Canon PowerShot SD870IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver) 8.0-megapixel effective recording * 3″ LCD screen * 3.8X optical zoom (4X digital/15X total zoom) * optical image stabilizer * top JPEG resolution: 3264 X 2448 *
Customer Review: Very versatile point-and-shoot!
This is my first time owning a Canon. All of my past point-and-shoot cameras have been Sony Cyber-Shots. That said, I didn’t know exactly what to expect from Canon, though I knew they had a certain standard of quality.
I’m extremely pleased with this camera so far. Not only is it comfortable to use, but the image quality is superb. I previously owned a DSC-W80, and I was so disappointed by how muddy the picture quality was. In this age where cramming more megapixels onto small sensors is the norm, I was afraid that this 8.0mp camera would be more of the same. I was very pleasantly surprised! Canon’s noise reduction is mild, and doesn’t destroy the image. The images are a little soft/unsharp, but that is to be expected from ANY digital compact, so that’s not a knock at the product.
The camera comes with a 241 page manual. There’s a lot to do with this camera, and I recommend thumbing through the manual to get an understanding of it all. In the most basic automatic mode, it takes excellent photos, but the real fun is in the other modes.
My favorite modes in particular are the color accent and color swap. Color accent allows you to select a specific color in the frame, and isolate it in the picture. So, let’s say you take a picture of your friend who is wearing a red shirt. You tell the camera to isolate the red, and that will be the ONLY color visible in the photo; the rest is black & white. Very fun mode, and very simple to use. It works much better with bold and bright colors, so soft neutrals and pastels won’t work as well. Color swap is similar to the accent mode, but you get to select a color to isolate, then a second color to switch it with. So if you take that picture again of the person in red, but then select a green color to swap it with, voila! The red shirt is now green.
Image stabilization is great, but please be sensible; it’s not a miracle worker. If you’re taking a quick indoor shot and want more natural lighting, it’s great. Don’t expect to take low ISO night shots without a flat surface.
The fact that the lens is wide-angle, too. This has a nice zoom range.
The manual mode is great. Up to 15 seconds of exposure! That’s really amazing for a compact, in my opinion. I took a picture of my window at night, and got a nicely exposed shot of the light coming in.
Movie mode is nice, and allows digital zooming while recording, but no optical zoom.
The startup is really quick, picture reviewing is just as fast and easy, and the touch sensitive control on the back even has a scroll wheel effect if you move your thumb around the ring.
I’ve honestly never been so impressed by a compact camera before. I don’t even mind that there’s no optical viewfinder, because the 3 inch screen is so crisp and clear that you don’t mind.
It also has one flat side so you can rest it in portrait orientation and take a timed shot without a tripod.
I can’t say enough good things about it. An excellent buy.
Customer Review: Easy for Canon users!
This camera was an easy upgrade from our old Canon digital camera. A lot of the same features with several new ones. I was able to start using it without reading through the manual. My only negative so far, is that although the screen is large, it is not easy to view outside in the sun. This is when you miss having the viewfinder. But we managed OK.