Canon SD300 Digital ELPH, Tiny and Powerful MicroCam Solution

Canon's ELPH series cameras revolutionized the photo industry when they literally reinvented the term "micro-cam." The ELPH's contained a smattering of intuitive features package neatly in a diminutive sized machine, about as small as a pack of cigarettes (actually a little smaller).

With the onset of natural evolution in the digital imaging market, it was only fitting that the Canon's Digital ELPH series became an industry leader in micro-cam technology. The S500 is perhaps the most well known 5MP camera available, and it was only a matter of time until Canon reinvented the "S" series ELPH digitals and here we are in the "SD" series.

Currently, the SD300 is Canon's newest and currently top model in the SD series of cameras. Do bear in mind, sometime in the reasonbly near future, the S500 will give way to its replacement (most likely to be called the "SD400" in keeping with the new nomenclature Canon has instituted for this product line). The SD300 is the 4 megapixel offering of the newer (and now even smaller) "SD" digital ELPHs. The SD300 is packed with neat features, an impressive 2" LCD display (which comes very close to full-frame display) and a durable stainless steel body, which despite it's tiny TINY size is easy to handle, comfortable ergonomically and very confidence inspiring in terms of how it feels, durability wise.

Before we really get into the nitty-gritty of why (or why not) this camera may be the one for you, I want to address a critical discovery I've made in my quest to find the "ultimate" digi-cam and it has to do specifically with setting proper goals and realistic expectations of a digi-cam and how considering this will really do 2 important things: 1) It will make you a MUCH more educated consumer and 2) It will most certainly guide you into buying a camera which will really serve your purposes and be a good fit... this is regardless of whether you end up with the SD300 reviewed here, or with any other digital imaging device...

The Problem I Faced When Buying This Camera:

After doing some tire kicking and seeing the myriad of cameras, options, printers, Dye-Sub, InkJet BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH... it was obvious technology had truly elevated to a frightening level and clearly, doing one's homework was going to be an integral part of buying something that would be rewarding and gratifying to own. So rule one: DO NOT RUSH THE PROCESS OF READING AND LEARNING ABOUT DIGI-CAMS... Otherwise you will probably make a mistake!

The biggest problem I faced is that I was essentially asking for the impossible during my time spent digi-shopping. I was trying to find a camera which would have the optics and most features of an SLR camera inside the tiny body of a micro-cam. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE! If you are looking for the same thing, STOP. Don't waste your time - you can find some manual features in some smaller P&S digitals (for instance the Olympus C60 is an excellent choice as it has Aperature-Priority and Shutter-Priority shooting modes, much like an SLR). The reason I was looking for SLR features in my camera was to achieve some very artistic B&W work, IE: I like to shoot B&W images which are deliberately taken in such a way that there is a very narrow depth-of-field, and therefore everything but the subject is essentially blurred out - it makes a nice dramatic effect and for way more than just portrait shooting! However, shallow DOF (depth of field) shots are a function of fast optics- faster lenses are typically bigger in physical size and almost always NOT what you find on ANY P&S cameras, unless they approach SLR-size.

The bottom line is simple- if you want a "serious" camera do do the serious things that SLR's are capable of, BUY AN SLR. You're going to find that the tiny MicroCams out there are really jnust imaging devices- not necesarily "Cameras" if you define a "Camera" as an imaging device which can give you true manual controls over the elements that comprise your image and the way the camera acquires the light to make up that image.

I already own a serious film SLR- the Nikon N80, and I love it. However it is NOT easy to drag around because of its size and the size of its lens(es). Ergo, I figured since it's impossible to get an SLR in tiny size, and since I already OWN a nice SLR, why not focus on the one element of cameras that i need- MAN POTABILITY!!! The irony (and tragedy) and my N8- ownership is that despite owning it, I seldom shoot it because of its size... I truly believe many of you reading this will identify in some way with this dilemma- Have you ever brought your camera on vacation or to an event with the intent of using it, but ended up NOT using it because it was too damned big?!?!?! If you can relate to this, well than we have a very common ground, so I hope this review helps you put this in proper perspective and allows you to make a more educated decision!

As the above would imply, I ultimately decided that my new digi-cam should be as tiny as can be, without sacrificing color and image quality, BUT, with the full understanding that I would forego the "SLR-ness" I was originally looking for, because if I want to take serious artistic photopgraphs, I will suck it up and take my big clunky SLR. HOWEVER, there were oodles of family events, parties and functions which I was lacking photos of simply because all along, I really needed a SMALL CAMERA! You don't need alot of SLR functionality to make great images of casual friendly get togethers and family functions, you need to be able to take your camera and NOT COMPLAIN because it's too big! Enter the SD300... So in the end, by making some realistic expectations and goals (namely, I gave up asking for what does not exist; an SLR in a micro body!) I was now better able to approach the task of choosing a digi-cam with what I really was looking for in light of setting realistic goals and expectations: I wanted a tiny camera to make damn good images - Does this sound like you? If so, read on, because the SD300 is a very good choice if that's what you're looking for!

THe SD300's tiny size should not fool you - it's a very, VERY coo little camera, capable of taking beautiful pictures and offering quite a bit of flexibility in terms of manual shootings modes, white balance adjustment and a reasonable array of manual adjustment (this does NOT include Aperature-priority or Shutter PRiority modes however- this is NOT an SLR and will NOT shoot like one).

THe SD300's feature and spec list is quite impressive:

Resolution: 4 megapixels (2272 x 1704)
Lens: f2.8-4.9/35-105 (35mm equivalent) all-glass 3X zoom
Viewfinders: Real-image optical & 2.0" LCD
Auto Focus: TTL AiAF nine-point autofocus system
Exposure: Program AE (Automatic) and Manual modes
Metering: Evaluative, Center-Weighted, or Spot
Exposure Compensation: Yes + /- 2EV in 1/3-step increments
White Balance: TTL auto and presets for daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, fluorescent H, and custom (manual)
Noise Reduction: automatic on long exposures
Photo Effects: Low Sharpening, Vivid Color, Neutral color, Sepia and B&W
Sensitivity: Auto and ISO 50, 100, 200, & 400
Flash: Built-in multi mode (auto, red-eye, red-eye-auto, scene, off)
Continuous exposure mode: 2.4 fps
Memory Storage Media: SD cards
Image File Format: JPEG
Connectivity: USB 1.1 & A/V out
Power: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (NB-4L)

Street Price: $339-$399

The Camera industry is working on such narrow margins, you can expect to pay around 400 bucks for this camera. If you pay 380, you got a great deal - instead of nickel and diming over 2 more bucks, why not just buy from someone who you trust and who you like to buy from - there is not enough savings in imaging devices to haggle to the point where you begin making enemies or buying from schiesty people - I paid 352.00 because I'm an industry rep and that's literally what the camera cost my dealer friend -- To go to some bait-and-switch mail order house to pay 340... NAH, I think I'd have been just as happy paying my buddy the full 400 bucks, but he insisted he give it to me for cost as a rep and a friend. Bottom line- 380 to 400 is a very fair deal - take it.

Image Quality: Currently I have my Elph hooked up directly to an olympus P-10 dye-sub printer. The images from the camera are excellent, however I stress that you MUST become familiar with the white-balance settings on the camera in order to achieve accurate color representation on your pictures... I've noticed colors can get a bit cold looking as taken from the camera- the printer makes them even more cold, so the answer to to experiement with the white balance until you're familiar with how the colors will image in different environments.

Images how been very sharp, abberation is nearly undetectable except for in some extreme shots at widest zoom where the subject is taking up most of the frame and thus creating a broad focal area - the lens is actually excellent, given the tiny size of the camera - this is a give-and-take game, so if you want the tiny size, you're going to have to forego a little bit of lens... I'd say given the absolutely tiny size of this camera, the pictures are quite excellent in spite of the size... thus, it's a good trade-off.

Focusing is very fast- as is image-transfer-to-card. In fact the "SD" is very noticably faster than the S500, which is why I chose to forego a megapixel in order to gain speed and smaller size, not to mention the bigger LCD screen - the S500's screen is literally about half as big, area wise. Zoom speed is also quite fast- about a second and half from end-to-end (*wide to zoom). Focus and metering modes are standard, however I must share some of the success I've exerienced with Canon's spot-weighted metering -- I've noticed the camera acquires and focuses on the right spots faster than any other digital I've yet shot, AND it actually does so even a little faster than my N80 does! The Canon is loaded with a ton of factory-chosen image-compositions to compare to the frame about to be shot- the camera does a great job at picking correct focus zones, however you can choose from different shooting modes such as "indoor, outdoor, night-time, kids/pets, etc) and what this does is essentially narrow down to comparison frames from the cameras memory to help make focusing even faster.

*** AUTO MODE: This camera's auto mode is one of the greatest features I can mention - if you know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about digital cameras, or even film cameras, the SD300's fully automatic mode (factory default) will allow even the greenest novice to operate this camera with ease and take some great images- or at least as good as the shooter can frame up! This means literally anyone can use this camera without learning anything! To go a step further, the menu is SUBSTANTIALLY easier to navigate than even older versions of PowerShot or ELPH cameras - the menu's are very intuitive and fast to go through with minimal button pressing. The manual is literally a little 3"x5" booklet and pretty concise, including all the software info, so obviously this should demonstrate that it's an easy camera to use, and even the manual is easy to use.

The Camera is equipped with a quick-print feature where if hooked up to a compatible printer (my Olympus P-10 is compatible for this) you simply hook the camera up directly to the printer in "playback" mode and as you scroll through images via the camera, you can hit the "quick print" button and the printer will spit out a print! NICE.

Accesories: I bought myself an ELPH leather case- this is a must, because the tiny size of this camera will probably encourage you to put it in your jeans pocket for quick easdy transport. THe leather case will prevent you from accidently damaging the sharp stainless steel body or from accidently getting lint or other stuff into the lens or other orifices on the camera. I opted to buy 2 512MB SD cards, instead of 1 1GB card. Cards can get damaged, so this means you won't lose all of your images, because they get split in half with 2 cards. Make no mistake, the 512 is capable of holding plenty! At top resolution and quality, you can still hold approximately 438 images on 1 card, so that's very much more than the battery can do!

Canon rates the battery as capable of shooting upwards of 300 images out of one charge... I'd say this is a bit optomistic, because it's a tiny battery and it's very easy to push the slider into playback mode and start reviewing photos mid-shoot... if you do so, you'll be eating up battery with the LCD screen... Not to mention flash usage - with flash and playback, you'll probably get about 150-175 images out of a battery, give or take a little bit.

THe flash is quite good, again, considering how tiny the camera is. I took a couple of shots in my art room (I have a couple of neat sculptures and mobile-sculptures that look incredible under black light. Blight light means almost no brightness obviously and the room is 25x35. I shot into a corner where onje scultpure was from 21 feet away at 45 degrees to shoot one hanging mobile sculpture. The flash literally lit up the corner as if the lights were on in the room - focal length was 1.2X, so the frame was reasonably large for the flash to do what it did in almost all darkness! A micro-tripod is a must though, in order to prop the camera up on a table and shoot into dimly lit scenes and capture good images - with this camera, the flash won't do enough as compared to a slower shutter speed in say restaurants or clubs etc - so getting one of those pocket tripods is a great idea- you can prop the ELPH up on the tripod and let the slower shutter speed make better images without relying on the flash or your hands steadiness.

Software: THe SD300 comes witha host of quality canon imaging software- good enough to manage your photo library on your computer easily and enough to do some minor manipulation to your pictures. It is no photoshop, but it's also easier to use and easier to learn. install is quick and painless and there's no worry of complexity or tough-to-use stress. THe included wrist strap is another important thing- It doesn't interfere with anything and makes a nice secure connection between the camera and your hand, in case you decide to take some daring shots where dropping the camera would mean certain disaster... In fact, despite that the body feels plenty sturdy, the small size of this camera makes me think even a small drop might mean certain disaster, so the wrist strap is a good thing to keep on at all times!

All in all this little mighty-machine is really worth mentioning.. Again, I did ALOT of searching - at one pointt I was ready to buy a NIkon 8400, than a C60 - ultiamtely, as I mentioned, I have a serious SLR camera for when I want to do serious SLR shooting. For digital-duty, I choose the tiniest thing I can get my hands on without foregoing quality- and that's because then I have no excuse to not have a camera! THe SD300 was the silver bullet for me- or at least for now. Since it's going to be a little while before the new 5 MP "SD" comes out, I'm keeping the SD300 until that point, and I'll reassess the situation when the 5MP comes out... I may not even bother upgrading, in fact, if the only difference is 1 more megapixel, I'll stay with the 300... if Canon however decides to build in manual shooting modes to what will be the new 5MP, than I'll switch.

If you're doing recreational shooting, or basically anything less than real serious photography which requires a fast SLR setup, I'd highly encourage you to check out the SD300 along with any other digi-cam you had in mind. The more looking, reading and handling you do, the better! there are just so many choices out there, it's very tough to pick a camera, but the SD300 is up to just about any reasonable challenge, and with its new DIGIC II processor and diminutive take-me-ANYWHERE size, it's a tough micro-cam to argue with, ESPECIALLY with all the intuitive features and ease of use. I'm very impressed with my SD300 and 100% happy with my purchase. Highly recomended.