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Under 2 Megapixels
Canon PowerShot S200 2MP Digital ELPH Camera w/  2x Optical Zoom

Canon PowerShot S200 2MP Digital ELPH Camera w/ 2x Optical Zoom

List Price: $379.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Built like a rock!
Review: I just got this camera from amazon a few days ago, and so far I LOVE IT! It's really tiny (no bigger than a credit card) but built really sturdy so you don't feel like it's going to break if you accidentally happen to drop it. It's perfect to carry with you everywhere. The LCD screen is really nice with the new anti-smudge technology. The screen looks "snowy" under low light, but I really don't mind too much...the pictures come out great! The camera does get warm after some extended use, but that should be normal for such a compact camera. The video mode isn't extensive, but a great bonus and fun to play around with. The ease of use makes this a great first digital camera, but the variety of control settings, such as adjusting the ISO and effects mode, also make this camera suitable for those who like to be more creative.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Excellent compact camera.... but has major problem.
Review: Quick Update : The picture quality of this camera is horrible. Too many blurred and/or out of focus pictures. Had to sell off my S200 because it can't take sharp/crisp/clear pictures even in daylight ! Many other users on dpreview forums have same problems & Canon hasn't released any firmware update to fix it. My suggestion now is to avoid S200/S230/A40 because of focus problems.

My old review continues below :

Canon has another winner in its new S200 model just like the S110 and S100.

It has the following positives,
1. Excellent looks/build quality.
2. Great night shots, not found on any other compact 6 oz. camera, new long shutter feature in manual mode for upto 15 secs (tripod a must for this).
3. Very reliable and tons of features like charger works all over the world, PAL/NTSC video out, all cables included (unlike Sony).
4. Accepts cheaper Compact Flash cards which are easily available in sizes upto 256MB. Not expensive 64MB sticks here :)
5. Very much pocketable. Easily goes into any pocket.
6. 2.1 MP may looks low compared to other 3/4 MP cameras but this one offers more features without sticking you with any sticks ! Don't just use MPixels as your sole criteria when selecting camera. If you won't print them bigger than 8x10" then 2MP should be enough for now unless you have that extra cash :) Also Canon can't have a 3MP on the Elph's since they have to sell their S30/S40 also !
7. 2x zoom very faster to start and fold back. Works smoothly. You can turn the digital zoom off permanently.
8. LCD is superb, pictures look great on the 1.5" LCD. (a bigger 1.8" LCD on other need not neccessarily mean better quality, my last years Fuji had 1.8" and comes no where near this 1.5")
10. I haven't encountered any problems downloading pics till now. I don't see any reason to buy a CF card reader, the included cable works fine took just 3 mins for 100 big pictures
11. Comparing this with S330 is really very tough. S330 is heavy and feels rock solid, looks even better than S200 and has 3x zoom. S200 because of its light weight and smaller significantly smaller size is better to carry around. Play with both in your local store before deciding between the two.
11. Great user interface... think of these Elph's as Nokia's of digicams. Other cheaper camera's out there might not have same reliability, features, user interface and picture quality.

Things that could be better,
1. Only 2x Zoom, Canon needs to get this up to 3x next year. (And 4x on S330's replacement).
2. Battery... you might have to buy a second one for extra 45 bucks depending on your needs... I guess this is the case with any ultra compact camera
3. The battery/CF doors feel flimsy.
4. Canon's ZoomBrowser EX software is very unstable. It has crashed atleast 5 times in one week on Windows XP. also it takes long time to "update its database" whenever any pciture is deleted or addedd to the directory. Canon needs to iron out the problems in this. You may be better off using some other SW for editing/managing your pics, use this one just for downloading pics.
5. Price is still high for a 2MP camera, although its become much more affordable than last year.
6. Movie mode is almost useless because of 5 sec limit on decent sized clip. Its just a marketing thing.
7. Included CF card is just 8MB ! Someone has to start including these necessary things like a decent 64MB card along with new cameras.
8. Camera gets pretty hot in a few mins of use and the buttons on S200 feel tough to use compared to S330. This is part of the deal in buying a such compact camera.

Spend few extra bucks on this cool camera and you won't regret ! Getting a camera this compact has some compromises but well worth the ultra portability you get.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Canon S200 rocks!!!
Review: Just got it today... first impression was that this camera is SO SMALL & SLEEK!!! Very light, easily slips into my pants pocket without making a big bulge... takes very clear, sharp pictures... colors are rich and accurate... can't wait to try nightshots... The movie mode is pretty amazing too... takes movies at 20fps and good for emailing to friends and family... well worth the price!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tried and True--> Wonderful Compact Camera.
Review: Let me first qualify my rating a bit before I get into specifics:
1) It seems the mean for compact camera resolution currently is about 3-4 megapixels if bought brand new. This is a 2 megapixel camera, which was the mean for a compact camera about 2 years ago (when I bought the camera).
2) This rating is based on 2 years of wonderful experience with this camera and thousands of pictures taken. If you are set on a 2 megapixel camera regardless of price, then this is the camera for you.

-Picture Quality- Amazing for a 2 megapixel camera. I routinely print out 4x6 pictures at great quality. Before this camera I was using an APS Elph. Without a doubt this camera prints much better quality pictures than my old APS compact camera. Although keep in mind, no matter how good the camera is, the prints can only be as good as the printer. The only problem I had with this camera is that it is VERY dependent on the flash for point and shoot pictures. Without the flash, unless you are in bright sunlight, pictures can come out blurry if you don't have steady hands.

-Features- AMAZING. Simply more features than you will use if you are buying the camera for quick snapshots. Also the problem with the flash dependence that I mentioned earlier can be fixed using the manual features. But with that said, it is impractical to change these features manually everytime you want to take a quick shot, but it is very handy when you want to take portrait type or studio type shots. This camera also has a movie function with sound that most cameras have nowadays. Most people say they don't use it, but I use the function a lot. I find the main problem is that most people just forget they have the function so it is never used, but if you can get in the habit of using it you'll have priceless small clips (at a low resolution) of things that happened.
A 2x optical zoom isn't too shabby either considering many compact cameras don't offer a zoom.

-Durability- again AMAZING. I have never dropped this camera (well once off a bed, onto some really soft carpet), but I've owned this for 2 years and probably 75% of those two years that camera has resided in my jeans pocket with lint, keys, cell phones, change... and not even ONE scratch and it still works perfectly. I did buy a small pouch for it, but the pouch really goes against what this camera is about, fast pictures. It wasn't practical to take the camera out of the pouch everytime I wanted a quick picture so I never used it, and it turns out I never needed it.
Also the camera is heavy and solid for its size. Too heavy for a shirt pocket, but definitely light enough to put into your pants. Its made of a metallic material that feels much better than the plastic that most compact cameras are made of.
The display screen on the back of the camera is plenty big enough to use to frame your shots. The viewfinder however does not accurately show the picture you are taking, which is a problem for many cameras. I never use the viewfinder because of this, but I never really want to either unless I forgot to charge my battery and I want to conserve battery power... which leads me to...

-Battery Life- The battery easily lasts the whole day of picture taking if you are on a vacation for instance. Easily I would be able to take 100+ pictures with flash and the screen on. But I have noticed over the thousands of pictures I have taken that the constant recharging of my battery has made the life lessen a bit. But that is to be expected from any battery over a couple of years of high usage.

-Price and Summary- I think the deciding factor for this camera is price. I gave this camera five stars because I couldn't be happier with my camera... BUT i bought the camera 2 years ago. A quick look at cameras of equivalent price and one can easily find 3-4 megapixel cameras for the same price (but maybe not the same quality). A quick look at cheaper cameras and I can also find plenty of 2 megapixel cameras from reputable brands such as Minolta, Nikon and Fuji. This camera has kept its price amazingly well over 2 years for an electronic device (I bought mine 2 years ago for $250). I think it has to do with the HIGH quality of this product. But if you have the extra $$$ for a mere $100 more you can get a 4 megapixel Elph.
I am very satisfied with this product and I know when I eventually get a new camera several years from now it will be another Canon Elph.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: high quality well featured digital camera
Review: The main purchase decision when compared to other cameras of a similiar (+/- £100) price, was size and looks. The ixus is significantly samller than most similiar quality cameras.
It may be useful to have one of the swiveling LCD screens, but the balance is that this will fit in your pocket.
The features on the Ixus are very quick and easy to understand, it has easy control of white balance, and easy to learn menu sytems for setting up prefernces ect. the zoom control is right next to the shutter release which is very handy.
The software which comes with the ixus seems to do the job just fine, and really is pretty straightforward to use.
The 8mb card which comes with the ixus is enough to get started with and allows 25 - 30 medium quality pics.
Battery life is pretty short, but i guess this is the norm with digital cameras, the neat laittel charger does its job more than adequately.
I can see an upgrade to a bigger memory card and spare battery coming up in the near future.

The quality of images is excellent, very sharp with brillinat colours, and theres plenty of creative settings to play with, its fairly easy to create professional quality results.
All in all a very satisfying purchase.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Point and shoot that fits in your pocket
Review: A really great camera that just slips into your pocket. Great to carry around all the time so you can take shots of whatever takes your fancy. Easy to recharge too with its handy battery recharger.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wonderful little camera!
Review: I've had this camera for a little over a year and a half now and I just love it. It's really small, which is a huge plus. Because of the small size, it's very convenient to take with you and that means you end up taking more pictures than you normally would. I've chronicled most of the little and big events I have gone to with it. Even though it's just 2 megapixels, that is more than adequate for me--I don't rely on it for professional shots, just mostly snapshots. I have printed some photos through shutterfly, and they came out looking great. You could tell that they weren't quite as sharp as those from a regular camera, but I had taken them at the medium compression setting. They were definitely framable though and you probably couldn't tell that they were digicam pics unless you inspected them close up. I suspect pics taken at superfine would be even better. Rendition of colors is truly remarkable, and I have received many compliments from friends on this. Canon sure does seems to know what they're doing when it comes to optics. Any photos I've taken with bright colors (landscapes, flowers, etc.) came out breathtaking. The camera is made of metal, so it has a nice, high quality "heft" to it. The photo management software that it comes with is awesome--intuitive and easy to use. It may run slow on old computers though, if you have a lot of photos in your albums.

One complaint I have about the camera is that it's just okay in dark settings, even with the flash on. Also, when taking pictures of people, I seem to get red-eye a lot, even with the red-eye reduction setting on. It takes small video clips, but the resolution is very grainy and with the 64 MB card that I have in it, the maximum length of the clips is really short.

Other than that, this is a terrific, dependable camera that's perfect for the beginning digicam user or for someone who wants the convenience of a small, easily transportable camera. It comes with a far too small 8MB card, so I highly recommend getting a larger one. Also, it doesn't come with a case, so I recommend buying one because this is a beautiful camera and you wouldn't want to damage it. Canon makes one specifically for the PowerShot series that is leather and compact. You can find it at Apple stores.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Small, lightweight, and full of features
Review: Excellent for traveling. Good features, not just the typical point and click type of camera. For example, you can take great pictures at night leaving the shutter open for a few seconds, some cameras don't allow more than 3 seconds. My only wish is that the battery would last longer. I had to buy a second battery.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I've had this camera for over two years, and still love it.
Review: When I purchased this camera, I was looking for something that was easy to use, and yet able to provide quality images. The S200 gave me everything I was looking for, and more. As for the reviewer below complaining about poor picture quality - you can examine each picture the second after you shoot it, and delete it if it's not a quality shot. If you choose to keep poorly shot images, rather than deleting them, that's not the camera's fault. It's yours. The menu is easy to navigate, in general. If you choose to be really technical and explore every bit of the menu, that may be a different story. I use the menu to adjust general image quality and things of that nature, and I find it to be very intuitive. One other recommendation I'd have is to purchase a larger memory card if you plan to use the camera on vacations. I bought a 256M card and that's actually overkill, but rather too much space than not enough. I also purchased an extra battery so that I could have a spare ready to go when the other is depleted. I'm sure these two extras have greatly improved my experience with this camera. I would certainly buy it again in a second. The S200 is cheap, small, and it does everything the average person who's looking for a digital camera could ask for.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great camera in class
Review: I've had my S200 for two years now. I primarily use it for outdoor, point & shoot photography, and it has been absolutely fantastic for that kind of usage. I've made it through a couple 8-day mountaineering trips on just one battery with the LCD on 2-second preview mode. The video clips are limited to about 10 seconds on high res. -- but that's not necessarily bad b/c long video clips can be boring. ;) The automatic exposure mode takes great pictures under normal circumstances, but as with most digital cameras it has a hard time dealing with low light. The camera is fairly limited in how you can manually improve it's performance in those situations. You also will need to manually adjust the white balance with snow scenes as they will be a little overexposed on automatic. Other than that, the only two reasons why I am thinking of upgrading are: 1) I want higher resolution for larger prints, and 2) a better zoom. 2x optical zoom (on any camera) is pretty worthless for getting action type shots in outdoor photography. But with respect to resolution, I do get great 4x6 prints out of this camera, and pretty good 5x7's. And the picture quality is wonderful. I often get comments from people impressed with what great pictures I get out of this little camera. If you are in the market for a compact point-&-shoot, and primarily want to get small prints, photo cards, or web images, this is a great, low-investment camera. I bought it for $250 two years ago -- at $150, you will be very happy with it. I recommend getting a 128mb card -- I can fit about 100 images on that size card with the camera at it's highest resolution.


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