Just Got a Canon PowerShot SD300

[Solafaa]

I just got my hands on an SD300 ultra compact digital camera and i wanted to talk about it.

When i shop for a digital camera i always look in the ultra compact secion, i find that a small camera that i can take with me everywere i go is more important then the images i take. I am on the move a lot and i need something to take with me.

A friend of mine wanted my older S500 canon so i gave it to him when i ordered the SD300. At first its smaller then the S500 (much thinner about 30%-40%) and feels much lighter when you are carrying around with you.

I went to the beach for an hour and the pics i took were amazing, althou its a 4MP camera the quality of the pics that came out were much better. The cideo mode 3 option, Standard, Fast frame rate (works great for football, and when running) and compact which is 160 Pixels. You can change the video quality on the frams per sec between 15 fps and 30fps. When i was looking for a camera i needed something with atleast 640x480 video since i use it a lot.

The bottons on the camera are easy to get to and the camera feels very nice in your hands, althou teh bottons are very close and small you get used to it after a few times use. The LCD is much larger then the S500 and very clear, there is also a viwefinder which helps when you dont use the flash and want to rest the camera between your forehead and your hands.

All in all this camera has great image quality, spurb video quality and its all in a tiny small body. I love this camera and if someone needs images he can PM (privet message me) or email on solafaa@mac.com and i can hook him up with some images. So far this is the best camera i have used and if your in the market for an ultra compact then you should try this camera out.

Here are some pics i got from my camera phone 640x480 i hope you like them.

 

[Stallion]

Wow, dude. Thanks for the heads up. I checked it out at Steves Digicams, and he really liked it as well. Looks like a killer compact cammera. How has the battery life been for you? That seems to be the only drawback on it, the short battery life. But this appears to be a problem inherent in compact cameras, as I can't seem to find another compact camera that doesn't have the same problem.

Again, thanks. This may very well be my next camera.

 

[Solafaa]

Wow, dude. Thanks for the heads up. I checked it out at Steves Digicams, and he really liked it as well. Looks like a killer compact cammera. How has the battery life been for you? That seems to be the only drawback on it, the short battery life. But this appears to be a problem inherent in compact cameras, as I can't seem to find another compact camera that doesn't have the same problem.

Again, thanks. This may very well be my next camera.

I have had used a few compact cameras and they all have a problem in the battery life department. I used to carry an extra battery with my s500 and it worked out great, i would charge both at night and in the morning they would be ready for a long trip. Due to small sizes of ultra compact cameras you can carry one extra battery.

 

[markh]

I've had this camera (Ixus 40 here in OZ) for a month now and absolutely love it. Its amazingly compact, which was one of my aims in replacing my old Olympus c2020. My ONLY pet pev of this camera, is the port cover to access the USB/AV connections is fiddly to open. And i'm sure in time, will break. Anyways, would recommend this camera to others who are after a smal compact digital camera

 

[denm316]

I've had this camera (Ixus 40 here in OZ) for a month now and absolutely love it. Its amazingly compact, which was one of my aims in replacing my old Olympus c2020. My ONLY pet pev of this camera, is the port cover to access the USB/AV connections is fiddly to open. And i'm sure in time, will break. Anyways, would recommend this camera to others who are after a smal compact digital camera

Mark,

I read what you wrote and went out and purchased this camera last night and I am amazed at the size, it will be so much more enjoyable to bring with me then my previous Sony Cybershot. I agree with what you said about the USB/AV cover, therefore I got the Best Buy extended warranty which will cover it, but hopefully it doesnt break at all.

 

[Applespider]

If the USB/AV cover is one of those flimsy looking rubber things, don't worry. I was concerned about this when I got my S30 over 3 years ago and it's still firmly attached. The camera itself has fallen 30ft onto concrete, off chairs, walls, bars (all accidentally!) and has dents, scratches all over (aside from lens and screen!) so it's pretty battered - still works fine though. The little rubber cover is probably the smartest looking thing on it!

 

[denm316]

If the USB/AV cover is one of those flimsy looking rubber things, don't worry. I was concerned about this when I got my S30 over 3 years ago and it's still firmly attached. The camera itself has fallen 30ft onto concrete, off chairs, walls, bars (all accidentally!) and has dents, scratches all over (aside from lens and screen!) so it's pretty battered - still works fine though. The little rubber cover is probably the smartest looking thing on it!

good to hear...thanks

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Wow, dude. Thanks for the heads up. I checked it out at Steves Digicams, and he really liked it as well. Looks like a killer compact cammera. How has the battery life been for you? That seems to be the only drawback on it, the short battery life. But this appears to be a problem inherent in compact cameras, as I can't seem to find another compact camera that doesn't have the same problem.

Again, thanks. This may very well be my next camera.

Batteries are the reason that I like my S40 (the S50 is now available), it uses AA batteries. For a casual use camera having something that can use AA sized batteries is great. In my case I use lithium-ion batteries.

 

[Stallion]

Ok, guys (all that have this camera now), I have a serious question about this camera. I've read some reviews, and seen some sample pictures. There appears to be some purple fringing on high contrast areas (white next to black, for instance). It seems to be ok at times, and pretty bad at others.

What do you guys think? Do you see much of it? Does it bother you?

 

[denm316]

Ok, guys (all that have this camera now), I have a serious question about this camera. I've read some reviews, and seen some sample pictures. There appears to be some purple fringing on high contrast areas (white next to black, for instance). It seems to be ok at times, and pretty bad at others.

What do you guys think? Do you see much of it? Does it bother you?

I have not taken many photos, but I have not noticed it as of yet. I have also not used it under all lighting conditions, so I would imagine "IF" there is an issue then it will be more noticeable on certain conditions. If you know what the conditions are let me know and I will gladly try to take a pic and upload it.

 

[Stallion]

I have not taken many photos, but I have not noticed it as of yet. I have also not used it under all lighting conditions, so I would imagine "IF" there is an issue then it will be more noticeable on certain conditions. If you know what the conditions are let me know and I will gladly try to take a pic and upload it.

Thats kind of the problem. I agree with you that it seemls like ti would be under certain conditions, but these people are saying under all conditions. Some more noticable than others. The important places to look are high contrast areas. Such as if someone is wearing a white shirt, and they are in front of a darker colored background. Here is an example :


A Pic From Amazon

If you look at the guys shirt on the right side, you can see a purple haze running up and down the edge. Do you typically see this sort of thing, now that I've pointed it out?

 

[aricher]

The purple fringing can be really obvious when you shoot pictures of trees with a cloudy/bright sky background. You can see purple clumping up around all the edges of the leaves.I'm in the maket for a new compact camera so I'm interested to see how your tests come out.

edit - Stallion's Amazon example is great - exactly what we're talking about.

 

[denm316]

I will give it a try and see what I come up with, hopefully we can have a nice sunny day here, also I dont know if it was me, but it seemed as if the "amazon" examples were zoomed in, could this be something more noticeable on high zoomed shots??

 

[aricher]

Not sure about the zooming factor all I know is if something's contrasty or backlit purple fringing can happen. i don't think there are that many consumer level dig. cameras that don't suffer from this flaw.

 

[Stallion]

Not sure about the zooming factor all I know is if something's contrasty or backlit purple fringing can happen. i don't think there are that many consumer level dig. cameras that don't suffer from this flaw.

True, but they are to greater and lesser degrees. Some people think that with the SD300, its too much. From what I saw, I could live with it. I just want to know how much and how often it will show up.

 

[dha0282]

I just bought this camera last week also! I love it!! I actually had a Canon G6, but sold it after a couple of weeks because I found the size of it to be a burden when carrying it around. I love the compact size of the camera, which is actually smaller than the Sony T1. I haven't gotten to take a whole lot of pictures, but I noticed that the flash is very weak when taking night shots.

This is a great point-and-shoot camera to take around anywhere. However, I still crave the Nikon D70.

 

[Laslo Panaflex]

I was just looking into getting a ultra compact digital for my GF for Christmas, and was looking at the SD300. I was also looking at the Canon PowerShot S410, does anyone have any experience with it?

From the responses on this board, it looks like I might be getting the SD300, its small and packs a punch.

 

[rikers_mailbox]

I just picked up the SD300 before Thxgiving and gave it a good workout over the weekend. Given that it's such a tiny camera, I am impressed with the image quality and the multitude of shooting modes. Did I mention how small the camera is!? I can carry this thing in my pocket all day and not even notice!

Best Buy had a competative price on the camera, but I would recommend buying the extra SD memory from somewhere else for cheaper.

Oh, and the SD300 it just a hair too big to fit inside of an Altiods tin (the zoom knobby-doo sticks out), anyone have a good idea for a case?

 

[sigamy]

A friend of mine wanted my older S500 canon so i gave it to him when i ordered the SD300. At first its smaller then the S500 (much thinner about 30%-40%) and feels much lighter when you are carrying around with you.

So you downgraded from the 5MP S500 to the 4MP SD300? Why? Was it mainly for the smaller camera? Would you see any difference in quality in 8x10 and smaller prints between these two cams? Best Buy online has them both for $360. Is the only real difference the physical size vs. MP?

My wife currently has an Olympus C-3000 3.3MP. We've been pretty happy with it but she doesn't like the long lag time between pressing the shutter and the picture being taken. You often miss that funny face the baby was making. Does anyone know if these Canons have a faster response?

 

[denm316]

So you downgraded from the 5MP S500 to the 4MP SD300? Why? Was it mainly for the smaller camera? Would you see any difference in quality in 8x10 and smaller prints between these two cams? Best Buy online has them both for $360. Is the only real difference the physical size vs. MP?

My wife currently has an Olympus C-3000 3.3MP. We've been pretty happy with it but she doesn't like the long lag time between pressing the shutter and the picture being taken. You often miss that funny face the baby was making. Does anyone know if these Canons have a faster response?

I was in the same boat as your wife, I hated lag times, I had a Sony 4.0MP camera and the lag time was horrible, in my case I would miss someone doing something stupid at a party while drinking to much(sorry dont have a baby for the funny face...lol).

I got a new SD300 after my Sony accidentally broke and the response time is amazing. The response time is fantastic even with the "red-eye" reduction on with the flash. If you turn the "red-eye" off it seems a tiny bit faster but barely noticeable. The flash also re-generates in about a second or less for me. I find the response time night and day between my Sony and my SD300.

Another huge bonus is the size factor, I can keep the SD300 in my shirt or jeans pocket and not even notice its there, makes it worth taking to more parties.

Hope this helps,

 

[jeromeusa]

I have had used a few compact cameras and they all have a problem in the battery life department. I used to carry an extra battery with my s500 and it worked out great, i would charge both at night and in the morning they would be ready for a long trip. Due to small sizes of ultra compact cameras you can carry one extra battery.

The battery life on this is awesome! Took a couple of hundred photos, all w/ the screen on, over several days and then the battery finally died. I'd say that it's not quite as lengthy as the Pentax Optio S50 I had before, but it's a vast improvement over previous Digital Elphs I've used (their batteries lasted maybe 3 hrs!). Supposedly the improvement is due to the revamped Digic processor or something.

As for purple fringing, I got the same problem in high-contrast areas like shooting a window from the inside: fringing at the edge of glass and frame.