Rating: 
Summary: Beware of the flash
Review: I find that this is a great camera for taking pictures outside. However, while inside, the camera is pretty useless unless you're a foot away from your subject. In fact, the camera tends to work better in full darkness rather than in partial light. Often I find myself having to carry a disposable camera with me which I use for inside or nighttime pictures. Also, the flash cannot be turned off...I've tried. If you do manage to turn it off, the camera refuses to focus and your pictures come out blurry. In conclusion, spend the few extra dollars to buy a camera with a better flash...you'll appreciate it in the long run
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this camera!
Review: I got this camera as a christmas gift, and took it on my christmas vacation to the ocean. I can't say enough how much I hated this camera! First of all, it has a digital zoom that might as well not be there. If you use it, the pictures come out all blurry. If you try to take photos without the zoom, the quality is okay... however, the camera takes forever to "charge" it's flash, or whatever it is doing, and it takes forever to take the photo. You have to hold the button down for almost 5 seconds before it will take - and by then whatever you wanted a photo of is gone! If you have pets or children that you want photos of, forget it. They move too fast for this camera. I highly recommend you get the Powershot A40 instead. I returned this camera and got the A40 and absolutely LOVE it! It has the optical zoom which does a great job (Key word here is OPTICAL zoom. Do not buy a camera without it!). It's fast and easy to use and even has great modes like black and white. Cannon really did a great job on this camera and all the problems that plagued the A200 are gone. And the photo quality is amazine. I had a bunch blown up to 8x10 and they still are clear and crisp and the colors are very brilliant. Get the A40 and save yourself the headache with the A200.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible Camera
Review: I got this camera for my birthday, and boy was I dissappointed with it. Every time I turned it on it said change the batteries. I changed the batteries and nothing happened. So I returned it and got the same one(I though mine was defective.) It had the same problem! So I returned it again and got the same one. The same problem!!!! But this time I got it to work for a minute. I took 2 or 3 pictures. The Digital zoom on it is terrible. I would advise you not to buy this camera. Dont waste your money. Buy the A40 instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply useful and affordable
Review: I have a "grown up digital camera", a Minolta Dimage 7 with all the bells and whistles. It is a camera to use when you are being very serious about the pictures you are taking. It is big though and I carry a lot of stuff in my bag to support it. I needed something small to take pictures when lugging around a Dimage 7 is sort of a waste of energy. This is a very good little camera, which takes pictures comparable to my old Nikon CoolPix 800. The Nikon cost a lot more, too. There is no optical zoom, however and that is what keeps me from giving this camera a 5 star rating. But I can pop it into my pocket and know that it is there when the unexpected photo opportunity comes along. It has an available underwater housing and I would have no hestitation using it properly fitted (even if they had it for the Minolta I would never risk it). I also think it would be acceptable for use on the slopes.
Rating: 
Summary: camera that's worth your money
Review: I love this camera! It's easy to use and compact. Just one thing, you have to press the button for a couple of seconds to take the picture so make sure you keep your pose ;) I think most cameras are like this anyway. I also recommend a compact flash card reader (around [$$$], it's fast!!! and it's like having a removable drive) instead of installing a huge software you're hardly gonna use anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: OK depending on your needs... and patience level
Review: I purchased this camera to replace a Kodak DC200 plus, one of the first 1 megapixel cameras on the market. It's a great camera that has provided 1000s of good looking 4X6 prints over the years. But, it's time to upgrade. Let me start by saying that I am not an ace photographer or anything. I'm just your basic point and shoot family picture taker kind of guy. So, please interpret my comments about the A200 in light of that fact. I decided to purchase the A200 based on two factors -- price and reviews. Both were excellent. Out of the box it is eye catching. Much smaller than my old Kodak with an automatic lens cover (nice to have!). Opening the lens cover fires up the camera and it's ready for the first shot within a matter of seconds. OK, here's where the annoyance factor kicks in. This is, by far, the slowest freakin' digital camera I have ever played with. A three hour visit to the camera sections of a few electronics stores this afternoon confirmed my first impression. It really is slow! You absolutely must depress the shutter release button 1/2 way and wait for it to autofocus before taking the shot. One cannot get a shot off quickly with this camera. I have a two year old. He is in another room by the time this camera is ready to take a picture of him. OK, so you've taken a picture, now the waiting continues. It takes roughly 12-17 seconds (depending on the charge in the battery) to recharge the flash and prepare for another shot!!! Yep, 12-17 seconds! My old Kodak is faster. In all fairness, when the flash is not used, the A200 is lightening quick at refreshing for the next shot. However, because of what I use it for, most of my shots are indoors and require the flash. What about picture quality? Not bad. Not great. Three out of the four professional reviews that I read about this camera state that the picture quality is excellent. The fourth review seems to concur with my opinion. The quality is OK. Red eye is an enormous problem, even with red eye reduction on. Again, hate to sound like a broken record, but my old Kodak... Professional reviewers seem to like this camera because of the manual controls. These are not important to me, as I just want to turn the thing on and take pictures. If you're just looking for a simple point and shoot camera, I wouldn't worry too much about manual options. One last complaint before I tell you what I exchanged the thing for... The controls on the back of the camera are completely unintuitive. No little jog-dial like you find on several other cameras, including the Canon A40 (an excellent, though clunkier, alternative complete with 3X optical zoom). So, after some serious thinking, reading, and playing, I decided to go with the Sony DSC-P31, also an autofocus, no optical zoom, 2.0 megapixel camera. About 20 beans more but it comes with two high capacity rechargeablee NiMH batteries. It has essentially every feature that the Canon A200 has and more. It even has an option to take pictures in 3:2 format, which is the perfect format for 4X6 prints I guess. No cropping needed. The big plus for me is that the thing is very very fast. Fast enough to take pictures of spazzy kids. Not only does it take pictures quickly but it is ready for the next shot in about 3 seconds even when the flash is used. It also has video out so that pictures can be viewed on your TV set or even recorded to VHS if you so desire. A nice feature. About Amazon, absolutely, hands down, the best place to buy things online in my opinion. They frequently offer free shipping deals and, of course, no tax. Customer service is incredible and it is very very easy to return products. They even pay return shipping. Also, you can keep track of the location of your package from the moment you place the order to the moment it arrives on your porch. Items always come sooner than they estimate. You can even cancel your order up to the moment that the product is prepared for shipping. Nice option in case your spouse doesn't agree with your decision to buy that $5000 plasma HD television set! Happy shopping! Update 12/29/02.... I've had my new Sony DSC-P31 for about a week now and took gobs of pictures with it during the Holidays. I highly recommend this camera over the Canon A200. Much easier to use, much faster, and more conistent picture quality with the Auto Focus on. One cool thing about the camera that I didn't mention before is that, in addition to Auto Focus, you can set the focus to a range of different distances, like 3 meters, 9 meters, 30 meters... infinity. I decided to disable autofocus and set the focus distance to 9 meters (I think, as I don't have the camera with me). This makes the camera even faster than before and seems to provide better pictures than with the autofocus on! I've had minor problems with red eye, as I gather is common with most cameras especially when shooting pictures of kids. Luckily, this is easily fixable with the software that comes with the camera. Best wishes, Joe.
Rating:
Summary: Can't beat the price but...
Review: I recommend buying the Canon A40 instead. In fact, I just returned my A200 in order to do just that. Here's why:
* The A40 has a more solid feel in your hand. Instead of "perching" in your hand, it "fits" your hand. (Look at the nice curve that fits into your right hand as you hold the camera.)
* The A40 has an optical zoom, as well as the digital zoom that most digital cameras have. The A200 only has a digital zoom; you lose some quality.
* The controls on the A40 are easier to understand and better layed out. The A40 has what you call a thumb wheel. To switch between picture taking modes, or into photo review mode, you just spin the wheel. No pressing the same button over-and-over.
* Finally, it's easier to change the batteries on the A40!! Why did Canon make the battery compartment so hard to open on a piece of equipment that needs its batteries changed daily or weekly?? If you just need a bare-bones camera that takes great pictures, buy the A200. I was very impressed with the quality of the photos.
If you want a more comfortable and intuitive camera, get the A40.
Rating:
Summary: Can't beat the price but...
Review: I recommend buying the Canon A40 instead. In fact, I just returned my A200 in order to do just that. Here's why:
* The A40 has a more solid feel in your hand. Instead of "perching" in your hand, it "fits" your hand. (Look at the nice curve that fits into your right hand as you hold the camera.)
* The A40 has an optical zoom, as well as the digital zoom that most digital cameras have. The A200 only has a digital zoom; you lose some quality.
* The controls on the A40 are easier to understand and better layed out. The A40 has what you call a thumb wheel. To switch between picture taking modes, or into photo review mode, you just spin the wheel. No pressing the same button over-and-over.
* Finally, it's easier to change the batteries on the A40!! Why did Canon make the battery compartment so hard to open on a piece of equipment that needs its batteries changed daily or weekly?? If you just need a bare-bones camera that takes great pictures, buy the A200. I was very impressed with the quality of the photos.
If you want a more comfortable and intuitive camera, get the A40.
Rating:
Summary: it's not horrible, but i wish i hadn't
Review: i thought i did all the research. i thought i had picked the best camera. i'm glad that it wasn't me who spent the money. i got it as a gift. this camera isn't the worst one on the market, but i have yet to see why this camera would be beneficial over any other cameras. the worst part, i found, was how long it took to focus and how long it took to recharge after using the flash. not to mention the battery life was nearly non-existant, and the quality wasn't as crisp as i had hoped. words of advice: research more. if you want this camera for parties or fun times, maybe it's not the one for you. if you have the time to set up and rework your shots then you'd do fine. but this is not a camera for those in hurry to "get the shot."
Rating:
Summary: Take the picture--- Please
Review: I've used a previous generation of the powershot and really liked it so we picked the A200 for an upgrade. What a waste. The interface is confusing, but worse of all is getting it to actually take a picture. Push down the button and it'll make a noise like its working on the picture-- but watch out cause it didn't do it. What its doing, I have no idea. Autofocus? Anyway it only took a real picture one in five times of trying. Sometimes I had to hold down the button for 4-5 seconds to get it to shoot. Extremely disappointing for Canon, I expected the 'next generation' and got something worse than our 1999 Canon camera.
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