Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Just got this brand new camera. I replaced our Casio, which was one of the most impressive digital cameras I have ever owned (had it for only 14 months). The reason for the replacement, my family loses cameras... a lot.. and this one went bye bye somewhere. The Casio had great features, a nice touch screen, a great zoom, good shutter speed for sporting events, and time between photos was great for the photo quality. It had one flaw, its inability to take night photos and the movies even in natural light were only okay. There were a ton of options, which for a standard user could be overwhelming.
Now to the PowerShot. This camera, sometimes will look grainy on the viewfinder until the actual photo itself is taken, but when the photo is taken... perfection. No matter the differences in light and shadows in a picture, the PowerShot somehow nicely accommodates for this. While the standard zoom is 4X, it can go to 10x, and with the shutter and flash, it still takes much better than most from beyond its standard range. PIctures at night with or without flash is absolutely incredible and movies are easy to take and upload. The features are plenty, but not overly complex. This means a standard user cannot get into trouble, but the highly discerning user might want more. There are other 10 and 12 MP cameras out there, and many have poor picture quality, which for me makes no sense... having a high quality image of a bad shot is an oxymoron. You don't have to worry with this camera.
Here is the one downside... time between shots. If you are looking for a camera to hold down the shutter and take pictures in multiples in rapid fire, this might not be the camera for you. While a faster memory card will help issue, you will not be able to rattle off 5 shots in 10 seconds during your kid's soccer game. If you want to have 2 or 3 perfect shots in that 10 seconds, this is the camera for you. It doesn't have a touch screen either, but with the Casio, this sometimes got in the way during viewing or taking shots.
Summarizing... This camera is easy to use, not confusing, has a great smart mode, and has yet to take a poor picture in any light condition. If you can't take a good picture on your current camera, you will be able to on this one. The movie mode is very easy, but should be used in good light either indoors or out. It does zoom during the movie, which I understand isn't common, and the microphone is extremely sensitive... which means if you fumble around, it will record the fumbling noise, but that is very hard to avoid on any camera. It is lightweight, but substantial enough to hold comfortably. All in all, this is a camera any family would be happy to have.
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Canon PowerShot A3100 IS Point & Shoot Digital Camera - 12.1 Megapixel - 2.70" Active Matrix TFT Color LCD - Blue 4256B001 Digital Cameras
