PowerShot SD790IS 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

This camera is absolutely outstanding, and quite possibly magical. The first few shots I took with this thing look like something out of National Geographic. You don't know me, but lets just say, prior to this camera my pictures look like they were taken while I was intoxicated on a moving boat. Yes, that's how bad they were, and no, I've never been drunk on a boat. Was it the worthless Konica Minolta I was using? Perhaps. But, I'm thinking magic has something to do with it instantly transforming me into a photographer. I've actually had people offer to BUY my photographs!! Me!! The color is vibrant, with superb clarity and sharpness, plus fantastic depth, which I think can be the hardest thing to achieve in a photograph. The Macro settings are unreal, and the focus and lighting are exceptional without a flash. The battery life is really long, and the video quality looks better than my video camera, and even has better sound. The screen is really impressive. For the most part- it's easy to use!! It did take me awhile to learn all the camera's functions and experiment with settings because it was significantly more complex than my old camera. I don't know what half the manual settings do, so I just stick with the settings in Auto mode- which has wonderful options. It works great. I love how this camera functions- and I am SOLD on Canon. My boyfriend had an older generation of this camera and his pictures were amazing, so I just went ahead and bought this without even holding it first. I truly couldn't be happier with it, and I can't imagine anyone not absolutely loving it. Its tiny, but packs quite a punch!! I just wish it came with a case...

This review is a combination of three: Canon PowerShot SD950IS 12.1MP (Titanium) Canon PowerShot SD770IS 10MP (Silver) Canon PowerShot SD790IS 10MP I first purchased the Canon SD950, and after loonnnggg shipping from Jr.com, I received it and tried it out. The camera is much bigger than the SD500 that I upgraded from--even though it's got so many bells and whistles. One thing about Canon that's got my eyebrow raised: Why the big font as if we can't read? The Image Stabilization is a wonderful thing, right along with the face detection. It even focused on an enlarged print of a little girl! The 3.7 zoom is nothing to frown at either. ISO is easier to set now so one can play around with the settings... The camera is made for "big hands" and it took me about two weeks of off and on shooting to get used to it. The 12MP quality is okay, and I didn't have to get used to too much new button placement. One thing I didn't like is the play button. I felt I had to really push my finger on the play button in order to view my photos. It annoyed me enough to see what else was out there. The Canons SD770 and SD790 were next on my list. Even though they were "only" 10MP, they had newer technology from Canon: Motion Detection and Infinity and cute buttons in all new small packages. SD770IS(Silver) First the SD770. This was a nice small camera! Not cheap feeling at all, Canon packed everything but the kitchen sink in there. I like the "Infinity" setting that the SD950 didn't have. Also, I have the silver version and it's nice, small, sleek, and takes great pictures. I didn't like the way the battery cover was not spring loaded. Also, either it was this particular camera or the 770 in general, but it seemed like I had to "dig" for the battery and SDHC card once put in. Yes, it's compact, hefty, and full of bells and whistles, but it was...kinda boring. Maybe because the silver color didn't have the pizazz of the black version that I'd read reviews on. Moving on to the SD790... SD790IS Bigger camera! Compared to the 770, it's a giant! The same size as the 950 except in a square/cube like form. The 950 is curvy, while the 790 is sleek and boxy (not sure if that's an oxymoron or not!). The 790 also has a new button format that I'm not sure if I like or not. I really enjoyed the SD500's button placement and while I can appreciate a "play" button...why not make it easy access instead of having to constantly press the button down? I'm thinking that the play buttons will eventually wear out. The big screen is nice, and even though I haven't used a viewfinder since...ever, it would be nice to "just have". So the lack of a viewfinder is a potential bummer. You never know when you gotta smear your nose on the photo screen to take pic! lol Also, the 790 is a fingerprint magnet. I tried to take the same pictures with all the cameras, but couldn't always (morning/evening, different zoom, etc.). Both the 770 and 790 have high ISO settings (as did the 950), but I didn't even use anything that high previously! All the pictures came out great. Even my crappy pictures of my messy coffee table were clear and colorful! One issue I had with all three cameras was the color accent setting. It seemed as if I got better black and white/one color photos from my SD500 than either of these cameras. I have to do a lot more tweaking. However, it could be just because of the balances of the colors and the lighting effects in my environment. If I just had to choose based on portability, photos, looks, bells/whistles, ease of use, I would go crazy trying to decide. Both cameras are amazingly small! The thing that keeps me wondering about the 770 is, "how can they fit all these specs in this TINY camera!?? But, I'm a sucker for good looks, so the scale points back to the SD790! True it's bigger than the 770, but it's still small considering the screen. I always take great care of my electronics, so I'm not so worried about fingerprints. If the button issue upsets me extremely, then I'll just upgrade to Canon's latest and greatest in 6-8 months. One more thing: I purchased the SanDisk 4 GB Extreme III SDHC Card w/ MicroMate USB Reader and it gets 900ish pictures on the 10MP versions at the highest settings. Either way, can't wait to take pics on the new SD790. I feel that although all three are great, the 790 has that sleekness with Canon's new technology all in one package. Get out, purchase any of these cams and you'd be satisfied.

I've had the privilege to test out a lot of different cameras for free over the last several years. Some I kept (and paid for) and some I returned. I have gotten to try a lot of canons and this one is the best I've used. I've got to try several "A" powershots and "SD" powershots and out of all this one seems to perform the best. I have a Canon EOS 40D which has 10 megapixels and is an extremely good camera. When I looked at photos from this camera and the 40D, both being 10 megapixels I was shoocked at the quality of this small point and shoot for less than $200. The pictures were almost identical in quality. Its really hard to see any differences. I like to test cameras with macro using coins. When you take a macro photo with this camera and the 40D on both you can see every little scratch, imperfection and dust. I was blown away by this camera at such a good price (right now $183). Of course no camera is perfect. One thing I don't like about this camera is that while recording video, the zoom function is only digital zoom and not optical, like that on the Samsung nv24hd. But the picture quality is far superior here than the samsung. But this camera doesn't have HD recording and the samsung excels at that, video is incredible with a fast comptuer or PS3. Battery like is over 50% longer on this powershot than my last one, the SD630. That camera is extremely good but the screen is low res and that camera is mostly plastic (that looks like metal), this one is a metal brick. Amazing quality at such an affordable price ($183)

I loved this camera when I first got it. It is small with a nice display screen and takes great pictures. But after only a few months it began to freeze up on me. I would go to turn it on and the lens would open then the camera would turn off-with the lens still out! The only thing I can do is remove the battery for a few minutes then put it back in. The camera will work until next time I need to use it. Please, if anyone knows how to correct this problem please make a post. For those of you thinking of buying one I have to say that even if this camera takes the best pictures it is rendered useless if it doesn't turn on when you need it! I would strongly recommend shopping around.

We have been using this camera for over 2 weeks. All is very-very good. The only complaint is that filming movies is not great - no zoom which messes with the focus. Beautiful design, great metal case, super clear screen, nice menus, good battery life, etc. IS (image stabilization) works VERY well, no blurred images. Images have vibrant color and have very crisp details. It is easy to accidentally change shooting modes by touching the new function-wheel on the back of the camera. I am used to checking status before shooting, but my wife has missed many shots because she accidentally changed to a manual mode. ------------------ Update - It is now May 2010 and we are still using the camera on a regular basis (proud parents of 3 little kids!). About 2 years of use and no defects or issues. We are still not happy with the limited movie mode (focus and zoom) and we have had few issues with the dial on the back... seems we are used to it. In lower light, indoor settings, we have not gotten as many good pictures as we had with our higher end Canon S3, but this is only a point-shoot camera. We still recommend this camera and we get very nice comments from those that see it in use. It is very portable, excellant construction and usually good photos result.

I bought this camera before going on a European Cruise (I'm American). Pros: 1. Camera films great standard video (640 by 480). 2. Camera pictures are good under all lighting conditions and are 10 MP. 3. Camera does TIME-LAPSE video, taking a picture every 1 or 2 seconds (you choose) to film scenes over a long time. I used it to video a home renovation project. It was a lot of fun to look at afterwards. 4. Camera can sense which way you're holding the camera and shifts the image on the screen just like the iPhone does! Great during playback of video and still shots to always fill up the whole screen. 5. Camera has a lot of interesting special effects, like color swap, black and white with only one color developed (ex: black and white landscape with blue sky showing as blue). 6. Very small and easy to put in your pocket. It was great for my trip. I left my bulky 10MP SLR and Mini-DV camcorder at home, why lug that stuff around when this camera takes awesome pictures and video! 7. Can take 1000 high quality pictures (10MP) with one 4GB card or 45 minutes of video! 8. The camera can track and recognize your face so that it always focuses on your face. This is amazing because you can watch it track (little white square) a person's face on the viewfinder as you set up a shot. 9. HUGE screen. I didn't buy a case and the screen never became scratched. 10. It shows you how much battery life you have left. Batteries lasted over a day with very heavy use of taking and viewing both video and TONS of pictures. I bought an extra battery just in case. Batteries were fully charged in under 2 hours. Cons: 1. It takes maybe 5 minutes to get used to the menu system, but after the initial learning curve it's easy to use. 2. The 4GB memory cards couldn't be read by the photo shop or my SD card reader because the larger GB format is new and requires updated card reader equipment.

This is the first point and shoot purchased since 2002. After reading numerous reviews both on amazon.com as well as newegg.com, going into Best Buy and playing with all point and shoots available (then reading their reviews), and playing with a friends Canon SD 770, we decided to purchase this model. Our reasons being: 1) All point and shoot Canons have the Color Accent feature, which is way too much fun to play with. 2) The image quality, in our opinion, is equal, if not far superior to all other models we played with. The color was crisper, the image was clearer (mostly due to the IS), and the screen larger. 3) The price off Amazon.com was by far lower than any other retailer. It put the camera under $200, which was competitively priced, and allowed us to purchase a camera with more features than any other in that range. So far the battery life has been good, the computer software easy to use, and the camera operation simple to learn. Reading the manual is a must if you plan to do much more than just use automatic. All in all, no issues, good price, and fun to use!

Now first things first. I am upgrading from a Sony p-72 3.2 mega pixel camera that I got back in 2003. So there are many cameras out there that would be a big step up. I was only interested in a point and shoot and it had to be compact for traveling purposes. I would love a DSLR but they are pricey, bulky and did not fit my daily needs. I started reading around for a month or so to see what was out there and read all the pros and cons. I have read so much that I finally grew sick of it. In its basic form, all point and shoot cameras have +'s and -'s. It all depends on features that are most important to you and how you will be using the camera. After many reviews, forums, and websites I decided to go with the Canon 790IS. I was very apprehensive on the quality of picture this camera would provide due to manufacturers pushing the limitations of the sensor. The sweet spot for most point and shoots are 6-8MP. So what drew me to this camera? I was really impressed with the size, screen size, material that the camera was made out of (not cheap plastic), and most of the automated settings which make the camera very easy/quick . I didn't want to have to mess with manual settings on a point and shoot. My impression of a point and shoot is it is ready to go when I need it. Maybe 5-10 seconds to change the macro but that is it. If I have to spend much more than that, great picture opportunities would be lost. So I took the plunge and bought it here off of Amazon in addition to a 8 gig Sandisk ultra II for pictures and a spare battery. I am not going to go into what the camera comes with as other people have done a great job with that already. After three days of waiting, I got the camera. I was quickly impressed on the startup speed of the camera and quality of the pictures. I took 150 in the first day. The battery is still going strong. I also tried the higher ISO settings and they will only be good on a tripod. The 3200 iso macro that is in the camera is really good. It downgrades the 10 MP to 2ish but makes a really dark shot seem to be early evening. I used it many times and it worked great. Way better than what I am use to. You can do it manually but need to keep the camera stable or you will get a blur. I have had the camera for almost a month and I am very pleased with it. You can't go wrong with the Amazon price. It is 100$ lower than retail. The camera is very well built and does an excellent job as a point and shoot. Even quick when using the flash. So again, you need to look at what you will use the camera for and what features are important to you. This one satisfied all of my requirements and I am very happy with my purchase. As a side note: I recommend getting a screen protector for the large screen. It will be easily scratched if you put in your pocket with change or other objects. Just keep in mind you get what you pay for in screen protectors. Boxwave ones are highly rated and last forever. IT would suck to get a scratch across that beautiful 3inch screen.