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Canon Powershot SD870IS Review

Canon PowerShot SD870IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)

The Canon Powershot SD870IS (known as IXUS 860IS in Europe and IXY Digital 910IS in Japan), announced in August 2007, is a replacement for the SD800IS (IXUS 850IS), one of 2006’s most popular ultra compacts. Powershot SD870IS has 8 megapixels and 3.8x wide angle optical image stabilization, like Canon Powershot SD800IS. However, it has a larger 3-inch LCD screen and more photo sharpness. Canon SD870IS also updates the face detection system which able to focus up to 35 faces at a time from more angles, and does quicker than its predecessor.

Example images taken with Canon Powershot SD870IS

Here is Canon Powershot SD870IS video review (credited:cameralabs)

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Buyer’s Review

“He Points, He Shoots, He Scores!”

The Cannon Powershot SD870 IS is about everything you could want in an ultra compact point-and-shoot camera. It offers excellent picture quality, a large vivid LCD display, smart defaults, fine low-light sensitivity, a high quality movie mode (including audio), an outstanding wide-angle lens and a photo capturing speed (most important for me) that leaves many other digital cameras in the dust.

I cover a fair amount of electronics trade shows such as CES and CEDIA for my home theater site (Big Picture Big Sound), so I need a camera that has a good macro feature for close-ups, quick on the draw, fine low light sensitivity and zoom for long-range shots at press conferences. Portability is also a key, as I need to carry the camera around in my pocket along with other gadgets for note-taking. I’ve owned a Canon Powershot S400 Digital Elph for a couple of years, and it has served me well, but the lag time between pushing the shutter button and actually getting a picture (especially indoors) was frustrating, also its low light sensitivity is fairly poor.

The Canon Power shot SD870 retains all of the positive features of the earlier Digital ELPH models, yet many improves on the weaknesses. You can go from power up to photos snapped in about a second. And once the camera is powered up and ready, you can capture shots in one or half second or less (depends on lighting conditions). For taking pictures in low lighting, the “Night Scene” mode (along with built-in optical image stabilization) is superb, it enabling me to capture on-stage action at a press event from 20 or 30 ft. away (ISO sensitivity on the camera goes all the way up to 1600, but you can expect some graininess when going above ISO 400). Other scene modes such as “portrait” are also handy when you’re going in for a shot-range or close-up shots and want to capture a posed or candid picture of a loved one with an “artistic” out-of-focus background.

In terms of size, the camera is tiny, yet comfortable in the hand. Powershot SD 870 IS’s aluminum frame feels solid without being weighty and controls are logically laid out so you can be up and running without cracking the manual. Unfortunately the tiny size means it does not take standard AA batteries, but the Lithium Ion battery that comes with it will last through an approximately a couple of hundred shots in normal use. You may need to buy a spare battery however, as there is not always a lot of warning between when the on-screen low battery gauge starts blinking and the camera powers itself down (note: get the Lenmar NB-5L equivalent - it will last about as long as the Canon for about 1/3 the price).

All in all, I’m very pleased with my purchase of the Canon Powershot SD 870IS and I’m looking forward to use it to snap high quality photos of the latest gadgets at next year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

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Tags: canon, Digital Camera, powershot, review, sd series, sd870is, wide angle zoom

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Canon Powershot SD850IS Review

Canon PowerShot SD850IS 8.0 MP Digital Elph Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

The Canon PowerShot SD850IS Digital Elph is a digital camera which will really get your creative juices flowing. It begins with a high resolution 8.0-megapixel CCD including 4x optical zoom through Canon’s special UA Lens and an Optical Image Stabilizer for accurate zooming. There’s also a DIGIC III Image Processor with advanced Face Detection and red-eye correction, an ISO 1600 setting for clearer images in low light, 5 Movie Modes and a 2.5 inches PureColor LCD with scratch-resistant, anti-reflective coating for easy viewing.

Example images taken with Canon Powershot SD850IS

Here’s Canon PowerShot SD850IS video review

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Buyer’s Review

“Great quality pictures, no shutter lag”

After searching for a perfect point-and-shoot digital camera to replace my broken SONY Digital Camera, I found a great sale price on Canon SD850IS, and have been very pleased! I have 2 sons who are always active, so the most significant feature to me was no shutter lag. Powershot SD850IS covers that! I often tend to use all automatic settings, and the photos have been great! I’m a busy mom who doesn’t have time to sit and read instructions or manuals, and this camera took nearly no time to set up and learn. One feature that I really like is the face detector in the auto-focus mode. You slightly depress the shutter and the squares surround the faces to focus the picture. In addition, I was a little worried about the new battery, my previous camera used AA batteries which was nice because I could grab new ones in a hurry when the camera ran out of battery. However, I was pleasantly surprised how much BETTER this battery is — it holds a charge much longer than any of the AA batteries I ever used (including rechargeable ones!) Canon Powershot SD850IS is small, so it fits into my pocket or purse nicely without being cumbersome. Overall this is a great camera that I would strongly recommend to a friend.

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Tags: canon, Digital elph Camera, powershot, review, sd series, sd850is, stabilized zoom

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Canon PowerShot SX100IS Review

Canon PowerShot SX100IS 8MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

“The Canon PowerShot SX100 IS marks the debut of an entirely new category of compact digital camera,” said Mogens Jensen, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging, Europe. “Standing for high optical zoom performance and easy to use, the SX series gives families the zoom they need at an accessible price point.”

Canon SX100 IS will inspire you with its with special 10x Optical Zoom…and so much more. There’s the 8.0-megapixel CCD and Optical Image Stabilizer for shake-free long-distance shooting. Plus, the DIGIC III Image Processor with advanced Face Detection, Face Chooser Button and Red-eye Correction assure splendid results every time. Auto ISO Shift and ISO 1600 makes ease of low light shooting. The large Mode Dial lets you select Scene Modes or full manual control comfortably.

Example photo taken with Canon PowerShot SX100 IS

Buyer’s Review

“Great pocket-sized alternative to other Canon cameras”

Whether you are an experienced DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera) owner (as I am) looking for a compact 2nd camera or you are someone looking for an upgrade of your rusty point-and-shoot digital camera, the Canon PowerShot SX100IS is a well designed compact digital camera that has a chunk of features at a very very reasonable price.

I’ve been using my Canon Digital Rebel (DSLR) for a couple of years and am very pleased with it. However, I have become increasingly aware of how bulky it is, particularly when I want to go some places where it’s inconvenient to lug around - like going hiking. So I set out looking for a small-sized camera that had as many features as I could find comparable to my Canon Digital Rebel.

Being a fan of Canon cameras I limited the field to the Cannon PowerShot G9, the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS, and the Canon PowerShot SX100IS, all Canon products. The G9 is promoted and priced as the best of Canon’s non-DSLR cameras, although from the reviews I’ve read it is more satisfied for its look and feel than for its performance. It is an 12.1-megapixel CCD and 6x optical image stabilized zoom camera that can shoot RAW images. In comparison, the Powershot SX100IS is an 8-megapixel 10x optical image stabilized zoom camera that doesn’t shoot RAW. (I’ve shot RAW using my DSLR and don’t find it necessary to get great pictures.) The SX100 IS has almost all of the other features of the Powershot G9, and is about the same size, but weighs a lot less.

The Canon Pro Series S5 IS is an 8.0-megapixel 12x optical image stabilized zoom camera. It looks a lot like a DSLR but doesn’t allow lenses swapping, and it cannot shoot in RAW. It has very similar features to the SX100IS but is considerably bulkier and weighs more.

Even though all 3 cameras live up to Canon’s reputation for taking great shots, I chose the Power Shot SX100 IS over the G9 because it had better optical zoom capability, weighed a lot less and price was about $200 cheaper. I chose Canon SX100 IS over the Canon S5 IS because it is more compact and lighter, and price is about $80 cheaper. (Also, the SX100 IS’s 10x optical image zoom is pretty astonishing in its own right.)

The Canon PowerShot SX100 IS has almost as many features as the other 2 cameras at a considerably lower price. I particularly like the Macro setting (which allows me to take really close-ups shots of ferns and the like on my hikes), and I like the manual focus capability for some situation that the auto-focus won’t work properly. Also, I find that the lack of a viewfinder isn’t bothersome. In fact, in some instances like when I’m playing around with color or white balance, I can instantly get a preview of how the exposure changes on the its 2.5″ LCD screen, which isn’t available on my DSLR.

Since buying the Cannon Powershot SX100IS about a month ago, I find myself reaching for it more often than I do my old DSLR. For my money and for most of my needs, this camera is superb.

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Tags: canon, Digital Camera, powershot, review, stabilized zoom, sx series, sx100-is

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