Digital Cameras : Canon PowerShot SD1000 DIGITAL ELPH (1862B001)

I have owned several Canon A series, Canon SD series, the Canon S series and also the S2/S3 IS. So here's the skinny as an amateur user.

A series - The A series is best for you if you're looking for a low cost camera that gives you a wide range of features, many manual controls and great image quality. Although, the size is bigger than SD series making it a jacket-pocket camera, the advantage is in the styling. It gives you a convenient grip on the side which helps hold the camera steady and results in less "blurry" pictures. The mode selector dial on top helps you zip through selections. The convenience of AA batteries which are available in every corner of the world, no missing out on pictures as your battery was discharged, might be a selling point for those who travel a lot.

The S3 IS has a great image sensor, the wonderful image stabilization, a great zoom and super macro function that can produce never before pictures. The flip out screen helps take shots from angles you've never considered before. It's also just a little more expensive and pretty bulky. If taking great pictures is all you care about and do not mind carrying a bulkier camera, the S3 will be a great choice. It's the first step towards a real professional camera.

And finally (drumroll) - the SD series. Small. Cute. Slips into your shirt front pocket without making it sag. If you're wondering about the style, the square "retro" design is better. Does not slip out from your fingers as easily as the curved edge ones. Since it is so small some features like different shooting modes are accessible only through the menu which makes changing between them more cumbersome. Sometimes I've just preferred to stay on Auto rather than missing the shot while I navigated to the right mode. They also have less manual or user defined controls like flash power reduction which I miss. The flash incidentally, can get very strong in lower light or indoor situations and often bleaches out color from people's faces. If you turn off the flash then you have to use a tripod or have the camera on a flat surface to prevent shaky pictures. I also find that the smallness and lightness of the SD series makes my hand shake more than when I'm holding the A series camera with the side grip. I get more fuzzy pics with the SD series than my A series and it's annoying to see the camera-shake warning each time on the screen I am trying to take a shot. I also get a little more red eye with this series probably because the flash is so close to the lens.

Having said all that, guess which camera travels with me most often. My SD1000. Just because it's small and fits into my tiny purse or pocket. I'd never take along the S3 on a daily basis and would miss some great photo ops...On the SD 1000 there is a red eye correction feature so you can remove red eye right on the camera. The other improvement over the previous SD series is the automatic face detection which helps reduce the flash glare on faces so pictures come out better. This is the one to buy folks!

And what about some other Canon features? (If you're a regular Canon user skip reading this section, as you already know all this good stuff.):
- It has an intelligent focusing system with DIGIC III (up from DIGIC II earlier) auto red eye correction and face detection (see above).

- SD card slot - cheap to buy 2 GB cards You can choose from 4 sizes for the pics depending on the size you may want to store/ print.

-Photo-stitch - For stitching together panoramic views. I have shot countless seascapes, 'bridge'scapes, and landscapes from all my Canons using this function and stitching together 6-10 shots in one. It's easy.

-Macro mode - Great for close ups of babies or product shots

- The SCN mode (special scenes)- Fireworks, Beach, Snow, kids and pets, Underwater, Foliage, Aquarium and Indoor is great. Now even amateurs can use Hide Full Review

this camera is definately worth its value. It has a vast array of features that are quite simple to use. The image quality is amazing, which can be viewed through its large LCD screen. I highly recommend you buy this camera if you consider yourself a proffesional or casual photographer. Great for vacations & photoshoots as well. Make sure you buy a case just incase it falls Hide Full Review

my dad bought this camera this april and used it without reading the manual. so easy to use. i love the face detection technology where the camera looks for a face in the scene and makes sure your face is neither too dark nor too washed out.

its small and so easy to put inside the pocket. turn it on and take your picture in about a second. take your next picture in a second.

image quality is nice. although it could have been nicer with IS. you need a tripod to get crisp pictures at a zoom. without a tripod, you can tweak to a higher ISO but quality is compromised. loving this camera though, but i recommend the sd800. Hide Full Review

I bought one of these about 3 weeks ago and it is very easy to use, you can store a lot of pictures on just one SD card, and there is also a movie mode but I have had trouble transferring the movies to my computer, but I think I can fix that. Overall great camera. Hide Full Review