Canon PowerShot SD800 IS 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Image-Stabilized Optical Zoom by Canon
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Digital camera reviews of Canon PowerShot SD800 IS 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Image-Stabilized Optical Zoom
Digital camera Review: Amazon customer service is stellar!
Summary: 5 Stars
The purpose of my review is not for this product itself, but for Amazon's stellar customer service. I just felt it necessary to post a testimony. I'm just an average online consumer who occasionally orders products online. I have no affiliation with Amazon; nor do I know anyone who works for them. I have enough experience with online shopping to see differences in customer service.
With Amazon, I've ordered products ranging from books, electronics, small appliances, and "other". I've never had a problem with security with my credit card. And all the products that I've ordered from Amazon, whether direct from them, or, was forwarded to an associate of theirs, arrived on my doorstep on time or rather, more typically, ahead of the estimated delivery dates INCLUDING DURING THE MAD RUSH OF THE HOLIDAYS!
For the products that I have ordered through Amazon, I have also experienced the value (cost savings). I can state that fact because I have performed in-depth research on the products that I have purchased before I hit the "OK" button.
After I order my items, Amazon emails "status" notifications. I can also log in and check the status of my order anytime that I want.
Only once, I needed to return an item to Amazon at no fault of theirs; I had ordered the wrong item. I returned the item unopened, completely in the same condition as they had sent it to me, and then ordered the item that I really wanted. Amazon credited my account within 3 business days of receipt of my returned item. And, I was delighted they credited me back the cost that I paid out of my pocket for shipping the item back to them. There was a minor hiccup with the return where initially Amazon thought that I had used one of their prepaid labels to ship the item to them. When I emailed them explaining the mixup, within 24 hours, they emailed me a formal apology and adjusted my account.
I realize that each circumstance is looked at by Amazon, as they do have return policies in place. And perhaps as you read my testimony you are muttering something different. I can only account for my experience with them.
If you are in doubt of ordering anything online through Amazon, you can be sure that they are stellar in customer service. In my experience of dealing with various online and various in-store customer service, I honestly thought this particular Amazon "return" experience was going to be a nightmare. They made it so easy. Amazon should be an icon and an example for other companies on what customer service is about.
Digital camera Review: Another great Camera in the Canon Digital Elph line
Summary: 5 Stars
I just spent a good 1/2 hour here reading reviews on the SD800 IS, and didn't agree with many of them so I had to write one myself. I have previously owned Canon's S400, S500 and SD550. I usually pass my previous cameras on to family so I can get the latest and greatest, and once again I am not sorry I did. I am extremely happy with my 800 IS. I quickly charged my battery, then took 60 photos or so using every feature I could find in the camera. Macro, flash, no flash, wide, telephoto, B/W, sepia, vivid, you name it. I couldn't take 1 bad photo even if I tried! I loved the results in all of them. My only complaints were test shots at ASA 800 and up. Yes, those will be very noisy and unusable, but when printed in a 4x6 size how bad will it be, really. Not much worse than film cameras at ASA 400 or 800. How many situations will you find yourself in needing that high an ASA rating? This camera is beautifully built, it looks and feels expensive and I think it's a quality built camera. It is not a tank like my old S400, and it's lighter than the SD550 but it does not feel or look cheap. This is an outstanding small camera. As for soft or blurry edges at the wide angle setting, NONSENSE. I just can't see it in my photos. If you are a previous Canon Digital elph owner and want to upgrade, go for the 800 IS. I picked this one over the 900 because I didn't like the looks of the 900, didn't care for 10 megapixels (when is it enough?), and the 900 did not have the IS feature, which is outstanding on my 800 IS. It really works! I took many photos indoors without flash, hand held and they were unbelievable, with excellent color balance. My flash photos seemed to cover the room just nicely too. I just loved every photo I took today with this camera. So, I don't know what all the whining and bickering is about, but this is one fine piece of camera engineering. As for the battery/SD card cover, yes, it's light and plastic, so open it carefully the way you should handle a $400 camera. There must be many clumsy people out there who break things. I never have, especially with my cameras. So, do I regret giving up my SD550 for this 800 IS? NOT ONE BIT! Both are outstanding cameras. I did a lot of research before forking over the cash for my next camera, and I'm glad it led me again to the Canon line. If you want one, treat yourself. I also hope I have made your selection easier for you. Between my wife and kids, my siblings, my nephews, brothers-in-law, you name it, they all have digital cameras now. We see many crappy photos, but almost never from those who went with the Canon Powershots. What does that tell you?
I have had my camera for more than one month now and I am still very happy with it. My wife has my previous SD550 so I've got the best of both worlds. That SD550 is also a great little camera, so I'm glad we've kept it. It just doesn't have Digic III or the IS feature, but that hasn't been a big issue. What I have now noticed is that for some reason I'm getting more red eye shots with these cameras. I have been taking a lot of photos of my young daughter and her dance class partners, and it seems to be more of a problem with children than adults for some reason. I have read that because of the small camera size, the flash is just too close to the lens and that is the reason. I don't really know but it could be true. I use a software program provided by Kodak Gallery to upload many photos at once, and it fixes that very quickly and easily so it is not a big issue to me. Also, some have written about the white spots that show up on photos. That I believe are dust particles in the air that come out magnified in photos, which is another common thing with these small digital cameras. Remember, at 7.1 MB you will see incredible details in your photos. If you have a digital camera, trying taking shots outdoors at night around a camp fire and you'll see what I mean. As for the round dust spots that show up, I just copy and paste a surrounding area without the spot and paste it over the spot and it's gone. There are many software programs that let you tweak your photos, so it's easy and fun to make corrections, which was virtually impossible with film photos.
Digital camera Review: Any small digital camera is a mixture of features and compromises...
Summary: 3 Stars
I've spent way too much time comparing the features on lots of ultra-compact digital cameras. I tried the Nikon S50, but the picture quality was pretty poor so I sent it back. This Canon was the largest and heaviest (and most expensive) that I was considering, but I went ahead and bought it because of the high marks that most people gave it and because of the wide-angle lens.
So how is it? Well, it's okay. I've discovered that all ultracompact digital cameras are a mixture of features and compromises, and no camera has "everything." This one feels solid (nothing rattles) and it starts up really fast -- I think it's ready to take a picture in less than one second. Is it easy to use? Easy enough to take pictures in automatic point-and-shoot mode, and of course you have to do more diddling around in manual mode. I've seen worse and I've seen better menu systems on cameras. The battery seems to last a long time (not true of the Nikon S50). The barrel distortion in wide angle shots bothers me quite a bit, and there's nothing that you can do about that. It doesn't seem to have any intelligence in the flash system -- mostly either on or off. And I can't tell that the face detection is working -- I don't see it select a face very often in the focusing box. Speaking of the AF box, in auto mode it often focuses on the wrong objects in the picture, and it's hard to get it to pick out the right things. I need to switch to center focus, I guess.
To be honest, after using the camera for a few weeks I'm not that excited about it. It has a good feature set and solid build quality, but somehow the whole package doesn't add up to a great camera for my needs.
Digital camera Review: Average Rating
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this camera because of the size and wide angle lens. The first time I used this camera, I noticed many round glare spots all over my pictures. I have never experienced this with my previous digital cameras. This doesn't happened all the time. I also noticed clicking sound inside the camera.Digital camera Review: Awesome Camera
Summary: 5 Stars
This camera is amazing. I spent about 9 months (sad, I know!) searching for the perfect camera, jetting in and out of Best Buy and annoying the heck out of my boyfriend asking him which camera he liked best. I had my heart set on the Canon SD700 until this model came out. It was like love at first site.
I am not a professional photographer by any means. I am a college girl who just likes to take action shots of my friends and me. Also, I was going to Europe for 2 weeks and wanted something that would take amazing pictures. This camera did just that! In churches and museums where you're not allowed to take flash, the image stabilizer really helped. A lot of my pictures came out crystal clear, something my old camera didn't do. I took pictures on the beaches, in rainy condition low light conditions and detail shots and they all turned out truly amazing.
Unfortunately, my camera was stolen while I was in Greece. I switched my memory card halfway through, so I only lost a good two weeks worth of pictures and my camera. This camera is so amazing, that I am buying it again. Now, instead of being $400, the camera is $300. Let's just say that I'd still buy this camera even if it were $400...It is that amazing. So if you're like me and can't decide what features work right for you or what technical ability a camera should have, do yourself a favor and get this one. I promise you won't be disappointed!