IBM disk devices allow you to take quite a few pictures (even at 2-megapixel resolution) without downloading.

On the downside, the S10 consumes battery power at a higher rate than other digital cameras I've used, and the specialized batteries are expensive. The rechargeable battery pack from Canon is helpful, but it's not included with the camera, upping the cost of a useable configuration.

The 2x optical zoom is a bit short, given that many of the competitors products give you 3x. I often find that missing magnification requires me to shoot at a higher resultion and crop the result.

Most disappointing is the S10's inabilities to accurately capture colors in the red-orange range. Flesh tones are often rendered incorrectly, and flash pictures often end up leaving skin looking pasty. No amount of adjusting the cameras controls seems to solve the problem. I've read reports by others who've suffer the same results, so I'm inclined to think it's a software problem, rather than an issue with my individual unit.

In addition to the rechargeable battery pack, I'd recommend using this with a computer that has a USB port (and getting a USB card if your machine doesn't have one!), as downloading pix, expecially high-resolution shots, through the serial port is painfully slow.

At almost the last minute before leaving on an Alaskan cruise, I decided to dump my usual point-and-shoot camera and go digital. Amazon got the camera to me the day before I left - needless to say, I was reading the manual and taking test photos on the plane to Anchorage! I found the S10 to be very easy to use, and very difficult to take bad pictures with. I'm still discovering new features. One of my favorites is the ability to connect the camera to any television set and show your pictures within seconds of taking them. We did this several times on the ship. The compact size of the S10 makes it more likely that I will carry it with me on outings, rather than leave it at home. I've not yet gotten into the computer/software side of digital photography, but I'll attack that soon - I just got back from Alaska yesterday. Three recommendations: 1) you MUST get the rechargeable battery set, and probably an extra rechargeable battery. It's unfortunate that the charger outfit was not included with the camera (and included in the price). For this reason, if I had it to do over again, I would look very closely at the Canon S100. 2) You should consider getting a larger capacity compact flashcard - I got a 32Meg, which holds about 140 snapshot-type pictures. 3)Think about getting a soft case for the camera - Canon makes a leather case - you can also get nylon cases that work. I worry about scratching or otherwise damaging the LCD screen while carrying the camera unprotected.

I have owned mine for over two years now and I would have to say that it has performed up to every task I have asked of it. The cameras size was important to me and this camera fits well in a pair of khakis or cargo shorts. Things that are a must buy are the kit with charger and at least a 64 MB CF card, I have a 64 and a 128. I love that fact that I can display pictures on the TV with the cables provided. Make editing away from home much easier. Also I bought a second battery and carrying case. All these thing have ensured me of lots of photo ops. This camera does not perform well at sporting events or in low light, but any time the flash goes of it works great. Canon has better software on-line than what came with the camera. Worth every cent.

I sat on the digital fence for a long time, finally I jumped and bought the Canon G1. The quality is amazing , downloading of the pictures is a breeze. I soon moved from the AUTO setting to more advanced, even manual shots.The remote works great (once you get the battery the right way up). I thought that the movie mode was a gimmick until I tried it, now I send a lot of AVIs to my family around the world . It's not stunning but it's very passable. I know people reading reviews want to know any downsides to the products so here's mine. 1) The camera for its size is a little on the heavy side 2) It takes a while to power up, don't expect to grab point and shoot. The Lens has to come out and whir a bit before that can happen. It all takes 4-5 seconds, an eternity if what you want to shoot moves away. 3) The 16Mb card is inadequate, I got an extra 32Mb and the 48Mb total seems OK for my needs.

Overall I'm more than happy.

I recently upgraded my digital camera to the G1 (from an older Casio VGA) and I couldn't be happier.

It is easy to use and takes excellent pictures for a "prosumer" (I've taken over 500 since it arrived). The user interface will be familiar to Canon film camera users and it seems to offer the right combination of automated and manual features.

This camera comes equipped with everything you need: cables, storage, rechargeable, remote control, software, etc. The only complaint would be the size of the 16MB CompactFlash. You probably will want a 32MB or bigger device -- but that purchase can wait because the computer interface on this is excellent and uploading is a pleasure.

The USB interface and Type 1 and 2 card support are the way to go. This gives you a lot of future protection and upgrade options.

The included software is more than adequate. ZoomBrowser the camera manager is the best picture organizer I have used. The TWAIN driver has worked with all my photo and video editors.

The battery is incredible -- long life and fast recharge -- can't ask for more.

The LCD display is really useful. There are better displays out there but none more convenient. The ability to tuck it away saves on battery and cleaning the display. The 360 degree orientation is great. I use it in conjunction with the remote control to great effect.

I looked forever for a new camera to replace my pentax EI-200, which works perfectly fine, but I wanted a new one. I bought a G1 used for @300 dollars based upon exhaustive research. 3mp, fold out lcd screen, unlimited manual control(lots of modes +full manual and manual focus), raw format(better and smaller than tiff) attracted me. What really turned out to be great was the battery life(lasts a long long time), remote, picture quality, the screen is fantastic- I don't know how I did without it. With photoshop and an epson printer, why spend hundreds more on a tiny no featured camera with more megapixels than you would ever need? why spend hours downloading pics so you can print only 3x5's or 5x7's. This prints beautiful 8x10's. You don't need more. Movie's with sound too.
By this camera and a 256 meg compact flash card. you will not be sorry.

Clueless to the world of digital cameras, I knew that I wanted one that was easy to operate but high quality. After tons of online research I decided on the PowerShot A10. I LOVE my camera. It's easy to use, takes great pictures and the printer prints out high quality pics. I've taken this camera to baseball games and printed out action shots right then and there. However, the 8mb CF card this comes with is pretty worthless--only takes about 15 pics before it gets full. I bought a 256mb Dynacare CF card...and can now take upwards of 500 pics before it gets full. I highly recommend this camera for anyone!

The canon powershot A10 is an amazing camera for the price. It has features that the more expensive cameras have, but is one of the most user-friendly digitals I have used. A plus for this camera is that it uses common AA bateries. You can take about 200 pictures before replacing the batteries. This is the perfect camera to make the analog to digital jump. This camera also comes with some very handy software. With the included printer this is a must have for any level shutterbug!!!!

Pros: pocket sized, sturdy aluminum clad body, largest optical zoom in the Canon Elph-based series
Cons: eats alkaline batteries, need to purchase the power pack and extra battery; better outdoors than indoors
Recommended: Yes

This digital camera fits easily into a shirt pocket, so it's as portable as it gets, and your 'best friend' on vacation. An important feature that is too often overlooked is the fact that it is aluminum clad, so dropping it won't easily result in the heartache of a broken camera that costs hundreds to be replaced immediately or a costly repair that will deprive the owner of its use for an extended period.

It's outdoor shots are excellent; its 2.5X OPTICAL zoom is the largest presently available in the Canon Elph-based repertoire of digicams; its 1.3 Megapixel resolution gives 35mm equivalent 4"x6" prints on either H-P or Epson photo printers.

The drawbacks often reported with shots taken using the internal flash are not critical; although the power of the flash is effectively limited to a range of within 10 feet, the A-50 has multiple modes that deal well with red eye reduction, fill flash, or no flash at all, to the extent of being the virtual match for any digicam list priced under "$1,000". Its controls are easy to master; its playback mode extends to a "slide show" in the LCD (which is larger than the average digicam's at 2 full inches diagonal) or on TV. The camera DOES eat batteries, so TWO batteries and the optional power pack (now readily available for under $80 with one battery, second battery about $25) is a MUST. If you upgrade to higher resolution Canon "Elph-based" digicams, you can use this battery and charger. These lithium batteries will last for up to 100 shots using the LCD as a preview and thus are good for a full day of shooting. The second battery permits full operation while the first battery is charging.

The A-50 will handle most sizes (under 200 MB) of Compact Flash Type I, and puts 161 photos on a 48 MB card. That's enough for a week's worth of vacation shots. (...)It is the BEST optical zoom 1.3 Megapixel camera on the market for ease of use, portability and versatility. Another nice feature, not found in all cameras, is a "raw mode" that permits uncompressed photos. Its JPEG compression on "best mode" does little to adversely affect the photographs, and there are a host of other features that will appeal to the more advanced photographers.

All in all, the A-50 was well designed and a good value for the money. Of course, at this time, with the advent of 3.3 Megapixel cameras, and the S-100 Digital Elph at 2.1 Megapixel with a 2X optical zoom, the A-50, at 1.3MP and its serial interface can be considered obsolete, but, at its current price, it's my choice as a gift for my preteen daughter. It's just right without spending more than necessary for someone who can use the zoom lens effectively, adapt the camera to slide shows and does not need to print anything larger than 5" X 7" photos on a color inkjet.......and if she drops this sturdy little aluminum 'tank' of a camera, I won't be out a fortune for replacement or repair!

I love the camera. It's great for a snapshot camera and has some useful manual functions (flash off, exposure compensation, slow shutter). Another great feature is the Mac software that comes with it-- TimeTunnel. This is awesome. You plug in the camera (or in my case, put the CompactFlash card into a PCMCIA adapter and into the slot in my PowerBook) and upload the photos into this easy-to-use and very well designed program. You can zoom through thumbnails of all of your photos, arranged on a spiral thing which classes them by date. When you click on a thumbnail, you get all the info about it (date, shutter speed, aperture, file size, etc) and when you double click it opens the full size image. You can easily "send" any image to another program, such as the included Adobe PhotoDeluxe, or better yet, Photoshop.

I'm very happy with the camera, and the only reason it doesn't get a 5 star rating from me is that the battery charger and replacement rechargable batteries are on worldwide backorder and have been for months. This is very irresponsible of Canon and is costing me a fortune in batteries.

I have been waiting a long time to buy a really good digitalcamera that I can afford. I got the A50 for $399.00 plus I got a 16meg compactflash card as a bonus in addition to the 8meg card. I was surprised by the excellent pictures I get with the Canon A50. Compares to 35mm SLR cameras. Also it is very easy to setup and use. I was disappointed in the lack of support from Canon. I asked where I can find accessories online, they told me to call an 800 number and order from them. The dk110 power supply kit does not exist and I am beginning to wonder if it ever will. I have looked around for the 2cr5 battery and found a range in price from $6.95 all the way up to $19.95. So shop around. The dumb outfit that wanted $6.95 also wanted $13.95 for shipping. Average price is $9.95. Meanwhile, I won't use the LCD very much. Camera gets 5 Stars for quality, Canon gets 1 star for lack of support. I'd still recommend this camera to all inspite of Canon's poor support.

Danny Fye