Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital ELPH

Price: $579.97 - $579.97

Read all user reviews

Cannon SD50006/06/05

Pros:

Amazing pics for such a small camera

Cons:

When you hand it off to someone to take your pic in low light, the pics are blurry

In short, this is the best point and shoot camera I have owned. The battery life is superb, the pics are so rich and amazing, the user options are great and a lot of fun, the b/w's are stunning, and you cannot beat the size. The only reason I am giving it a 4 on Features is because I wish they had expanded the manual options to allow for faster shutter speeds and not just the longer (1+ second) shutter speeds (although, like I said, point and shoot).


After returning from a 2 week trip to Europe, I had a lot of time to get to know the camera. It was so great to just reach into my pocket and snap some pics while on tour busses, in museums, and around the country side. It was also nice to not have to drag along a lot of equipment or cumbersome bags that attract unwanted attention in crowded cities.

As for my con, I handed off my camera for a waiter to take some pics of my friends and me in Hard Rock Cafe, and all three shots were blurred. This was due to the fact that he was in a hurry. Just remember, the lens is not that large and you will need to stay pretty still in low light, because while we were in the vault museum the light was lower and I have some very crisp pics of me and my friend playing Jimi Hendrix's, Eric Clapton's, and Kurt Cobain's guitars down there.

The video feature on this camera was also a lot of fun. I was able to get some great shots of street musicians and this really helps out when you are trying to describe out of the ordinary things to people. There was a slight whining sound in some of the audio, but it was not too distracting (and since it is not my main video camera, was not a big deal). I would highly suggest getting at least 1 gig of memory if you are taking a long trip (I had 2 high speed 1 gig cards in Europe and used both of them for video and stills).

Overall, this thing ROCKS!