Canon PowerShot A300 3.2MP Digital Camera with 5.1x Digital Zoom by Canon
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Digital camera reviews of Canon PowerShot A300 3.2MP Digital Camera with 5.1x Digital Zoom
Digital camera Review: 1st Time digital user
Summary: 4 Stars
I read the available customer reviews about the Canon A300 digital camera and noted the complaint about the lack of battery power. (eats batteries). I ordered the A300 based on recommendations from others about the machine being a good place to start. Now that I have had a few days to play with the A300, I can say in my experience the machine lives up to the manufactures claims. It is still on the supplied AA batteries after initial set up, 25 Shots and download time to my computer. For the price I cannot see how a novice could go wrong for a still digital camera with sound and movie options. My recommendation? If your new to digital and want to get your feet wet, try the Canon A300. Downside... could use optical zoom. However, keep your resolution high, and go easy on digital zoom and you will still get a quality shot.Digital camera Review: A SUPER DIGITAL CAMERA, ESP. FOR BEGINNERS!
Summary: 4 Stars
Sure, this camera has its drawbacks, but you'll never find a digital camera that is perfect. I wish it was more compact, I wish it always took perfect, in-focus pictures without me putting in any effort, and I wish it was faster, but one might say that about any digital camera. This is my first digital camera and I'm now ready to move on to a more modern camera that's more compact with better zoom and possibly more megapixels. But I'm not sorry that I bought this camera and when I bought it, it cost me about $300 or so. I am not an optimist and am by far the most cynical person I know and I still say this camera is a good buy, especially now that the price has plummeted.
My main reason for liking this camera is its durability. I've dropped it countless times (hard) and it remains in perfect physical & working condition. Many people complain about the FlashCard/battery door breaking on other models but this camera is a rock! The worst that happened when I dropped it is that the door swung open and the batteries came tumbling out. Each time, I thought "Oh, no! I broke it!" but soon realized it was intact and still working like normal. And most of the time, I toss it into my knapsack without putting it in a case first (tsk, tsk) and the camera is still going strong.
Also, with Canon cameras, many people get the E-18 error message or whatever it is on their screen and then their camera stops working completely. I believe this is caused by sand getting into the camera. I've never brought my camera onto the beach or anything, but I've had it not-so-clean places before and I never got that message with my trusty A300.
Many people have said that this camera eats batteries like crazy, and that's true, if you use regular AA Duracells or Energizers or what have you. I highly recommend you buy a set of 1 hour rechargeable batteries meant especially for digital cameras. I bought a charger that came with two sets of batteries for $20 and these digital camera batteries last MUCH longer than normal AAs. It's great! You can use one set of batteries while the other set charges (it only takes an hour!) So I have to wonder what kind of batteries these people who complain about the battery-eating are using.
Size: it is a bit bigger than you might hope for but it never mattered much to me. It won't fit in your pockets (unless you wear very baggy pants) but it fits just fine in my knapsack. But ladies, if you carry around a tiny purse, this will take up a lot of room in it. It would also be nice if it was a tad lighter.
I've gotten many great photos out of this camera. I would say about half come out good, half come out not-so-good. Two pictures I took with it came out so well that they won photo contests. I think it was fun to experiment with the 'flower' button and flash button, etc. I wish the mini-movies it takes didn't come out so dark. But it got the job done. It's pretty easy to use, too. I figured out how to use the camera quickly. I didn't even need the manual until it came time to download the pictures from my camera onto my computer (which also turned out to be easy).
The only thing that really bothers me is the very slow reaction time. Don't expect get any photos of your cat yawning, for example, or anything that happens that fast or faster. It takes a little while to load when you first turn the camera on before you can start taking pictures but I've gotten used to it. I would say that this is the A300's only major drawback. If you're in a hurry to snap a photo or if you want to take a picture of something fleeting (like a yawn), you might get very frustrated by the delay time (I have). But other than this problem, this sturdy camera was a breeze to use and I am happy to pass it on to my sister when I get a newer model.
See my two contest-winning photos that were taken by my A300 in the photo gallery ('Customer Images') for this product! They are the two rat pictures... Thanks for reading this and good luck!
Digital camera Review: A convert's opinion
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a recent convert to digitial from an advantix camera. Ive had this camera for a month now, and it is the best thing i have ever bought. I knew that when I saw this in the flyer, we would be getting it.Anyways, the batteries that it comes with are garbage. they didnt even last long enough to change the settings. I did buy 4 energizer rechargables though, and each pair has lasted me a good 2 or 3 days
I strongly recommend using the viewfinder to take shots and use the lcd to review shots to save on battery.
The digital zoom is not that good, but im surprised i can still catch the license plate of a car that almost hit me.
The movie mode is ok. its much better outdoors than indoors
The memory card lasted a while, but i really wanted to get better shots, so I got the 128 mb card. With the new space, I was able to catch a video of a flock of ducks crossing the road and holding up traffic for 10 minutes
i agree with many of the opinions here. If your a person that just likes to take average shots without paying too much, then this camera is for you. If you buy 2 pairs of rechargebles, you will be fine. I guess in a few years, ill probably stick to canon when the 10mpxl cameras come out
Digital camera Review: A few words for fellow adventurers:
Summary: 4 Stars
I have found this camera to be surprisingly resilient to the repeated abuse I have given it. It's not been left completely untarnished, but it still KIND OF works.
When I left it outside in the sand during a thunderstorm in the fair town of Dirt, Louisiana, it woke up in the morning QUITE gritty and the buttons were a little stubborn, but it still worked perfectly. Photos are of beautiful quality.
I've banged it around the Caribbean without a care in the world, and while it was always a bit too slow to take successive photos of Puerto Rican farmers getting into a bar fight, it held up quite well.
Real problems came after I dropped the poor thing into a hot spring in the Andes of Venezuela. Luckily, I was able to retrieve it, but it would never be the same again. The LCD is completely trashed and unusable and the flash is now nonexistent, but the durn thing still takes pictures!! I can't believe it, either. As long as I'm outside in the sun, photos and video turn out great and transfer effortlessly to my computer.
In short, this camera will take a lot of wear. It's a great camera to take on adventures (especially to places that don't have lithium batteries!), but go easy on the hot springs.
Digital camera Review: A good low cost high quality camera
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my first digital camera and while I was camera searching there are two very important things that you have to take into consideration. One is the type of media storage (CF or SD memory), and the other is the type of battery it uses. When I was deciding which one to buy it was between an Olympus and a Canon. What I noticed about the Olympus camera that I didn't like was that it uses XD memory cards which is only made for Fuji, Olympus, and Toshiba cameras making it extremely expensive to purchase memory. The Canon uses CF memory which is the cheapest out there and can also be used in your PDA and MP3 player making it's versatility a plus.
Now with ALL digi cams that use AA batteries it will drain quickly if you use the LCD viewfinder and flash. If you use NiMH rechargable batteries then expect those batteries to drain a whole lot quicker. This is true for Nikon, Fugi, Kodak and ALL other cameras too.
Now even though the A300 doesn't have optical zoom it's digital zoom doesn't skimp on the quality. Made for XP users plug and play via USB cable. And the software that comes with it is okay but, if you use Windows XP then you might want to things simple and use the picture viewer to edit pics. And when your done with that head over to Snapfish to develope your edited pictures.