The Bottom Line: An inexpensive lightweight and solidly built compact camera with many features and good to excellent photos and easy to use, especially for kids.

I purchased the Canon PowerShot A3100 IS camera as a gift for my granddaughter on her 12th birthday. She had been using an older HP camera with a charging dock and I wanted to get her a more compact camera that had more features than the HP. I have always owned Canon cameras, including three other PowerShot models and every camera in the G series, from the G1 through the current G11. I believe that Canon makes the best cameras for the money and I have never had any problems with them.

The Canon A3100 IS is an excellent camera for the non-professional and especially for the young budding photographers. It has many features found on more expensive cameras, such as Optical Image Stabilization. Many cameras in this price range do not have this feature and it is a good one on a camera being used by a child. This feature reduces blur in low light situations and when using maximum zoom. The camera also has Face Detection Technology using Digic III Image Processor. I found this feature to work very well when focusing on faces, especially in group photos.

There are several shooting modes, including Program, Smart Auto, Easy Mode, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Kids and Pets, Indoor and Movies. The SCN mode includes various shooting scenes including Beach, Snow, Foliage, Low-Light, Super Vivid and Poster Effect. There is also a Smart Auto mode which takes the guesswork out of settings and focuses and sets the camera for the best optimum shot. Other great features include the ability to take long exposure photos (up to 15 seconds), a time delay (0-30 seconds), continuous shooting mode, ISO speed, white balance, macro (close ups).

This is a 12.1 megapixel camera with a 4X optical zoom. Image size choices range from 4000x3000 to 640x 480. The images are stored in a SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card that is not supplied. It’s surprising that Canon does not provide memory cards anymore with their cameras, considering that they are so inexpensive today. The camera has a Lithium-Ion battery. The fully charged battery was able to take several hundred photos before requiring a recharge. I would suggest buying an extra battery so you have a fully charged one on hand. You can buy an aftermarket battery for this camera for about $11. on most battery sites.

The camera measures approx. 3.8 inches x 1 inch x 2.3 inches and is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket. The LCD screen is 2.7 inches diagonally which is a pretty good size for a small camera and the brightness is adjustable. The camera comes with a wrist strap, a battery charger, a battery pack, AV cable, interface cable and a software CD-ROM. It also has a Getting Started Guide, which is adequate, but not as extensive as User Manuals that Canon usually includes. The camera is quite intuitive though and the menus are easy to understand. I would recommend buying a case for this camera, especially if being used by a child. I found an excellent case by CaseLogic on Amazon.com for only $9. and it fits this camera perfectly. I would also recommend attaching a screen protector to the LCD screen to prevent scratches, etc.

The only negatives I found with this camera were the lack of a more extensive User Manual and the necessity to use 2 steps in order to use the macro and flash modes. On other Canon cameras, including the G series models, you can access the macro and flash modes with on press of a button on the back of the camera. I also feel that Canon should supply at least a small memory card with the camera. There is a 1-year manufacturer’s warranty on this camera and I purchased it for $132. at Amazon.com.

After using this camera for about 2 months, I can easily recommend it as a purchase for anyone looking for an easy to use and easy to carry camera with sufficient features. It is an especially good camera for kids. It also comes in 3 different colors, silver, blue and red. The photos it produces are good to excellent and the battery life is superb. The many shooting modes and scenes provide a good array of possible shots. Shutter speed and recovery is relatively good for a camera in this price range. The software included is easy to install and use and it provides an excellent editing program.