It's easy to get lost in feature lists and technical comparisons. I've done that with lots of devices, and certainly I could do so here. But my new-camera needs were fairly simple, and the bottom line is that this little gizmo fulfilled them all.
My husband used to be a professional photographer, and he is still most comfortable with a camera that gives him a lot of control; he wants and needs an SLR, and he cheerfully will adjust F-stops to get a photo to look just-so. Cool; he can have a high-end camera. But I'm a typical snapshot photographer who merely wants to record her vacation photos. I don't pretend to be a good photographer; I just want to create pictures that aren't embarrassing.
I want something simple enough to use without memorizing a manual, too. I like that I _can_ do more with the camera than the basics... but I especially like that I don't have to remember how to twist a lot of knobs.
My needs were short and sweet: I wanted a camera small enough to carry with me that could make up for my weaknesses. (My 5-year-old Canon was too big to fit comfortably into my laptop bag, so I had to be really motivated to bring it along on a trip.) The PowerShot clearly fit the bill on the first requirement; it does literally fit into a breast pocket, so I actually have the camera with me. It's fast to turn on, too, so I can be fairly spontaneous.
It's solid, so a klutz like me can drop it without worrying too much (not that I admit that I've done this already...). And - okay, this sounds dumb, but it matters - it's RED. So I can find it lurking at the bottom of my purse, otherwise known as The Black Hole From Which Nothing Emerges.
Primary among my weaknesses (the photo-taking ones, let's not get too personal...) is a bad case of hand-shake. All too often, my pictures were out of focus, because I tend to move as I whack on the button. The PowerShot's image stabilization delivered admirably. I took 88 pictures on a recent trip, and the only pictures that are out-of-focus are because someone was actively waving his arms while he was talking.
One extra that I appreciated -- and I would never had shopped for -- is the camera's ability to identify faces and focus on those rather than, say, the potted plant next to my subject. I can tell that the camera is doing a better job for me; certainly my first batch of photos has a higher success rate than anything I've done previously. That feature certainly has changed the way that I look through the viewfinder.
I haven't used the camera for video; I have a Flip Video for that use, which is even more dead-simple than this. (Perhaps this makes me sound like a Luddite. In reality, I'm a software geek. But I don't care to be a geek about EVERYthing. I like convenience, too.)
Weaknesses? Well, I do agree that the on/off button could be a problem for people with big fingers (though it's fine for me). And the place where I plug in the USB cable to connect to my iMac seems like it might be fragile. It probably is just fine; it just *looks* like I could break off that connector during a brain-dead moment.
But man, I love this little camera. It's simple enough for me to use, but not so stupid that it gets in my way. That's just what I wanted -- and it might be exactly what you wanted, too.Get more detail about Canon PowerShot SD780IS12.1 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Black).
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