Full Review

I've just switched to digital from film, so I want to give you my thoughts on why I switched i) to digital and ii) to Canon SD800 IS. I need a point and shoot camera with some zoom capability that can fit in my pant pocket.

I already had these features with with my old film camera, but my video camera died recently, so I wanted a camera with video/audio capability - the Canon has that. The video looks good on the camera display but I haven't burn them to disc for storage and TV viewing.

I wanted no flash indoor photo capability - the Canon produced good bright photos with the flash off. The flash on the old camera wasn't strong enough to take photos of school plays in the gym at 30-40 feet - the picture turned out dark even though the zoom was good enough. I haven't tried this yet with the Canon but I expect that I will have much better results than previous based on the no flash indoor photos.

It's very good looking camera, with a metal case and not just plastic. The images on the 2.5" display are very clear to my eyes. One of the most important thing for me was the lag time from click to picture. It's not instant like the old film camera, but I am very happy with its quickness. The delay was very pronounced, perhaps a second or so, with the flash on and the battery running very low.

I paid $420 Cdn plus 14% tax at Best Buy Canada in the Toronto area. I had originally wanted to spend under $300 and looked at a similarly featured camera, the Canon A series A570IS for $270 Cdn plus tax. The latter was slightly bigger, plastic shell and not as stylish, used 2 AA batteries instead of the lithium ion battery. I have nickel metal-hydride rechargeable AA batteries so I don't mind AA batteries, but the compact size and my wife's insistence on style of the SD800 won over. For the money that I paid, Canon should have included a carrying case and wire for plugging the camera to home electrical outlet.

I bought a OCZ SD hi-speed 150x 2 GB for $35 Cdn plus 14% tax at a local computer store on Lakeshore. It's almost full with 250 photos and 10-15 video clips. I've had the camera just 3 weeks and have charged the lithium ion battery about 3 times. The little SD memory card that can with the camera took 4 pictures. It was useful to play around with the camera after I took it out of the box.

I haven't yet downloaded the photos and video to my computer so no comments so far. Ease of file management is important to me but I haven't tried the Canon software that came with the camera.

Also I haven't printed any on photo paper so no comments so far. This photo paper will be the real test not the 2.5" display.

I've had the camera for few week so I can't really comment on the durability. My old film camera was an weather proof Olympus with a slide over lens cover. The Canon and most other digital cameras have dainty peek-a-boo lens covers. I wish they would make these with metal lens caps or slide over covers. I used my old camera at the beach and in light rain/snow with no problems, but the Canon seems to have a few places where the sand could get in. I need a tight fitting leather camera case or a least a plastic film to protect the display. I haven't seen them yet.