Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)
by Canon
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Our Price: $649.88 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $65.00 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)
Customer Review: Never been happier with a digital camera.
Summary: 5 Stars
I got the SD1000 from amazon last June, and have never been more thrilled by a digital camera. I've owned digitals since 1997, with a Canon, then an HP (I know, I know), and Casio, and now I've come back to the beginning. I am a relatively poor actor living in LA, and so I was extremely picky about what I wanted in replacing my HP after it was stolen. I really wanted initially to buy a sony cybershot, but it was a bit expensive, and I really have a problem with Sony's proprietary memory format. The Canon SD1000 met all of my expectations and more.
It's small, and easily fits in a pocket. It's fast, has a good optical zoom, SD memory card use (I use a 2GB card) and rechargeable LiIon battery.
It takes remarkable video for such a small device. I'm part of a youtube documentary called Musecast, and have used the camera to film whole episodes on the go. (search for "musecast youtube gathering" on youtube to see an example)
It also has an amazing macro capability! Sure it's been a few years since I've owned a new DC, but I've never had that before, and it's amazing!! Plus, with almost no knowledge of how to do it properly, I've managed to take some awesome shots in very-low-light conditions. I uploaded a sample of me in front of the LA skyline to show.
It also has time-lapse video, which I've had a lot of fun with, and several fun filters like individual color enhancement.
It also features a nice accelerometer which knows which way the camera is oriented and turns the image on the display so it's always right side up!
I have absolutely no complaints about this camera. I'm really trying right now to think of something, because I never trust reviews myself that are all positive like this... I was initially concerned about the design, which I thought was pretty ugly and retro, but it's quite nice in practice, once you get it in your hands. Oh! ok. if I had to complain about something, I'd say that the red-eye reduction is surprisingly poor. Almost every picture I take with the flash (with the settings on automatic) requires me to fix the red-eye in iPhoto. However, the camera itself has a red-eye removal tool!!
I see that the price is way lower than it was a year ago. I can't see any reason not to buy this camera for the $160 it's being offered for now. I'm probably going to stick with Canon for a long time.
Customer Review: This is a keeper
Summary: 5 Stars
I am addicted to picture taking and was looking for a camera that I could always have with me. I bought and returned a Nikon Coolpix S200 before finding this one. I'm glad I did. This is a keeper. It's light, quick to start, has adequate picture taking modes, takes okay movies and allows me to make voice memos.
My first time out with it I had left the ISO to the factory standard of auto and the camera made some strange exposure choices. On a bright and sunny day it set the ISO at 350 and the shutter speed at 1/1200 of a second. I was shooting a dry docked boat and didn't need to stop any action. I took a bit over 100 images during that outing and three others came out with similar strange combinations of ISO, focal length and shutter speed. Those were noticeably grainy.
After setting the ISO to 100, the camera has taken consistently crisp and clear photos. Canon offers an ISO of 1000 for this camera but that's so grainy that I'd only use it in an emergency. 200 has a little bit of grain and any ISO higher than that degrades quickly. However, for this price range I doubt there is anything better.
The macro mode works well. The menus are mostly set up in a logical manner and quick to access. I'm old enough to still want an optical viewfinder, which this has but few other cameras in this category offer. The scene modes seem adequate for my needs. Colors are the tiniest bit over saturated but I imagine that most people who buy this camera appreciate the vivid color.
The digital image stabilization doesn't compare to the optical stabilization on my DSLR but seems to help a little bit. I photographed some displays at an indoor garden show with available light at ISO 200 and got some reasonably sharp images, clear enough for reference at any rate.
I don't bother with in-camera viewing, color modes or editing and don't print directly from the camera so can't comment on those features. Memory cards are cheap so I just take lots of images and work with them on my computer.
The included photo stitch software is extremely ugly and clunky to use but does do a nice job of creating panoramas. They blend seamlessly. An added bonus is that it can save the composites to Quicktime VR movies, which is a nice option. I showed that feature to a realtor friend and she went out and bought a Canon to create virtual tours of her properties.
Customer Review: great little camera
Summary: 5 Stars
When I found out I was going to Los Angeles for a trip, I started to despair. Not because I didn't want to go to L.A. (the stories can't all be true, right?)---rather, I wanted to be able to take a lot of pictures while I was there, and I didn't have a suitable camera.
I do have some cameras, but they were either too big and bulky, made it too difficult to get the images onto my computer, or took poor pictures. Obviously, during an extended trip, I needed something highly portable that had an easy and fast way to download the images and that took great pictures.
My problem was resolved with the Canon PowerShot SD1000 digital camera. Since I have been using it almost daily here in Los Angeles, I have found it to be one of the best cameras I have ever used.
First, the camera has a convenient and functional shape that is easily portable. Basically the camera is like the shape of a small deck of cards. The lense extends when in use, but otherwise sits protected within the camera case. Some of the other cameras I saw had strange curves or awkward protrusions that would only cause trouble when on travel.
Second, loading pictures onto my computer is trivial---I just attach the cable from the camera to my laptop and with one button press all of the new images are transferred over.
Third, the camera takes great pictures. In fact, all of the pictures taken of Los Angeles in the various blog postings on this website were taken with this camera. For example, here are some pictures I took on a recent trip to the Getty Museum.
And note --- I have no photography experience, so these pictures were me just pointing and clicking. For the experienced photographer, there are many, many features in this camera to allow almost complete customization of the picture taking process. With me, for now, just pointing and clicking works well.
For some of the technical specifications, it has a 7.1 megapixel CCD that captures enough detail for photo-quality 15x20" prints. You can use the view-finder or the 2.5" LCD to compose your shots. It also has something like 17 shooting modes, face detection, high ISO settings, 8 special scene modes, red-eye correction, 3x optical zoom, and a number of other features.
After adding a 4GB SD card, I've been completely happy with this camera.
(review by Kendall Giles)
Customer Review: A little gem
Summary: 5 Stars
I had purchased a Canon Rebel XT DSLR as my "main" camera, but wanted something really small and simple that my wife could stick in her purse. The SD1000 was just the right size and that was the main reason I bought it. To my great surprise I quickly fell in love with this little camera and my wife doesn't get that much chance to use it. It's not a substitute for my DSLR, but it takes great pictures for its size and sure is handy to pack along. I bought the matching Canon camera case and hang it on my belt whenever I think I might want to have a camera along -- it is small and unobtrusive and the magnetic catch on the cover makes it easy to pull out the camera and snap a one-handed shot at a moments notice (makes me feel like an old-West gunslinger!) Another nice surprise is the video capability, which I wasn't even thinking about when I bought this. I setup the programmable button to enable video recording and I find that I use that a lot. It takes surprisingly good videos, and it's so simple and inconspicuous that I don't have to make a big production of it. (You can capture a lot of video on a 2GB card!) Actually, even when I get out my DSLR and assorted lenses for "serious" photograpy, I almost always take the little guy along too. It allows me to mix still pictures and videos, and when I've got a long lens on the DSLR, I can pop out the 1000 for a quick reasonably-wide-angle shot without worrying about changing lenses. There are probably "better" general-purpose cameras, but I've had this little gem for over a year now and am still delighted with its tiny size and big capability.
A postscript -- I'm currently in Vail and have been packing this camera along to take pictures while snowshoeing and skiing. Not only is it really convenient, but the rest of my party has been amazed at the quality of the photos. The detail, contrast, and color is great and rarely is there any reason for subsequent photoshop enhancement -- even in snow scenes. The pictures I've been getting actually hold their own with the very expensive (and very heavy) professional style Canon DSLR used by one of the other folks on this trip, but I have mine with me all the time, whereas his mostly sits back at the lodge. I wouldn't claim this little point-and-shoot takes pictures at a par with a good DLSR with large-aperture lenses, but it sure won't embarass you either!
Customer Review: Very, extremely pleased.
Summary: 5 Stars
I always do a lot of research before I invest in a piece of technology such as this and I always half expect for all of the customer reviews to be misleading and I get a piece of junk, but nothing bad has come out of this camera so far. Pictures are gorgeous, video is better than what I expected in low light and phenomenal outdoors or in other good lighting.
Size is one of the reasons I picked this over the 750 series, because it's just that much more stylish and convenient. Even with the Canon PSC-55 Deluxe Leather Compact Case for SD430, SD500, SD550, SD600, SD630, SD700IS, SD800IS, SD850 IS, SD900,SD950IS & SD870IS Digital Cameras case I bought for it (apparently it's not advertised as fitting the SD1000 series but it fits like a glove, trust me), it fits reasonably well into my pants pocket. I might try the case that's specifically for the SD1000, just because it would be that much more compact. To be honest, it bulges out little more than my ancient cell phone so it's not a problem carrying it around every time I go out with friends.
I also purchased the Kingston, 4 GB SD Secure Digital Flash Memory Card SD/HC (Retail Package) because I work for a certain technology retailer and I got it for about $5 more than the 2 gig version with employee discount. 4 gigabytes is more than enough memory. Formatted, it holds just over 30 minutes of very impressive quality video (seems to hold more if you record shorter videos instead of one 30 minute video) and just over 2000 pictures at 3072 x 2304 resolution.
Overall, more than pleased with this purchase. With the camera, accessories (case and 4GB card), and a 2 year service plan, I was right at $250. Very good investment if you can find a deal that good. The only thing I regret is not buying the black version, but it's not a big deal at all. Besides, silver hides dirt better ;).
Pros:
Price, size, style factor
Brilliant photo quality (in my unprofessional opinion)
Great video quality
Impressive bundled software
Cons:
Didn't buy the black version.. not really a con...
None at the moment