Canon PowerShot SX100 IS

This is my 5th digital camera, most recent is the Kodak DX7590. I needed a camera that uses AA batteries for an upcoming long duration vacation trip.

The Canon SX100 was selected after an investigation on the Internet, this camera looked to be the best unit to satisfy my needs. Even though the Kodak camera is only about two years old, the Canon SX100 far outpaces the Kodak camera in difficult conditions.

For someone who needs a fairly compact camera with the full automatic and manual commands, this would be a good camera to consider.

This camera is never going to compete with the professional cameras that can cost more than 10 times than this camera, but for the average user, it really fills in the gap between the simple point and shoot and professional cameras.

This camera works very well under extremely dark conditions such as taking photos during a music concert. We were about 30 feet from the stage and took many photos from our seats. For those who have tried this, usual result is a black background where the stage is dark, and white space washed out image where the entertainer is located. On full automatic, this camera did OK, but the images were washed out from overexposure, due to the black background.

The camera was placed on full manual, photos were taken until the image looked best on the LCD display. Following up on my PC, these photos were near perfect, far better than the Kodak can do under similar conditions. Also noted is the photo review on the LCD display is very close to the printed photo. This was not the case in the Kodak DX7590.

I even put the camera on a tripod outside on a pitch dark night. A 15 second time exposure showed many stars and a fairly black sky. Not many point and shoot cameras can do that. Obviously, this is no camera for astronomy, but it shows the cameras capabilities.

Indoor and outdoor photos and such are very nice as expected.

The camera, as most of the Canon line that uses AA batteries is rather hard on batteries. Simple solution is to purchase rechargeable NiHyd batteries with a charger from almost any discount store.

A benefit of the rechargeables, is they not only can be recharged many times, they also take several times more photos on a single charge as compared to the AA alkaline batteries

On full automatic, the flash will not trigger on a well lighted scene when fill in is needed. This can be resolved by setting the camera to its "P" program mode.

Kodak DX7590, Canon 710. Also have several other cameras of lower quality.

Not needed so far.

This is my third digital camera. My first was a Sony and my last one was the Casio Exilim. This camera surpasses both of these cameras. The picture quality is excellent. Night pictures are unbelievable. With my previous cameras, you couldn't even see the picture that you were taking at night, even with the flash on. I've taken pictures with this camera with the lights out (flash on only) and it looks like daylight. I'm extremely happy with this purchase and would recommend this camera to anyone looking to take great quality photos.

Picture quality, zoom, size and weight, feel of the camera in your hand. As I stated previously, it takes great pictures day or night. Love it, Love it, Love it. Did I say I love it?

Okay, so every camera is going to have its weaknesses, and this one is no exception. I loved having a camera dock with a rechargeable battery on my last camera. This one takes regular batteries, or you can buy rechargeable. But a dock for the camera to recharge would definitely be a plus for this camera. Another thing is that there is no viewfinder. Not really a problem since I tended to not use them in my previous cameras, but it was nice to know it was there in case I needed it. I don't usually use my camera for taking digital video pics, but a zoom on video would also be nice.

Previous to this digital camera I had a Sony and a Casio Exilim. The Sony took great pictures for a 1.6 mp camera, but it was huge. Larger than the video cameras that are out today. The Casio Exilim was nice and small and I loved the charging dock, but the pictures were just not good in my opinion. I was not happy with the quality of the pictures that were produced by that camera.

I haven't had any communication with the customer service department at either Canon or Dell in regard to this product.