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Canon PowerShot SD880IS 10MP Digital Camera with 4x W... |
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Canon PowerShot SD880IS 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver) |
| Product DescriptionIt’s so easy to capture the magic of every moment when SD880 IS Digital ELPH comes along for the ride. There’s a terrific sense of creative options for your photographic sense with a wide range of shooting modes and a wide-angle 28mm lens--all because your camera sees the world without limits. Of course, it’s a stylish point of view from a camera that merges up-to-the-moment performance with the art of impeccable design.Reviews I'm writing this review due to an SD1000 that I purchased via Amazon 2 years ago. 3 months ago the lenes stopped working. I did some investigation and it turns out that Canon acknowledges a 4% failure rate with their lens retraction design. (Source:http://www.e18error.com/canonstory.html). They want to charge me 100 bucks to fix a 200 camera. My previous Canon still works just fine (an SD100, from 2000). Anyway, I am no longer a happy Canon customer, and until they acknowledge their design issue I will be posting negative feedback on their products. Feel free to join me.
I love this camera! I went to kenrockwell.com to research the best hand-held pocket camera to get. And he suggested this one. I love the gold color, the typical silver is so outdated and unoriginal. I'm having a blast with this camera. I keep it in my purse and can grab it anytime a photo-op presents itself. I take off auto flash so that faces don't get washed-out but if your subject is moving, you'd better leave auto flash on so that the picture doesn't come out blurry. If you take off auto flash, then the camera has to leave the shutter open longer and this means you have to hold it EXTRA still in order to get a clear shot. Or just make sure (if you're not using flash) to have enough light in the room/outside to get a good un-blurry shot!
Be aware that this camera is incompatible with Windows Visa (64). I only discovered this after many hours spent unsuccessfully trying to download recently taken photos and several e-mail exchanges with Cannon's Technicial Support staff. Furthermore, according to their technical staff, Cannon has no plans to make it compatible with Windowns Visa (64).
For those who have followed my past reviews, I reviewed the SD600 a couple of years back. Fast forward into 2009, and I have upgraded to the SD880. There are many things that I loved, the more I played with this camera, the less I could find that I didn't love.
A lot of things have changed on this camera over the years. The interface is still very similar, but because I don't believe this camera is a direct replacement to my previous camera I had to get used to what was new. One thing that I liked was the scroll wheel by the screen. It let me easily change from Portrait, to Night Snapshot, to Kids&Pets, and many more. The big 3.2" Screen made it easy to get the shot I was aiming for, and the big buttons make even people with larger fingers pretty easy.
Let me break it down the pros and cons:
PROS:
EASE OF USE - The selling feature for me. Canon's have always been straight forward. Either you put it one of the many preset lighting situations, or you use the Program mode to adjust everything from White Balance, to Exposure, to Color Palate, to ISO. Like most point-and-shoot cameras, if it is not easy to use, it will not sell well. There are no gimmicks with this camera, no touch screen, to screen that you can draw on, make dialogue boxes, or anything of that nature. Lots of features, wide camera, and great pictures.
BATTERY LIFE - Another Canon with great battery life. I have always been impressed with their strong battery life, and quick charge time. You can go through a whole day of taking pictures with or without flash on, with no problems.
FEATURES - I'm a pretty simple guy when it comes to cameras. I don't know 32X zoom, I don't need in camera accenting, I don't need over complicated features that I won't use. I know Photoshop, so I just need a camera that does basic things, that takes fantastic pictures. This camera does exactly that. You do have some cool features, Color Accent, Sepia, B/W, Macro Focus, Stitching (not like a full panorama picture, but aids in editing for later), and ISO up to 3200 (although I don't recommend it). The image stabilizer works very well, had great face detection, and a pretty good red-eye eliminator. The zoom toggle is easy for those used to Canons, and the camera focuses very quickly after you reach the approximate zoom you were trying to achieve.
SCREEN - Amazing screen. Very large, vivid, easy to see during the day, and at night. Lots of colors, clarity, and great video playback.
EFFICIENT - Lightning fast start up, probably one of the fastest I've seen in a point-and-shoot. The whole point to a point-and-shoot is to be able to POINT and SHOOT. And you can do that with easy without missing your shot. The continuous shooting is fast, but not the fastest, but the lag between shots is very short.
LOOKS - Just a great looking camera. The front of the camera is classic Canon, and the black is a gorgeous black with glossy buttons that looks sleek and modern. Everything about this camera was very familiar to me, from how to get the battery and SD card out, to turning it on, putting the wrist strap on, turning Macro on. Everything was just the way you would want it.
CONS:
NO VIEWFINDER - I am personally indifferent about a viewfinder. My SD600 had a view finder, and all it did was collect dirt. I never used it, but for those that are old school and like the viewfinder are missing out on that.
NO INTERNAL MEMORY - Most cameras today are starting to come with internal memory. I am once again indifferent. I prefer taking the SD card out and loading it directly into my SD Card slot. Because I can change out cards, if I fill one of them up, I can quickly put a new one in there without having to worry about filling up all my usable space.
NO HD VIDEO - This does not give you the option for High Definition video recording. The video recording in this camera is pretty decent, but a lot of the cameras have 'True HD'. Their True HD however, is not True HD. It is on a higher resolution, yet on a point-and-shoot camera, this usually isn't the dealbreaker.
SIZE - A little thicker than my SD600, and definitely not as small as the SD1200, yet it is the right size for what I use it for. It is a little bigger than my palm (my actual palm, not a Treo), but the buttons are the perfect size for people with thick fingers. It will fit decent in loose jeans, but some of the tighter jeans and shorts, you might have to just hold it.
BOTTOM LINE: Overall, this is definitely worth every penny. The price has gone down from $349, so there is a lot to offer. Every time I get a new device, I get a happy feeling, and this one did not disappoint. I am very happy with the camera, and can confidently say this is the best point-and-shoot camera for the money.
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