Accessories

Yeah baby! That's what I'm talking about!
I absolutely love this camera. I use to have a Nikon Coolpix 8700 which worked great for set up shots, but it was so complex and slow for point-and-shoot and also very bulky, I hated to carry it around. Canon, specifically this camera, really got it right with this camera. Honestly it's like having the best of both worlds. You can use the Manual function to lighten or darken a picture (change the ISO, etc) with such ease, or use the AUTO for quick point-and-shoot, or even use the set up functions like Portrait, Beach, Outdoors, etc. And even with the set up function it is easy to manipulate and change the settings.

Unlike the Nikon, all my pictures with the Canon turn out GREAT. There is no lag at all. I also love the video function and use it often. People have been complaining about not having a viewfinder but honestly, who the hell cares?

I strongly recommend this camera for amateurs, consumers, professionals, etc. This is a keeper, I bring it everywhere with me and have never been disappointed in the pictures nor the developed prints. I am definitely going to continue buying Canon products.

fine prints
It's a generally good camera.. which I won't repeat what other ppl say..
some perhaps unusual complaints

1. zoom during video capture is digital.. and it gets pixelated very quickly. You can do optical zoom before starting the recording, but once the recording started, the optical zoom is fixed.. i.e. you can't UNzoom the optical zoom. So the video capture still take some prior mental planning if you use the zoom a lot..
2. I have a 8GB SD card.. I always have problem copying off video clips longer than 1GB off the card through the camera.. don't know why
3. it's hard to play with where exactly you want to focus.. e.g. if you manually focus on a spot then move the camera for composition.. the focus will change.. haven't figure how to do that yet.. whereas my old Sony cybershot works perfectly.. not much depth-of-focus either..

Best camera I've ever had!
I really liked this camera from the moment I saw it. It is not only beautiful, but it also takes great photos regardless of the shooting conditions. Love it!

fantastic wide angle zoom + video
I knew what we were getting with the wide angle zoom. What I was very pleased to see was that the video quality was fantastic compared to our older model Canon.

Great so far, but not sure how long it will go
I was really shocked after opening the brand new box to power on the stylish SD870 for the first time and find out the screen saying "Lens Error, Restart the Camera". The lens was already out and wouldn't get back on any button.

I searched online and it seemed a certain percentage of Canon SD users were experiencing the same trouble. It happened for both the new DCs and the old ones. Most of these customers had to contact the support center and wait for a couple of weeks before getting it back.

Lucky for me, it turned out that after I charged the battery for a couple of minutes and put it back, the camera worked as great as it could be. The shooting is much faster than my old SD600, the screen is huge, and the photo stitching is a lot of fun.

So most likely, the initial problem could be from the compatibility between new battery and the camera. Still, such thing never happened on any of my other cameras, never. I just hope this is not going to recur afterwards, especially during the trip!

Other than the lens problem, my other complain is that Canon does not have any fancy brand-accessories. There doesn't seem to have a lot of choices of high-quality camera cases other than the recommended black PSC 55, whose metal button may just cause scratches to the camera body as some PSC did on my old SD600.