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Canon PowerShot S410 4MP Digital Elph with 3x Optical Zoom

Canon PowerShot S410 4MP Digital Elph with 3x Optical Zoom

List Price: $449.99
Your Price: $287.30
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Do not use a generic battery!
Review: I want to point out that you should never buy a generic battery, like the person from San Diego who reviewed the S410 on May 15, 2004, was recommending. Yes you'd save money, but there have been many reports of generic batteries exploding when charged for too long. And don't think if your generic battery explodes you can sue somebody and win millions. These batteries are made in sweatshops in China, India and Korea, and I doubt you can find anybody to sue. So play it safe, both for your own sake and the camera's sake. If you want a spare, get a real Canon one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Just got Better!
Review: I'll keep this review short since I'm sure there will be a lot more coming soon... The main thing I noticed that was different and an improvement over the S400 is the ability to shoot 640x480 VGA Videos up to One minute in length (versus 3 minutes for the 320x240 and 160x120 modes) but at this resolution it consumes a lot of memory/storage space... It's ironic that the original S200 (2MP) had this 640x480 VGA movie recording ability but it was only good for 6 seconds which of course is quite useless! Both the S230 (3MP) and S400 (4MP) removed this ability for some reason, and many folks have been asking... WHY?... and I guess Canon finally listed to the customers and brought this S200 feature back!!

The little speaker on the S410 just like the S400 and SD100 is really nice when playing back videos you record! This feature was missing on the S200 and S230 Canons...

With the price of Compact Flash memory cards dropping, just pickup a few extra memory cards and you'll be recording some nice videos in no time! Not to mention the photographs it takes are awesome as well! Instead of bringing both the digital camcorder and camera, we now just bring the Canon instead!

Truly an amazing camera!! It'll be interesting to see how the S500 compares to the S410!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Small Size/ Big Performance
Review: I'm not an expert on photography. I have only taken one photography class in my life, but this little camera is quite amazing! The size fits perfectly in anyone's hands; moreover, the buttons and controls are easy to manuever.

I was able to operate this camera pretty much right out of the box without having to read the manual. I have no problems downloading the pictures into my computer. It's very user friendly.

The pictures are crisp and clear, as you can see in the open window. It's a great daytime, point and shoot sort of camera and the pictures look quite professional. The only problems it has is taking night-time photos. This camera has a bit of a problem in the dark, but overall, great value for the price!!!!

I highly recommend it!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Camera for what it is meant to do!!!
Review: I've owned the S410 for a couple of months and I give it 4 Stars. This camera targets a particular kind of consumer and it does a great job of it. I've seem some hard-core enthusiasts portray a negative picture of the S410 as well as it predecessor the S400, and I believe it is unfair.

This camera was a gift for my wife. My wife will carry a camera only if,
1. It is relatively light in weight,
2. It is compact (fits in her pocket-book), and,
3. It will think for itself.

The Canon does these well, and is meant for consumers like my wife. Switch on and shoot!

My wife upgraded from the Canon Elph (APS) to the S410. If the SD110 had a 3x zoom, we'd probably have gone with it. The S410 is built in stainless steel and is built like a tank. You will feel this in the weight of the camera. It is not the smallest or lightest out there, but it's one of the best when it comes to balance between weight and size. It feels very comfortable in the hand.

The buttons are sized and laid out very well. I like the mode-select wheel, which is particularly advantageous to people with large fingers. People who have not used Canon P&S cameras will be pleasantly surprised by the zoom controls. The zoom encompasses the shutter-button and is extremely intuitive.

The menus are self-explanatory and relatively simple to use, though it does take a little getting used to the menu mechanics.

The most used controls, macro mode, flash modes, metering modes and timer functions have hot keys and are selectable without accessing menus - a big advantage to accommodating last second changes.

There is a short startup lag, so don't expect to just pick-up and shoot. The auto-focus is fast. There is a delay between depressing shutter and capture, but is about the same as other cameras in this class. There is also a slight lag between shots, but again, is the same as other cameras in this class. One glaring issue is that the red-eye reduction is not very effective. To speed up shot-capture, switch this mode-off. It really helps!!

The photos are AMAZING! Indoors and outdoors, the photos are crisp, the colors vibrant and life-like, and, this was very surprising to me...the camera could capture depth. The photos are truly a pleasure to look at.......you can experience Canon's over 50 years of optic and technology expertise at work here. (FYI, I'm a NIKON person...it is huge for me to say this!!)

Why only four-stars?!!

1. Strong, over-powering flash. The flash is SO strong that it hurts subjects 5 feet away. You can literally feel the heat. There is a high possibility of flash-spots or wash-outs in case your subject is in front of a reflective surface.
2. This might be related to the strong flash...the front of the camera body becomes "very warm" but not "hot" after taking a few photos (approx. 10), with the flash on, in succession. I guess the metallic body heats up.
3. Auto-Focus. The auto focus can get annoying at times, especially if two subjects are nearly the same distance from the camera. It'll keep shuttling between the two subjects. The multi-zone AF is one of the reasons I did not buy a Canon SLR a few years ago. I find it inconvenient.

Overall, I think this is a great camera. It balances mega-pixel resolution, optics, technology, size, weight, price, and features-functionality in a compact package.

If you're the kind of person who likes getting great photos without working for them, this is the camera to buy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Compact and Dummy-Proof
Review: It's a camera for those of us who don't know what a darkroom is...This camera makes taking pictures a snap! It's nice and compact, small enough to fit in my pocket! It's also feature-heavy, although I must admit I don't know how to use most of them. The accompanying software is pretty basic - I'd recommend getting Photoshop - you can pretty much do anything you want to a picture with that program. One recommendation - Get an extra battery! The low battery indicator does not come on until you have just a few snaps left. Pay the money - you won't regret it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Good Camera
Review: Just bought the S410 2 days ago and took alot of pictures, did not do too much manual reading, only when I was,nt sure of what to do.
Most shots were on full automatic and some on manual automatic.
Results are beautiful, sharp, great color. camera is built like an MBTA1A, printed some, they were even better than on the lcd
I cannot critique a thing on this little beauty, just love it.
On most of the smaller digitals, the finder is a joke, too small, this one is a good size, clear and extremely usable.
One of the best.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: amazing product !!
Review: just received the S410 in the mail and I love it!...it is sleek, small and easily fits in a tiny purse. It does a good job capturing detail in all kinds of lighting. The 32mb card that comes with it is a waste since it only holds around 20 pics, so order at least a 256MB (holds around 120+ pics) card right off the bat with your new camera as I did.

The only downside is that I haven't been able to figure out how to upload the pics to my laptop/pc. I downloaded the software that came with the camera, but somehow, I am still unable to make it work! I will try again and will eventually call customer service if I can't figure it out.



Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very nice little camera
Review: Quite impressive overall. It's SMALL yet I wish it was just a little bit smaller. I have yet to read the manual cover to cover but have enjoyed snapping pictures in the automatic and manual modes so far.

The size of the S410 was one of its two biggest selling points. I want a camera I will have with me, not one that's at home taking up space. The other thing I wanted was decent to good image quality, and what I've seen so far makes me think that this camera is a good choice.

I ordered a second battery and used an inverter I already owned to charge it in the car. Much cheaper than the Canon car charger. The manuals are (somewhat comically) also very small little books. A useful road-map poster of features is included along with a quick-start guide, which is always square one as far as I'm concerned.

Color reproduction seems very good. Clarity is decent at this point. I obviously need to read the manual to understand everything that's going on, and it's clear that there's a LOT of technology stuffed into this little gem. The controls are well-placed and the menus seem concise, operation overall is quite snappy. I'm pleased. The LCD screen is extraordinarily bright and crisp. Time between shots is acceptable, pretty quick, really, and time-to-first-shot is very good.

I don't think you'd need a case for the camera. Wrap it in a handkerchief if you're worried it will get scratched. I like the lens being covered by two little doors that close on power-off. Keeps the lens safe and you don't have a loose lens cap to worry about. The camera is smooth, no protrusions to catch on anything. It's a great looking little thing. It's a little bit heavier than you'd think it would be. I wish it was a little bit lighter and a little bit smaller. Which seems greedy given how light and small it is now!

One thing I like in particular is the B&W setting. Shooting in black and white is something a lot of folks who didn't spend time taking Intro to Professional Photo back in college may not have experienced, and it's worth checking out, particularly for portraits. Black and white can tell a better story than color.

I'm probably being unfair giving this camera only four stars -- there are certainly no glaring faults, far from it, but this was a realistic choice for me, a camera that I can take everywhere with me, and, no, for this price it's not going to perform like a Canon D20 which is ten times the price, but it is MUCH smaller and twice the resolution of my beloved old Nikon 950 (circa 1999). Maybe I'm expecting D20 performance at a S410 price..?

For its size and the price, this camera is quite a good value and is everything I expected, very well put-together and quick. A good choice. Not film-quality images, but very good for what it is. A good balance of resolution, size and weight. A handy, good quality camera to snap photos of the kids with, small enough to have with you everywhere you go. Not that I'd mind the "inconvenience" of having a Canon D20 over my shoulder 24/7... but that's simply not in the budget!

No regrets at all having chosen the S410!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: So Far So Good
Review: Rcvd from Amazon about 6 wks ago. Great camera. I was suprised to get higher quality prints than from my old 35mm. See full review on epinions.com. Battery life is fine but needs more memory! I get 17 shots on the CF card that came with it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Camera, I love it!
Review: Recently my girlfried and I decided to purchase a new digital camera to go with our new computer. I wish I could speak to the process of getting information on digital cameras from the big box stores. (Man, talk about uniformed.) Basically I decided on this model because of many friends' reccomendations and the reviews I read online. Let me assure you that the reviews are all correct. This camera is nearly bulletproof in it's pros and the cons are no different that any other digital camera- battery life is a little short. Just buy an extra battery. I chose this model because it uses cheap media to record the images and does so very quickly. I compared this against the Olympus 410 splashproof. The reviews were also correct that the Olympus lags so much in taking the photo that the moment is gone. With a simple menu change one can activate," Quickshot," on the Canon S410 and picture response time increases significantly. This camera is extremely easy to use and within a day you'll want to start experimenting with all the extra modes. The color is so vivid the it makes my 17" LCD monitor look like a window. I really want to thank the other reviewers of this product. You were all a great help in my purchase decision. I do not regret purchasing this model in any way!


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