Customer Rating: 
Summary: Serious focus problems, and fragile
Comment: This is the first Canon I've owned, and while the size and shape of this thing are fantastic for carrying around, the picture quality is sorely lacking even for a little point & shoot.
We had a Kodak EasyShare for several years until the sensor finally bit the dust (everything became pink all of a sudden), and we bought the SD1000 because of it's small size and the fact that it has an optical viewfinder. Cameras with only a screen can be very difficult to use in bright sunlight, or so we thought at the time. Nowadays, the screens are brighter and the technology has improved so that that is not so much of an issue as it used to be. I find myself never looking through the viewfinder at all with this camera, because it is really tiny and because the screen is easy to see in pretty much any light. The Kodak took incredible pictures for a little p&s - bright colors, tack-sharp, and well exposed, often looking better than the ones I took with my Nikon D50. The SD1000 got great reviews so we expected the same kind of performance.
THE GOOD
- small, extremely portable, easy to fit in your shirt pocket or even the front pocket of your jeans. It's great for when you don't want to carry anything around but want to have a camera handy just in case.
- Good quality video, including sound. It's fun to take short videos, even at night, as long as you aren't expecting vidcam quality. This is not something I was looking for when we bought it, but I'vebeen pleasantly surprised and started using the video function all the time.
THE BAD
- FOCUS! We are so tired of having unsharp or blurry pictures come out of this camera, I've had to restrain my wife from throwing it off a cliff. I don't know if it is an optical problem or a processing engine, but there are rarely sharp edges to any of the images from this camera. The closer the subject, the worse it gets, although 10 feet shouldn't be too much to ask for a camera to focus on, should it? I've seen similar examples of focus problems on othe SD cameras from flickr users.
- Flash too bright. On closeups the flash washes out all color. The camera doesn't seem to adjust the flash intensity when the subject is close, and there's no way to do it manually.
- Fragile lens. This is actually the second SD1000 we've owned. The first one lasted 2 months, because I got bumped in a crowd and the camera fell out of my hand while the lens was extended. It landed softly on a pile of jackets, but when I picked it up the lens was bent 20 degrees and wouldn't retract. Maybe it was a freak accident landing at the wrong angle, but it seems like it broke too easily. My wife went and bought a second camera immediately so she could take it on a trip, and this one has lasted6 months so far with no problems, but has never been dropped either.
- battery life - probably not any worse than the average p&s that's packed with features, but it won't last through a full day of tourist snapshots. Since it uses a special battery and not AAA's or some standard size, once the battery dies you're out of luck until you get back home and charge it up.
Overall, this camera has been handy and the video feature has been fun. But the lack of sharpness just leads to disapponting results when other similarly priced cameras take perfectly sharp images. For that reason (and the fact that I have heard the same thing from other users), this will be the last SD series Canon I ever buy, despite how handy this thing is to carry around.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Comment: This is a great camera.
PROS: Light, compact, and easy to use. We have taken so many pics and videos since the purchase. Small but sturdy. Takes GREAT videos (this really surprised me). Since owning this camera, we have not used our camcorder.
CONS: It has difficulty focusing when the lighting is between light and dark. I have missed some great shots because the camera is taking too long focusing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great performance for the price
Comment: I love this camera from the first day I bought it. I have never had a problem with it and was very satisfied with its performance. This camera has been dropped, crushed, been around water and all the damage a 15 or 6 year old can bring upon it. It still worked up to the day I sold it and shipped it. The only reason for selling it is to buy a 10MP camera with image stabalization and higher zoom capacity. If you are on a budget, this camera will never let you down. It performs better in conditions where there is more light in the background, but in the end, it works really well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Camera
Comment: I've had the SD1000 for a couple of years now and have been very satisfied with its performance. Its small size is particularly convenient for vacations. Solidly constructed, good photographic features and easily transfers images to my computer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Little Beauty
Comment: This is a great camera, with high quality pictures and very easy to use functionality. It shoots nice and fast! It's also very compact which makes it easy to carry around in purses and pockets. I've never had a problem with this camera for the past year and a half and I can confidently say that it's an excellent multi-purpose camera for the casual photographer. The only thing that might deter people is that because of how small it is, it can be very_hard to keep it stable and reduce blurriness when taking pictures without flash or taking night pictures in which case I'd recommend a stand. Overall a good buy!
Summary: Serious focus problems, and fragile
Comment: This is the first Canon I've owned, and while the size and shape of this thing are fantastic for carrying around, the picture quality is sorely lacking even for a little point & shoot.
We had a Kodak EasyShare for several years until the sensor finally bit the dust (everything became pink all of a sudden), and we bought the SD1000 because of it's small size and the fact that it has an optical viewfinder. Cameras with only a screen can be very difficult to use in bright sunlight, or so we thought at the time. Nowadays, the screens are brighter and the technology has improved so that that is not so much of an issue as it used to be. I find myself never looking through the viewfinder at all with this camera, because it is really tiny and because the screen is easy to see in pretty much any light. The Kodak took incredible pictures for a little p&s - bright colors, tack-sharp, and well exposed, often looking better than the ones I took with my Nikon D50. The SD1000 got great reviews so we expected the same kind of performance.
THE GOOD
- small, extremely portable, easy to fit in your shirt pocket or even the front pocket of your jeans. It's great for when you don't want to carry anything around but want to have a camera handy just in case.
- Good quality video, including sound. It's fun to take short videos, even at night, as long as you aren't expecting vidcam quality. This is not something I was looking for when we bought it, but I'vebeen pleasantly surprised and started using the video function all the time.
THE BAD
- FOCUS! We are so tired of having unsharp or blurry pictures come out of this camera, I've had to restrain my wife from throwing it off a cliff. I don't know if it is an optical problem or a processing engine, but there are rarely sharp edges to any of the images from this camera. The closer the subject, the worse it gets, although 10 feet shouldn't be too much to ask for a camera to focus on, should it? I've seen similar examples of focus problems on othe SD cameras from flickr users.
- Flash too bright. On closeups the flash washes out all color. The camera doesn't seem to adjust the flash intensity when the subject is close, and there's no way to do it manually.
- Fragile lens. This is actually the second SD1000 we've owned. The first one lasted 2 months, because I got bumped in a crowd and the camera fell out of my hand while the lens was extended. It landed softly on a pile of jackets, but when I picked it up the lens was bent 20 degrees and wouldn't retract. Maybe it was a freak accident landing at the wrong angle, but it seems like it broke too easily. My wife went and bought a second camera immediately so she could take it on a trip, and this one has lasted6 months so far with no problems, but has never been dropped either.
- battery life - probably not any worse than the average p&s that's packed with features, but it won't last through a full day of tourist snapshots. Since it uses a special battery and not AAA's or some standard size, once the battery dies you're out of luck until you get back home and charge it up.
Overall, this camera has been handy and the video feature has been fun. But the lack of sharpness just leads to disapponting results when other similarly priced cameras take perfectly sharp images. For that reason (and the fact that I have heard the same thing from other users), this will be the last SD series Canon I ever buy, despite how handy this thing is to carry around.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Comment: This is a great camera.
PROS: Light, compact, and easy to use. We have taken so many pics and videos since the purchase. Small but sturdy. Takes GREAT videos (this really surprised me). Since owning this camera, we have not used our camcorder.
CONS: It has difficulty focusing when the lighting is between light and dark. I have missed some great shots because the camera is taking too long focusing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great performance for the price
Comment: I love this camera from the first day I bought it. I have never had a problem with it and was very satisfied with its performance. This camera has been dropped, crushed, been around water and all the damage a 15 or 6 year old can bring upon it. It still worked up to the day I sold it and shipped it. The only reason for selling it is to buy a 10MP camera with image stabalization and higher zoom capacity. If you are on a budget, this camera will never let you down. It performs better in conditions where there is more light in the background, but in the end, it works really well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Camera
Comment: I've had the SD1000 for a couple of years now and have been very satisfied with its performance. Its small size is particularly convenient for vacations. Solidly constructed, good photographic features and easily transfers images to my computer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Little Beauty
Comment: This is a great camera, with high quality pictures and very easy to use functionality. It shoots nice and fast! It's also very compact which makes it easy to carry around in purses and pockets. I've never had a problem with this camera for the past year and a half and I can confidently say that it's an excellent multi-purpose camera for the casual photographer. The only thing that might deter people is that because of how small it is, it can be very_hard to keep it stable and reduce blurriness when taking pictures without flash or taking night pictures in which case I'd recommend a stand. Overall a good buy!
Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Black) Reviews: Page 3 of 164
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