Отзывы о Цифровой Фотоаппарат Canon PowerShot SX160 IS

16GB memory for my lovely camera,

The card arrived promptly as promised and was well packaged.

It is an excellent product and it will not run out of memory when I cycle

through France in the summer.

Oh ! and it was a good price too.

Great item,fast ship,still works fantastic..
excellent camera for the beginners..or like me..who do not tech-savvy but..simple clear ..exactly..to the point..want to take a photo..then just click...:)
My toddler son like the lens opening sound.and start posing for me...for someone it may be a bit noisy..But I like it overall.

I bought this camera about 3 1/2 years ago. I never liked it but it was better then nothing and a computer store was going out of business in our town and this was on sale. It takes horrible inside photos. It doesn't matter how much light you have. Your photos will either turn out very flashed, yellow, or extremely blurry. I had this camera for long enough and I tried every thing possible to create nice photos and it never did me any good. Outside photos are a little better but still sometimes blurry. I hated the thing and I am so glad I bought my Lumix :). The only plus was how long it lasted considering I have a 3 and 1 year old. Lake water is what did the thing in..

Pros:
Basically indestructible
quite a bit of memory

Cons:
Terrible inside photos
Heavy!
Horrible video quality (grainy and orange)
Little options
Takes a long time to take a picture

Over all this camera really sucks! I have no idea why anyone would give this 5 stars. Polaroid photos are better then this piece of crap!

I've had this camera for over 3 years now and it has never let me down. Its been everywhere with me, on horseback, hiking, etc. Even my 2 year old daughter has used it and dropped it and its still kicking. It take beautiful pictures with great clarity and color. The only thing I can't get it to do is any sort of close-up work, but that's ok with me, I rarely have occasion to take such pictures. Occasionally I have trouble getting it to focus where I want it to, but a couple extra seconds usually fixes that. I find the battery life to be terrific - I use Energizer Lithiums and only go through about 2 pairs per year. At first I was frustrated by the lack of viewfinder, but now that I'm used to it I rarely have an instance that I miss it - only occasionally in the bright sun, but I know the camera well enough to point and shoot and almost always get what I want in the frame. All in all, its a great camera for the money and I have yet to have any issues with it.

without ,doubt one of the best on the market, good price, clear photos, easy to use. It' a sturdy little camera and easy to use. I'm very pleased with this camera one of the better ones Cannon have produced.

My aunt gave me this camera a few years ago, and it has been the best digital camera I've owned. Sure, it's a bit old, and 5 MP is nowhere near what Canon's latest cameras are capable of, but this camera definitely is worth checking out. My favorite mode on this is Manual Mode. I have taken some great long exposure shots, and some excellent macro shots as well. I have used the movie mode for over 200 videos on youtube, and though it's not HD, I never had a complaint about the video resolution. I have taken hundreds (Maybe even thousands) of great photos, and am rarely disappointed with the results. Sadly, my lens mechanism quit on me a few months back, and ever since then I can't take any zoom shots. It still takes pretty good pictures if I pull out the lens manually, but it doesn't always come out as far as I need it to. If I were to buy another camera any time soon, I'd hope it was as good as this one has been, if not better. Canon makes great pocket cameras. 'Nuff said.

I loved this cam when it was new, but cuss at it now. I've been using it for a long time, and especially have liked it's size. I carry it in a fabric bag in my pocket wherever I go, and have taken many great spontaneous shots because of this. The features are great, but the controls could have better touch for use in the dark.

Biggest problem is the focus. I aim, press the button halfway down to focus etc, then watch as the camera focuses properly, then cry as it just keeps on adjusting until it's way out of focus. This is especially noticeable when using zoom for far shots. They just don't end up viewable.

Next problem is this: when I try a night shot using an external light source, like a flashlight, the image on the screen looks fine, bright and all, but when it takes the shot, the picture ends up too dark to see.

I have owned each of the previous models for the past 5 years at least, and have enjoyed each one, and appreciated the advances in technology. I even have the dslr xsi, and will probably get the next replacement for the a1000, but I hate the way this one has degraded over time.

Get one, use it couple years, toss it or take it apart to see the hamsters inside.

Ok, so I went through at least a dozen digital cameras over a number of years. I bought them, used them, found them to not be what I was looking for and sold them. And then I bought this camera. The search was over, this is a great all-around camera at a fair price point that produces quality results. When I bought this camera a few years ago, it was on sale for a little over $200 and was worth every penny.

I go to alot of sporting events. NHL, NFL, MLB games. My seats are usually in the upper level. Though this is a great vantage point for watching the game, its not exactly the best for taking good, close pictures of the game. Well, the amazing zoom on this camera takes care of that! I can zoom in right on a player on the ice and point and shoot a great shot. The image stabilization is great and eliminates the headaches out of what should be fun photography. Whether I want to take a close shot of a specific player, zoom in a bit on some action or take a nice panoramic shot of my view in the arena, this camera does it all!

The video on this camera is also great. It is near-HD quality and a great substitute for a camcorder for most things that you would want to record, provided that you have a high capacity memory card.

Battery drain is not that bad with this camera. I only use rechargeable AA batteries and they rarely ever die during a good hour or more of picture or movie capturing. I always carry an extra set of AA's with me, but I rarely need them.

I haven't really gone thorough all of the settings, I just set my camera for what works for me, wet it to 'favorite' mode and just let it roll. Whether it's a hockey game, a party, a night out, or needing to take good pictures of items to sell on ebay, this camera does the job!

5/5

I spent a few weeks on the net researching various cameras from £300 to £1000 before deciding on this long zoom 'compact'.
My previous camera was a 12 X zoom, Dimage Z3, which I enjoyed for 4+ years, but was never totally happy with the image quality, especially for photographing wildlife/birds. But, in its day, was the longest zoom in a non-SLR digital camera, so, I was happy enough for the price.
My dilemma recently was on whether to go for a "bridge" or SLR. I have always liked Canon cameras, so my first filter to narrow down the thousands available, was to mainly concentrate on the Canon range. I'm sure you could buy just as well, if your choice was Nikon, Sony, Pentax or other respected names.
So my otions were SX10 IS, SX1 IS, EOS400D, EOS450D, EOS 50D.
If I bought an EOS (SLR) then I would also have to buy extra, long lenses and do without video. The lenses were going to be expensive for good ones. According to many reviews I read, the standard lenses are no better than the quality on the SX1 IS. You can get non IS lenses by Sigma and others for reasonable price. But to get anyhwere near the zoom range of the SX1 I was going to have to spend big bucks.
There is also the inconvenience of having to carry a big bag around with me, like I used to with film SLR's. So I went for convenience.
On a balance between quality, price and convenience, I opted for the SX1 IS, which is a big step up from my old 4 mega pixel 12 times zoom.
So far (about 3 weeks) I am happy with the picture quality, though I still can't get as near to my subjects as I would like.
The long zoom is great, and the image stabilisation.
The ability to zoom whilst videoing is also a great new feature for a digicam.

Things I don't like are
1. Lens cap is not attached to camera by a cord, so it's easy to misplace, and doesn't always get put back on the idle camera. So I am risking damage.
2. The HD video has been a big disappointment. The video quality and size are great, but when you are panning, even slowly, the picture jumps. Do have a look on Youtube, for sample videos, if this is important to you.
Also, more importantly in my case, the video and sound are not in sync. I video singer/guitarist songs to put on Youtube, and they are not even in sync on my own PC, so I would have been okay to have bought the SX10, as HD video was my reason for upgrade. The standard quality video is good. I did have to get a new faster card to handle HD video. Sandisk Extreme 3. As far as I know this card is as fast as you can get?

UPDATE 16th Feb 09 - I now believe that all my issues with the HD video were caused by my own ignorance of this format. Canon reccommend 2.6 gig duo core minimum with Vista. My processor is only 2.13Ghx 2 core. So I'm still learning how to get the best out of it.
The video experts rave about the video quality of this camera, so I would take their word for it.
The Sandisk eXtreme card is a class 6 card and is suitable.

3. There is NO SCREW THREAD ON THE LENS!!! You cannot fit filters to protect the lens, or use effects. You can't add teleconverters to extend the zoom range. Although I realise that Canon would consider the extra weight impracticable as it would put extra strain on the motor drive.
UPDATE 15th Feb 09 - A company called Lensmate now make a suitable adaptor for the SX1 which bayonets on to the lens hood fitting and accepts standard 58mm (YES 58)filters.
4. You cant select the low ISO numbers, when you shoot in auto.
To get my photos as crisp as possible I like to use ISO 80. The camera never seems to select 80 in auto, even in bright sunlight, so I have started to use program and manual settings where I can select 80.

Overall, at the moment I still really like the camera, and am very happy that I chose it.
My son is going to get the EOS 450D soon, so I will see what the comparisons are like, first hand.
I hope I'm not going to be envious.
Good luck in your hunt for your ideal camera. Tony

Updated 30.01.09
My issues with video lag and sound sync above have been sorted, please see comments below this review. All part of the learning process.

I was on a business trip to do a final walk-through of a large installation and forgot my camera (Nikon Coolpix 5900 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom, 5.1MP) so I ran out to CompUSA and got this one for $89.99 and was excited about it. I expected it to be better than my Nikon as this one is 3.5 years newer, has better resolution and a bigger screen. It's just okay, IMHO, hence the 3-stars. I'd probably give it a 3.5 star rating if I could.

Battery: Battery life seemed a bit weak to me. This camera uses AAs so I bought the Energizer Ultra Lithiums. They're pricey but they're good batteries. I did not count my shots but I did use the flash on about 30 out of about 100-120 photos before the batteries were nearly done.

Controls: The controls seemed fairly intuitive to me. This camera uses a wheel the change modes but also to access the "view pics" mode. My Nikon has a separate button to access "view pics". So do some of the Sony's. Personally, I prefer that but that is more of a preference than anything.

LCD: the LCD is good I have not used it outside in bright light yet. But be aware that w/o a viewfinder, the LCD is the only means you have for properly framing your subject matter.

Size and feel: the camera is a little bulky at 1 5/8" thick but the overall size and buttons should be conducive to comfortable use by any size hands, small lady or large man.

Connectivity: on one end of the camera there are 3 interfaces:
1. DC in, presumable for use with an optional (not provided) power supply;
2. USB works well. Simply put the camera in "view pics" mode and plug it in and you can either do your thing in the Canon software (which I have not/will not do) or simply access them via Windows Explorer.
3. A/V - a single proprietary 1/8" mini pluag into the camera produces a single composite video RCA/M plug and a single monaural RCA/M audio plug to connect to a TV or VCR or DVR.

Picture Quality: This was probably my greatest disappointment. I expected that a 3.5 year newer and 40% greater resolution (7.1MP vs 5.1MP) would have given me greater clarity and detail. Usually with electronics as the months go by, yesterdays "cutting edge" becomes tomorrow's "plain vanilla". That was not the case for me with this particular item. I still prefer to use my old Nikon, with the now broken battery door (thanks to the unconfessed sin of one of my 4 precious children), for capturing important moments.

I'm going to stop here because this is (currently) a $100 7.1MP Canon camera. Not deserving of being "picked to pieces". For $100 it's a pretty decent little unit. I have to think this is a whole lot better than some of the other full-featured, sub-$100 cameras out there. Just be aware that it is not on par with (probably any) $250 point and shoot. Be aware that the specs and the brand do not dictate the quality or performance of the camera. In fact, hands-on experience will demonstrate that quality and performance of particular features/functions of cameras will vary from model-to-model, regardless of brand, specs and price.

As I finish writing this review I think that perhaps this camera may deserve a 4-star rank, if it is being compared to other low-price cameras but since I have only used mid-range digital P&S cameras I cannot make that determination. As a digital P&S in general I can only give it 3 stars. I hope this is clear enough and helps someone with their purchase decision.

We purchased this camera to update our existing Canon S2IS just before our first trip to Israel. Overall, this camera was excellent and consistently took great pictures. I shot about 1,300 pictures, some under very challenging conistions. The menus and operation were somewhat similar to our old S2IS so there was very little learning curve.

Modes used: I shot most pictures using the "P" mode which allows some manual settings such as ISO, white balance, flash strength, and exposure adjustment. The remainder I shot in manual mode.

What I liked: The old S2IS often took a long time to lock focus. This camera focuses very quickly allowing me to get a lot of "just now" shots. The image stabilizer, like the one in the S2IS was phenominal. With still subjects, I could consistently get clean, well focused shots at 1/8 second, and I have a slight hand tremor. Sometimes I could get good shots at slower shutter speeds. This really helped indoors where flashes were not permitted, or the subjects were distant. It also helped a lot at night. Another huge feature is the range of the lens. It goes from slightly telephoto at 28mm to 560 mm (20X zoom). I was able to get shots of things I could hardly see with my naked eye. I was also able to get close ups at great distance. Many of my best shots were at high zoom. With dslr's you often have to change lenses and these shots would have been missed. The manual settings were generally easy to use and really expanded the pictures we could shoot. Generally, I used shutter priority. I really liked the electronic viewfinder. It saves battery power and accurately shows how a shot will be exposed. It also has a diopter adjustment. The flip out and twist tilt screen was also a help with crowd shots. The flash was strong and can be enhanced. In addition, there is a "hot shoe" for an add on flash. I did not have an add on flash, but I can see how it would be useful in lower light conditions. I discovered there is a "mute" button on the top left that suppresses all noise. This is handy when you can't be obtrusive. To turn sounds back on, you have to go into the menu. Battery life was also very good. I used rechargable nmh batteries that when fully charged would handle the almost 200 shots per day without indicating much use on the battery level indicator. Overall the camera provided well focused and well exposed shots in a variety of conditions, with plenty of adjustments and clever features.

What could be better: Occasionally the autofocus would be fooled in low light or with objects intervening between me and the subject. I would revert to the manual focus mode, but it was a little awkward to use. In shutter priority mode, you spin a wheel on the back of the camera to adjust shutter speed. The change in shutter speed did not respond predictably to my thumbing of the wheel. Not a major problem, but I noticed it. In cloudy lighting (much of our trip in December) some shots were a bit overexposed in "P" mode inducing me to use shutter priority. To be fair the shots would often consist of brighter sky, and darker buildings. The camera does have several exposure algorithms to choose, but I stayed with the default. And since this is a point and shoot, and not a dslr, shooting at higher ISO's resulted in somewhat grainy pictures. The highest ISO I used was 800, sometimes at night and sometimes in caves so the "noise" was not all that relevant to the picture quality.

I gave the camera 4 stars because it was excellent, but not perfect.

Update June 17, 2009: I have happily used this camera for family and school events since my last review and I am very pleased. I also shot an Ultimate Frisbee tournament that my son participated in and was held indoors. With indoor lighting, I was not able to capture very many good shots, even when overiding shutter speed settings and shooting at 800 ISO. I ended up taking most of the pictures using a dSLR from my son's school newspaper. There was a world of difference in quality. The better sensor of the dSLR was able to handle the lower light with no problem. I am still very pleased with the SX10IS, its fine overall picture quality, and many features, but recognize the limitations of its point and shoot sensor.

For the list price ($129.00) I really couldn't find a better camera. I work in a photo processing lab, where I also deal with and sell cameras for most of the day, so before purchasing my own I did a lot of hands-on research playing with and reading about all the cameras that were within the price I wanted to spend. I'm still learning as far as all the fancy features, but if you're like me and just need a good camera for everyday type stuff, this one is perfect. With its 7.1 mega pixels, it takes really sharp pictures and what I really like is how fast the shutter is. There's virtually no delay between the time you focus the camera and go to snap the actual picture. That was my biggest problem with my old camera-- I'd go to focus in and then by the time I actually snapped the photo, the delay was so annoyingly long that the moment was lost. The LCD screen is a great size, not too large and not too small. At 2.5", you get a really good idea of what you're shooting, even without a viewfinder. The only complaint I have is that it's not as great outdoors in bright weather. The screen gets really washed out and makes it kind of difficult to get a good shot. This is fixable though, as they sell pop-up shade clips (about $10) you can attach to the camera so as to correct that. I haven't tried them personally, but heard they work really well. I also really like the size of the camera itself. A lot of people are attracted to the super slim tiny cameras you can fit in a pocket, but that didn't appeal to me. I wanted something I'd be comfortable holding, fit well in my hands, and didn't feel like I was going to drop it. Its like the perfect size for me, because it's still really compact but not so small that it gives me anxiety over dropping it/breaking something. Alternately, its not so big that I can't easily carry it around with me.

I would consider this camera a step up from a lot of others in the price range. Along with the scene modes (which is pretty standard on most point and shoots anyway) it has a manual setting, which is fun to play around with and really easy to navigate. For someone like me who is still learning all the technical stuff it's a good first camera. You can customize a fair amount but its not overwhelming and hard to learn. At my job we are trained on what are the best selling points, features, etc, and whereas I take that into mind I also know that everyone is picky in their own way and some people care about certain features more than others. Personally I just wanted something to use on vacations, to take pictures of friends and I, my cats, etc. If you want something for fast action scenarios, sporting events and the like, you might want to skip this camera. It's only got the standard 3.4 optical zoom, which really is not that far, and even though it zooms farther digitally...it will get more blurry the further in you go. That is one thing Canon needs to improve upon-- a lot of their lower end models like this one have poor image stabilizing.

Canon's face detection technology is pretty cool though. In Auto mode (and probably manual too, I'm not positive though) it actually locks onto a person's face and almost highlights it...like zooms just their face in so you can see if it's clearly focused before taking the pic. This is a feature you can turn on or off in the Menu settings. It throws you off a bit in relation to the rest of the photo, but once you get the hang of it it's really helpful (in group shots especially.)

Bottom line - great deal for the price! You see a lot of Nikon's (Coolpix series) in the $89-129 price range, but in my experience this newer Canon definitely surpasses them. I had a Nikon Coolpix 5600 (probably about 2 yrs old now), and whereas it took beautifully sharp photos, the lag time was incredibly slow and that's what made me like this Canon better. Faster shutter times make all the difference! Canon's photo software is easier to navigate as well, with more custom settings to play around with when you want to edit/share your pictures on your computer. Most people are surprised to learn what kind of camera I have after they've seen the photos it takes. I just think its really nice that you can get something of this quality for such a low price.

OH- And a note about the AA batteries for this Canon: Obviously if you use standard alkaline AA's your response time is going to be a lot slower. Investing in good quality rechargeables is more than worth the money, it makes all the difference. I myself prefer Energizer's Lithium batteries, the blue and silver ones, as oppose to the rechargeables...just because they are specially designed for high powered devices like digital cameras, and you don't have to mess around with a charger, or the whole rotating batteries in and out. I got a good couple months of use out of a set of two, while taking pictures frequently...on a trip, and even just in everyday daily use. It's ab

I purchased this camera to replace my old Fuji which, after years of good service has now stopped working. The Canon PowerShot SX150 IS Digital Camera is a vast improvement and shows just how much digital cameras have improved over the last few years. I am absolutely delighted with this purchase and the quality of pictures is superb. Amazon was also the best price by some way! Highly recommended!

Good:
This takes good pictures and has a bunch of different modes, however I was never able to take a decent shot in low-light conditions - probably since it's not SLR.

We got a lot of great family photos out of it, on our various vacations over the years so not a total loss, but I thought Canon was better quality.

Bad:
We've had this camera for about 3 years. Ever since we received it, it has eaten batteries constantly - for example, we'd put in new batteries, take a couple of shots, put the camera away and try to take pictures a couple of days later and the batteries would be dead, as if it drained them when it wasn't even turned on. We tried regular all different types of AA size batteries and it always drained them. Now the flash is dead, so it's a paper-weight. We purchased extra lenses, cleaning kit, carry case, filter kit, etc. for the camera, and now it's all collecting dust.

Will go with Nikon or another more-photography-centric brand next time and probably move to SLR for better capabilities.

This was my second digital camera I had and I loved it, I brought it everywhere and it took amazing pics. Though it's old. get the darn camera!! 4 stars because it broke last year, it just stopped working but it was amazing for it's time. Planning on pre ordering the a810 or buying the elph 300 hs.

I bought this exact, identical camera in 2008 for $122, and that included a little memory card.

so why do I see it priced at over $400 now???

I'm not sure, but this IS a great little camera. It does far more than I'll ever ask it to, and yet when I have time to browse the owner's manual, it's easy enough to try out different settings. I'm continuously amazed at the quality of images this camera puts out.

But I just don't get the price increase. Scary.

I have had this camera for 3 years and it has been a very good camera. My friends were impressed with it in that their cameras had difficulty with lighting issues and getting a clear picture and when they tried mine they said they were going to switch to a Cannon. The only down fall is that the time between pictures when using the flash is alot longer than other cameras (about 5-7 seconds) and it sucks up the AA batteries like they are candy. The best part of the camera is that it is light weight and easy to hold and I have never taken an out of focus picture with it when it is on the automatic setting. This is a very easy to use camera. The only reason I am looking for a new one is it finally died thanks to my toddler getting his hands on it.

This was a gift for my father, who is a passionate amateur photographer. As soon as he opened the box he was so amazed, positively commenting on the quality and functionality of this item. It is the closest thing to a professional tripod, for a fraction of the price. Praise for an awesome value!

Hi, this is my first review for a product. We've had this camera for going on four years now and we're so pleased at its performance-its quite simply the best camera we've ever had, and we both enjoy the outdoors and taking pictures very frequently, so camera quality is a must for our household! We are constantly amazed at the quality of this camera-my wife even dropped it, and it performs and functions perfectly! We have a Siberian Husky who as those of you who likewise have them know they are not easy to photograph unless its a good camera-the cannon powershot sx100 IS is just about the best deal for the money you can get! The only drawback is the slow recovery speed, but we've tried alot of other camera's which were far worse and didn't have the great features of this camera. We would recommend this camera to anyone-great job Cannon!

I originally bought this camera when it first came out. I was a strong Canon fan due to two other Canon digital point and shoot cameras in our household.

This time I was ready for a more DLSR camera and shooting experience. I was hesitant to invest thousands of dollars like I had with a film based DLSR years ago. One of the things that lead me to get this camera was that I remembered I did not often use my DLSR since it was a logistical hassle bringing all the lens, flashes, and equipment around. Once I realized this self truth, I looked to see what my options were. So when I saw the impressive specs on this camera, I had to try it out. Good choice on my part.

I could not believe how much of a powerful and clear zoom lens this camera has! This camera is pretty fast in terms of frames/second and startup time for such an "entry level" camera.

The macro capability was quite impressive, as was the depth of field capabilities. These were two features that I was missing in other point and shoots, and I could not be happier with the quality in this camera.

Dark environments are usually well captured, and I find that most pictures in the 400-800 ISO range to be quite usable as long as there is reasonable room lighting and no extremes of motion.

An added bonus was the video camera with stereo sound. I did not buy the camera for this feature, but I was delighted to find it so excellent. It easily equals my old Sony DV camera in all ways except night vision capability.

Unfortunately, my wife tended to use it so much that I felt she should have it. I bought a replacement camera that did not work out quite as well as this Canon PowerShot SX10 IS camera. Even though the replacement (Nikon Coolpix P90)was similar in feature sets and functionality. The Nikon P90 is a very nice camera, but having both in our household, I just like the Canon considerably better.

I ended up buying another PowerShot SX10 IS to replace my replacement Nikon P90. After using this Canon camera for awhile after using the Nikon, I will simply state that I am a full=fledged Canon enthusiast.

Reasons I like it (and why I think it is better than my Nikon Coolpix P90):
* Better (and more natural) clarity and color
* When using auto-focus, I find the pictures quite Good!
* The telephoto can be used in all lighting environments (even if it is grainy at high ISOs)
* The macro feature is really tremendous
* Stunned by how good the NTSC 640 x 480 video and sound is (just wish it was HD)
* Slightly more intuitive menus and functionality
* Better flexibility with LCD screen (though the Nikon is a nicer screen)
* Much fewer blurry pictures in various manual modes and/or auto modes
* Image stability function is better on this camera

This is one person's impression. Is it a perfect camera? No, but I truly believe that the Canon PowerShot SX10IS is a truly GREAT camera for new or experienced photographers, who want good flexibility, convenience, and excellent image results.

When it gets RAW capability and true HD video (1080p) then it will be perfect (for me) and called the "Canon PowerShot SX30IS", or the Canon PowerShot SX1 IS minus $100.

This is a nice camera but, It asks for setting the date and time every time I turn it on. Either I did not set it up right or there is a defect in its software.

This was purchased as an all in one lightweight holiday camera. It is good for holiday snaps and general photography but no good for fast action and low light. The images can be very grainy at ISO's above 400.
The supermacro is useful for flowers and still insects. I have managed some passable photos of birds and butterflies but the viewfinder makes it extremely difficult to check focus so it is a bit hit and miss.
Landscapes are fairly bright as jpgs but I tend to shoot RAW - that was the ultimate selling point.
With a low iSO of 80 it is superb for snowy landscapes and I have sold one image taken with it to a card company. Exposure compensation is easy to use and the image preview has the ability to show the histogram - all useful for the snow.
The only downside is that it eats batteries, on a recent trip to Austria the rechargables I took ran out after about 10 shots - they where fully charged before I left the UK. High power AA's lasted about 200 shots.

I am generally the one that takes pictures on vacations and during family events. At one time my husband spend $1.500 for a camera/digital for me. Always had problems with it, and lost some great shots.

Then my neighbor told me about the Canon he got on Amazon. I bought it, and have never regretted it. The pictures are great, and I am truly camera challenged.

I took it on our recent cruise to Alaska and got some awesome shots, even a picture of a black bear in the bushes near me.

Also got some wonderful early morning shots coming in to port in Ketchikan, Alaska with lights twinkling in the old church and in the hills.

Also, does not take expensive batteries, and I do not have to plug it in to recharge. A great bonus, I did not have with expensive camera I had in the past.

Sherry

Update -- 07/29/2009 --

This is not a good camera for videos. One reason is the inability to focus while zooming during a video. The other reason is much more subtle. Some brilliant enginner put a "compact" video mode that one can easily switch to -- from hi res - just by turning the thumbwheel one quarter turn while in video shooting mode. This is very easy to do by accident and without noticing. The display resolution doesn't change much if you do this. You only see it after you upload your videos to your computer and find they are all fuzzy until you reduce the video window to a little tiny box. I ran off several videos and found later they were in ultra-low res and viewable only as a tiny box.

Now my wife returns from taking our kids camping, and I find that all but one of the videos she shot were in low res because she accidentally in haste bonked the thumwheel -- which surrounds the "set" button that is frequently used. The only indicator is a little envelope in the corner of the screen, which is not self explanatory and often not visible in the sun anyway when you're outside. What a stupid design.

-----------------------

The camera meets a specific need in our family, and that is as a simple and rapidly deployable "grab and go" camera for recording cute stuff the kids do at school and on field trips.

I already owned a Canon S3/IS camera (currently the S10/IS) which is well over $300 and vastly superior in several ways, but it has one major flaw and that is its thick profile. It's a bulky camera. You can't just stuff it into any pocket or purse or in a jacket.

I figured that I was missing a good amount of recordable cuteness because my wife wouldn't grab the big fat S3/IS and take it with her, so I bought her this slim and not quite so capable camera with essentially the same menus and controls as its bigger brother.

Now my wife grabs it and takes it places and I get more pictures and movies of the kids for our archives. What a great age to be a parent.

Here's what I particularly like.

1. The big screen on the back.

2. Face detection.

3. 30 fps DVD resolution movie capability.

4. Just plain takes good pictures.

5. High Capacity SD chip compatibility.

6. Skinny even with the AA batteries.

7. AA batteries! I really hate having to remember to charge proprietary little batteries. You have to have at least two so you can use one while the other is charging, and they eventually become useless and you have to replace them. I love buying AA batteries in bulk, using them, and throwing them away. Bwa ha ha ha ha!

Now the stuff I don't like

1. It can't auto focus while zooming and shooting a movie. I don't know that any camera at this price point does. The big brother S10/IS probably excels at this because my S3/IS sure does. I miss that capability in this camera.

2. Can't shoot around corners or hold the camera at weird angles because the LCD is in the back of the camera and does not flip out and swivel. I can't hold this thing over my head and shoot down.

3. Chews up the batteries faster than the larger Canon, understandably, and takes longer to ready the flash than the larger Canon does.

4. And, a nitpick that really bugs me. The SD card and the battery compartment are behind the same little door, which is on there really tight and it's a pain to have to open the battery compartment just to pop out the SD card, which I do way more often than swapping batteries because my PC has a card drive built in and transfers several GIG in a few seconds when I plug a card into it.

So, if you want a LCD on a pivot, or you really want your digital camera to double as a camcorder, by all means spend the extra money to get the higher end camera. If you want a "grab and go" camera that's a cut above many of the little tiny silver things that so many people seem to be in love with, try this one.