 "Good camera" | 2009-11-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2WLVN7VYVOJ3O |
| Overall, pleased with this camera. Portability is great. Picture quality not as good when zoomed in. My first video seemed a bit "jerky" and not very smooth. |
| |
 "Pleasantly surprised at video Quality" | 2009-11-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A24OM3GJ9FL4ZV |
I've used lots of digicams. My initial impression of the SD780IS is that it does a great job for its size, and my Made-in-Japan version seems sturdy and well-built.
There are plenty of good reviews here about the PQ of the still shots, so I won't comment there, and I'm not much of a photographer anyway.
But for the video, I'm very impressed. I've tried 3 or 4 different still cams that do HD video, and so far the Canon rules them all. It beats the video from my main digicam, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5. Although the TZ5 lets you zoom while shooting, it inevitably loses focus while doing so. So that's a wasted feature.
In contrast, you cannot zoom on the Canon while shooting, but you can pre-zoom before hitting the record button. This trade-off in my opinion, is worth the far better video quality of the Canon. The color is true and there is a lot less noise and graininess than the Panasonic. Just make sure you disable the digital zoom.
Don't expect miracles for video from any still camera. My only expectation was respectable video quality under optimal (i.e. daylight) conditions. No still camera will ever replace my HF200 as a camcorder, but for spontaneous daylight clips, this camera is great to have in my pocket. |
| |
| "A very small but very powerfull Point-And-Shoot Camera!!" | 2009-11-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: A25V7N9GUUV7NR |
You would not need all it's 12 Megapixels but it's good to have them for zooming into details and cropping of the picture after you took it.
The picture quality is just perfect. Easy to use and very quick.
The zoom could be bigger but it's more than enough for your everyday shooting situations and even a little more.
I just like it and that's why we bought a second one for my wife. And she loves hers too. Especially how small it is.
It really fits into every pocket and you can have it always handy.
HD Video, can you believe it. Perfect quality. The audio is decent.
It's hard to spoil a picture with this camera!! |
| |
| "Great little camera for the price" | 2009-11-01 |
| - Reviewed By User: AJ1VHLJ4MCUBY |
| Its a great camera in every level.. I gave it a 4 only because the shooting time is still slow.. by the time camera takes the pic, the event you are taking is over... but the delay is better than the camera I used have.. |
| |
| "Excellent Camera for its Size" | 2009-10-30 |
| - Reviewed By User: ARFMNUYD4ZW8L |
I bought this camera mainly due to its size and ability to shoot HD video. I upgraded from a Sony DSC-P8, which took pretty good daytime pictures but horrible low light shots and the shutter lag was ridiculously long. Also, I couldn't fit the camera in my pocket because it was so thick. This camera is an improvement in all of those categories. Of course I understand the Sony DSC-P8 is an older camera and most new cameras would be better.
This is the smallest, slimmest camera I have ever owned. I also have a Canon XSi DSLR which allows for more flexibility and takes professional looking shots but its by no means compact. When going out with friends or on a short trip, I'd much rather take the Canon SD780 IS which I can fit in my pocket. I also purchased the Canon PSC-1050 camera case from Amazon which is made specifically for this camera, as stated on the packaging. If you buy this camera, you should also get this case. Why buy a small camera only to buy a bulky third party case?
To me, the low light shots are acceptable for a point and shoot camera. The pictures still have a little bit of noise to them if you zoom in on your PC, but no where near the shots I took with my Sony. However, even though the noise is much improved, the sharpness of the pictures suffer a slight bit. The older Sony was better in this department. Overall, the low light shots taken with the Canon look much better than the Sony. I have no complaints with the daytime shots.
The shutter lag is also much better than the Sony. You can forget taking pictures of moving objects with the Sony. It sometimes took 3-4 seconds for the camera to take the picture from the point of pressing the shutter. The SD780 IS still has a shutter lag of about a second or less depending on the shooting conditions. For shots of moving objects like children and pets, I have my Canon XSi.
The buttons and on screen menus are easy to use and understand. Due to the small size of the camera, the buttons are small. I sometimes have trouble pressing the correct button. It's not a major problem though. I would rather have small button and a large LCD than the other way around.
Overall, I am very pleased with the camera. I never expected it to be perfect since its a rather inexpensive and compact point & shoot camera, but it exceeded the expectations that I did have and serves its purpose well. |
| |
| "A great pocket camera for the price" | 2009-10-22 |
| - Reviewed By nhawkins242 |
One of the problems with writing camera reviews is that people never consider the "space" which this camera occupies in the market. For example, I know that a $200 point and shoot camera will never take as awesome photos as my $3500 digital SLR, or even as my Powershot G10. But at the same time, I'm not going to go out on a night of drinking with my friends and bring a digital SLR because a) it's expensive and b) bulky.
Having said that, I'm really impressed at the output of the pictures. At the default high resolution JPG, I was blown away at how crisp the images were. At higher ISOs, the photos became progressively noisier - but that's a problem that's common among most point and shoot cameras. I'm not too worried - again, this is a camera I'm taking out and about and taking snapshots, not trying to be Annie Liebovitz. Prints at 8x10 look fine.
The 720p video is rather slick - even while goofing around taking videos, the videos were of decent enough quality that I'd be happy posting them to YouTube or Facebook. And no "rolling shutter', which is kind of cool. I'd recommend getting a Class 6 SDHC card for the camera, so it'll write the HD video fast enough to the camera without having to deal with dropping video. The optical zoom doesn't work in video mode, but digital zoom does. Digital zoom, in my experience, generally leads to awful photos and videos, so I try to avoid it all costs.
The SD780 is easy to operate, and there's virtually zero learning curve if you have experience with other Canon cameras.
One of the common complaints is that the camera's casing will attract dings, scratches and other things that will keep your camera looking less than pristine. If you're going to be buying this camera, you're better off spending $25 extra to get the Invisible Shield cover for this camera.
For under $250, this camera is great. It's smaller than my Blackberry and wallet, and makes up deficiencies by being a petite camera that fits in virtually any pocket. |
| |
Expedited Available
