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Graymalkin · Dec 27, 2003, 11:26 PM

For the last several weeks I've been looking at picking up a digital camera. I've got a 35mm Rebel 2000 which I love but it doesn't do me a lot of good when I want to keep a camera in my pocket. I got a Best Buy gift certificate for Christmas so I figured that was as good a way as any to pick up a camera.

I think I narrowed my search down to the Canon SD100 but I wanted to get this forum's collective experience before I finalize my decision. I've looked at several pocket sized digitals: Pentax Optio S, Canon S400, and Casio Exilim but they've either been too expensive or not quite what I'm looking for. The SD100 I liked because it is small enough to pocket, uses SD memory, and has an optical zoom. The Optio S was small and had a nice zoom but unavailable at Best Buy and a little too expensive form e anyhow. The Exilim was also small but lacked zoom and a lens cover. The S400 took really nice pictures at 4MP but was a little bigger than I wanted and much pricier than the SD100.

What are some of your opinions on the SD100 pictures quality and overall value wise? I've read some good reviews of it and it seems like a good camera for the money. I'm looking for a camera that is going to last me a while and it rugged enough to keep in a jacket pocket without breaking. I've got a 128MB SD memory card so I've tried to limit myself to SD/MMC compatible cameras. I don't want to spend $300 on a camera only to need another $60 on enough memory to make it useful.

nerd · Dec 28, 2003, 10:15 AM

Overall I think It's a good camera. I do think wide pictures are a little soft sometimes. It does focus very well up close in low light. My Nikon Coolpix 5800 chokes all the time in low light. The SD100 I just got my girlfriend might have a bad battery because sometimes we plug it in to charge and the light turns green 10 seconds later saying it's charges but we've just drained it all the way down by taking pictures. I'm sure this is a fluke and they'll probably send out another battery. Other then that it's a great camera, I love the size. It's easy to take around, I never take photos with my Coolpix because it's so big. Here's a few links to full size images taken with the SD100.

IMG_0189.JPG
IMG_0167.JPG
IMG_0157.JPG

Brad

Graymalkin · Dec 28, 2003, 03:15 PM

Those are some pretty nice pictures. The demo photos on Canon's website are pretty impressive but it's hard to trust them as they're taken under studio-like conditions by professional photographers. Does the camera feel nice and solid? A lot of what I've read talks about the solid feel of the SD100. I want such a portable camera in order to tote it around with me in my computer bag or jacket pocket. I don't want a small camera only to need four inches of foam around it to pad it from damage.

Thanks for taking the time to show me those pictures!

brachiator · Dec 28, 2003, 05:21 PM

I don't know anything about this model, but check out the comprehensive review at DP Review. (Great online mag...)

nerd · Dec 28, 2003, 10:43 PM

Yea the camera feels solid. I've got the first generation of the Elph line at work have borrowed it quite a few times for snowboarding trips. It's still ticking away 3 years later. I got my girlfriend the SD100 for xmas and we already had it on one boaring trip and it survived her couple of wrecks and the cold. Personally I don't think you can go wrong with the Canon line.

Like brachiato said, check out that site and also check out photosig. You can search for photos taken by different cameras. I spent a lot of time on that site when looking for a digital camera that took good night photos.

Brad

Graymalkin · Dec 29, 2003, 12:03 AM

That is a pretty awesome site. Lots of excellent examples.

Graymalkin · Dec 30, 2003, 09:09 PM

I finally went and did it, I picked up my brand spanking new SD100. I'm pretty happy with the purchase. The camera feels really sturdy and is quite tiny and pocketable. It works great with Image Capture and iPhoto. Even the movies transfer correctly which had me a bit concerned before I picked the camera up. I'm also happy to report my $24 128MB SD memory card I bought at Wal�Mart on Black Friday works great in the camera. I read somewhere that people ran into trouble with non-Canon SD cards. The "Impact" brand is apparently the Wal�Mart branding for cards they buy from Lexar as the packaging is plastered with Lexar logos. I would bet that Lexar cards would work just as well as this cheapo one I bought. The 128MB card gives me about 136 pictures at 2048x1536 in Fine mode and about 76 pictures in Super Fine.

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

nerd · Dec 30, 2003, 11:26 PM

Originally posted by Graymalkin:
I'm also happy to report my $24 128MB SD memory card I bought at Wal�Mart on Black Friday works great in the camera. I read somewhere that people ran into trouble with non-Canon SD cards.

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

Get the firmware update from Canon's website. My girlfriend ran into a problem with her 256MB card. The camera was saying the data was corrupt on the card but it really wasn't. The update fixed it. I forgot to mention this earlier.

Brad

Graymalkin · Dec 31, 2003, 01:23 AM

I'll have to give that one a shot. I've taken a few dozen pictures and haven't had a problem but I don't want to get to picture 100 and discover the firmware corrupted them all.

rjc3 · Jan 2, 2004, 05:03 PM

congrats on your purchase. I just picked up the same camera over the holidays and have been extremely happy with it. I did end up picking up a 256mb sd card at costco for under $70, allowing me to take over 100 pictures at the highest settings, and more than 500 at basic quality. plus, you can take movies of unlimited length at 320x240 resolution (well, not really unlimited, but constrained only by the free space available on your card.)
Congrats again.

Graymalkin · Jan 2, 2004, 05:59 PM

I was really suprised by the movie mode at 320x240. I can take several minutes of video with my measly 128MB card which is more than plenty for my needs. The movie mode is just an added bonus. When I want to capture motion I like using the continuous shooting mode. With the display off I can get about two pictures a second which isn't too shabby.

Has anyone ever got prints from Wal�Mart's photocenter before? Do they require you to order prints online or will they do it in the store for the advertised 24�? BestBuy was offering some sort of printing service which ran about 46� per print plus S&H. Apple's prints through Kodak are 49� plus S&H. Besides Wal�Mart will Ritz or Wolf camera centers print photos out in the store or does everyone require the digital photos be sent in to a central processing center? The times I asked people working the counters at Wal�Mart they looked at me like I was speaking another language.