Cheapest Canon PowerShot SD980IS 12.1MP Digital Camera With 5x Ultra Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom And 3-inch LCD (Silver)

You may be confused by other reviews here. Some give 1 star, some give 4 or 5. Sharp pictures . . . terrible pictures. Which is it? Here's the scoop:

In "Auto" mode, the camera chooses the ISO setting and that cannot be defeated. Unfortunately, the camera chose ~ISO 640 for all the test indoor flash pictures I took on Auto. These grainy images are far inferior to, say, the crisp, sharp images from the SD800is that I also have . . . er, well, had :(.

Note that using "P" mode and forcing ISO 80 gave very sharp images, comparable in all respects to those I took with the SD800is.

But user control of ISO is only available in Shooting Mode using settings "P" and "Long Shutter". As a result, the graininess and quality of images in *ALL* other modes is unpredictable at best, and uniformly bad at worst.

The SD980is is in desperate need of a firmware update allowing the user to set the ISO or the maximum ISO range to be used in *any* mode. It may also be possible for the camera to give a warning if it would have chosen a higher ISO, and allow the user to either shoot or accept the camera's choice.

Pros: On the plus side, the camera has many very nice features (eg, touch focus), what seems to be a good optical system, and a wide angle range that should make this camera the ideal travel companion. OTOH, Canon has gone from providing piles of paper manuals in multiple languages to none - just the CD versions. If you want to learn about the camera, either study up at home or bring your laptop with you.

My opinion: Unfortunately, the absence of effective user control over ISO and the resulting uncertainty and/or inferior images makes the SD980is "unacceptable".Buy Canon PowerShot SD980 IS Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1/B 10MP "Exmor R" CMOS Digital Camera With 5x Optical Steady Shot Stabilized Zoom And 2.7-inch LCD (Black) Buy Now

I had really high hopes for this camera. Great size, low light capability, panorama, high speed burst, and HD video with optical zoom. Well, 2 out of 5 doesn't cut it compared to other cameras available today. The size and video are great. The low light capability was good, but not that much better than my Sony H20. The big disappointmet was the bright light image quality. It was NOT good at all. The images did not have good focus; they just weren't sharp and the color was not nearly as good as other point and shoot camera I have or am very familiar with. The Sony H20 and even my 4 year old Canon SD850IS were MUCH better. Also the panorama works as advertised except the image quality is terrible. HIgh speed burst did work well for speed but image quality again was lacking. Overall I am being nice giving it a 3.

I really wanted to love this camera, but no way. It went back after about 300 pictures of varying types. Buy Sony Cyber Shot DSC WX1 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

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Cheapest Canon PowerShot D10 12.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera With 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom And 2.5-inch LCD

I have a number of canon cameras [SD 550, SD 750, original Digital Rebel (300D), Rebel XSI] and purchased the D10 to take on vacations to beach, water parks etc. I received the camera in early November 2009 and pictures taken outdoors look great. The IS works well and I took a number of good pictures of our new puppy and my young kids (all of which have a tendency to move...darn it!) and pictures look good. Based on reviews here the camera went into the water in the sink almost right away to test the seals as others (from the number of postings this is rare) have had leaks that bricked their cameras. I had no problems there.

What I did / do have a problem with is that with some types of fluorescent lighting (that in my kitchen, as it turns out) the pictures have an extremely yellow cast. Selecting white balance for fluorescent lighting did help some but problem seemed to return after several shots even still in that mode. Selecting over to that mode was also quite cumbersome and not something I wanted to do every time I happened to take a picture in my kitchen (which is where our puppy spends quite a bit of time, of course). Oddly, my older cameras noted above all deal with this lighting with automatic settings without problems.

The issue was so severe that I actually returned the first camera I got in case it was an issue just with that unit. As it turns out, it appears to be design related. Oh well, I'll simply be sure to use a different camera in the kitchen - but if you intend to use this as not only an occasional camera but your primary camera you may wish to think twice or at least very carefully test it in all lighting conditions in and around your home. Incidentally, this was my first return to Amazon and true to their reputation it could not have been easier. I will keep the replacement camera as it should work well for outdoors / beach / water parks etc. I had hoped to use it as a extra fairly small camera for indoor shots but I no longer plan to use it that way.

As a side note, if you get this be sure to re-assign the "printer" button to switch to movie mode if you use it for video - the instructions for doing this are buried in the book but this is MUCH easier than selecting mode button, clicking right twice and hitting set.Buy Canon PowerShot D10 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1 12.1MP Digital Camera With 8x POWER Optical Image Stabilized Zoom And 2.7 Inch LCD (Black) Buy Now

I anxiously awaited this camera after having sat in front of my computer for 3 days reading review after review. I can't say that my time was wasted because although I think I take great pics I learned a lot of the terminology that I didn't understand previously. That being said I thought I had narrowed it down to exactly what I wanted. The zoom was important to me and the fact that this camera had 8x optical was great! However every single picture I took indoors that I zoomed in on was horribly grainy! In fact a lot the indoor shots I took turned out grainy and or blurry! I was able to get great outdoor shots but since at least 50% of my pics will be taken indoors this camera just doesn't do it for me. The flash also seemed to go off excessively even when I was outside unless I was standing in direct sun light. I also did what I call the "jump test" I have my kids jump in front of the camera indoors on the auto setting and I take a picture of them to see if it turns out blurry. This camera failed miserably. I tried every setting and uploaded pics 2 separate times then gave up and shipped it back to amazon. I then went out and bought a canon sx110is, which I love so far, and I also bought the Panasonic Lumix FS8. The FS8 cost me $100 at Wal-mart and preformed great! It even surpassed my expectations on the "jump test". I have owned a couple of Panasonic Lumix cameras but the Lumix DMC-ZR1 sadly fell short. Buy Panasonic Lumix DMC ZR1 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

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Olympus Stylus Tough-8000 12 MP Digital Camera With 3.6x Wide Angle Optical Dual Image Stabilized Zoom And 2.7-Inch LCD (Black) Buy Now

Let's be honest - I bought this camera specifically for the waterproof/dustproof/crushproof/freezeproof features. I anticipated that image quality and ease of operation might be sacrificed - and this is exactly what Olympus delivered. Additional questionable bonus is the "tap" feature, which allows to activate some of the functions by tapping the camera from the sides. This is a nice concept, but would be much more useful if it was reconfigurable and allowed the user to assign which functions are activated by tapping. The most important (at least for me) feature of this camera is that it's waterproof, and I can honestly admit that it works. I used this camera for a couple of hours while playing around in the swimming pool, and it worked beautifully. No leaks, no bubbles, and color correction for underwater photography is quite decent. The crushproof feature was also tested, since I dropped the camera couple of times, and it kept working. This camera is tough :) Unfortunately the image quality is far from perfect, in fact is merely average for a point-and-shooter.

The good:
- waterproof and crushproof (tested!)
- good color representation
- good automatic white balance (AWB)
- built-in panorama mode (only 3 frames)

The bad:
- images lack sharpness, appear very "soft"
- poor low light operation (focusing)
- occasional focusing issues (focuses in center even in "face detect" mode)
- some operation modes ("scenes") are inconsistent, e.g. "portrait" mode switches focusing to "point" instead of "face detect"
- flash is too strong and there doesn't seem to be a way to adjust it
- the image stabilization doesn't seem to help - consider it non-existent
- heavy (but this is kind of expected)
- tap control not reconfigurable

The ugly:
- weird "ghosting" and flaring effects appearing in photos on some occasions when the flash was used (poor or no antireflective coatings on lenses)
- very poor sound quality in movies

Bottom line - if not for the "tough" part, this would have been a pretty average, all-around, point-and-shooter. If you need a true waterproof (not just "splash proof") camera or something that you can carry in your pocket or a backpack in all weather conditions or any situation that could otherwise damage your camera - this is the one to get. If you don't need the "tough" part - get another camera with better image quality.Buy Olympus Stylus Tough 8000 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

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Canon PowerShot SD970 IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera With 5x Optical Zoom And 3.0-inch LCD (Silver) This Instant

I've been using the SD970is for a few weeks and it has proved to be just what I was looking for. My goal was to replace my trusted SD950is and Flip MinoHD with one camera. You see the 950is didn't do HD videos but now the 970is does! So, I'm down to one every day carry camera and I love it. The photos are great and the videos are even better than the Flip. With the Flip I had to use a monopod to keep things steady but with the Canon I can do a great job hand holding. All things considered this camera is a great photo/video combo and it's well worth the money. Plan on at least an 8gig memory card (I have two 4gig cards and I often find myself needing both).

Sample videos:
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 12.1MP Micro Four-Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera With 14-45mm Lens

I am an active dad that was fed up with spending $300-$500 on point and shoot cameras and getting blurry or dark photos. Panasonic finally produced a camera that is compact, easy to use, has 720p HD video, and takes great photos in low light.

I used my GF1 with the 14-45 lens this weekend to shoot photos and videos of a rock climbing competition. There were a lot of tough areas to shoot because of the high contrast between the dark overhangs and bright sun light. The GF1 performed extremely well.

I had some problems focusing when going from extremely bright areas to extremely dark areas but that was due more to my lack of experience with this type of camera as opposed to poor focusing speed in the camera.

[...]Buy Panasonic Lumix DMC GF1 Lowest Price, Order Now! [Click Here!]

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