Canon PowerShot SD900

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 16 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 9 stars

  Great cam and near perfect pictures more than make up for no IS like its little brother.

  by zerohalcyon on October 11, 2006

  Pros: Everything about the camera is amazing.

  Cons: Only room for improvement would be the lowlight shooting. IS would have made this THE camera to have for the year and raised the bar.

  Summary: Yesterday, I got home with my new sd800. And due to the scrutiny of the forums, I immediately had to test it. I compared exact duplicate shots from my SD550 ...

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  Summary: Yesterday, I got home with my new sd800. And due to the scrutiny of the forums, I immediately had to test it. I compared exact duplicate shots from my SD550 to this ?upgrade? sd800. I am very sad to say that in normal shooting conditions, this model just couldn?t keep up. The main things I saw the sd800 losing horribly to the sd550 in were: picture clarity, sharpness (edge to edge) and color accuracy (the sd800?s produces a very warm shot, too much yellow & red). This was a disappointment indeed when you compare the fact that my sd550 is almost a year old.
  
  Now, on the flip-side, and should you ever find yourself in ?overhead fan lighting,? this will be where the true benefits of the sd800 become VERY clear. If this is how you shoot, the IS will become a lifesaver for every single shot. But aside from a museum or other ?no flash,? location, RARELY am I not using the flash on my camera. And I found the trick to not having over-saturation or too much flash contrast (whatever the model) is to just lower the brightness setting prior to shooting and use a bit of Photoshop shadow highlight love. (Although this can never fully prevent your shot from the flashlight effect left on objects from shooting, but it helps). This camera is only ideal for shooting in an IS situation. Period. Or at least IMHO, but it is my review right? lol
  
  My solution was simple. I ended up taking a risk against better judgment, returned the sd800, and got the sd900. Let me just say that the quality from this camera will NEVER be achievable from an SD800. So make the call. If IS is your ?make or break feature,? go for the 700is, or800is. However if its quality you want from your shots, and you aren?t found in low light situations often, the 550 or 900 are the way to go! Price per mega pixel being the only difference.
  
  PS- Cnets review of both the sd900 and the sd800 showed such a fanboy lack of effort in thier lust for the sd800 they almost lost all credibility with me. It just shows how little they do know about the things they speak. Sad.

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  15 out of 15 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 3 stars

  Good for outdoor still pictures

  by baxterflash on February 12, 2007

  Pros: Clear pictures, good build quality

  Cons: Needs IS, red eye, blur in continuous mode

  Summary: I first purchased the Canon SD900. It was a good camera, but needs image stabilization. If you are taking still shots in fair to good lighting it is a good ...

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  Summary: I first purchased the Canon SD900. It was a good camera, but needs image stabilization. If you are taking still shots in fair to good lighting it is a good camera. Well, with 4 kids (three of them 2 year old triplets), life does not stand still for a picture. I took the SD900 back and got the SD800IS. Best choice I have ever made. The image stabilization is great. I can chase the kids around taking pictures and they are very clear. Both the 900 and the 800 have a fair amount of red eye in indoor and low light pictures and of course anything over ISO 400 gives a great deal of noise.
  
  The lower pixel count makes no difference for my use. I also use a Canon EOS-1D Mark II N with 4 different high end lenses if I want to use manual settings and try to get the perfect picture to crop and enlarge. But that camera does not fit in my pocket. I love the 800IS for what I am using it for. After looking in depth and trying Fuji, Panasonic and Sony, the 800IS is the best pocket sized camera that is out right now for a wide range of uses. The battery door is a poor design. When it is open you do need to be careful, but when closed it locks into position well.
  
  Just be aware of opinions that are looking for SLR capabilities in a tiny package. Also be aware that there is not a single perfect camera. Fuji does great in low light but picture quality is not very good. Panasonic does great outdoors but again picture quality is not very good. Canon 800 does good (not great) indoors and outdoors but picture quality is much better than Fuji or Panasonic. If you want faster continuous be sure to spend the extra money and get the highest quality, fastest memory card that you can. With a Sandisk Extreme III 2GB card there was only a slight difference in continuous speed. Almost not noticeable, but with the SD900 pictures tend to blur in continuous where they were all clear in the 800IS. As for the Sony N2 cool touch screen but very disappointing in every other category.

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  10 out of 10 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  amazing, you will love it

  by kpie2point0 on December 30, 2006

  Pros: clear giorgios photos, nice features, 10 megapixels

  Cons: viewfinder is in awkward place, pricy

  Summary: its amazing, worth every penny, especially after owning a casio (for 3 days) this camera is a blessing. canon cameras are great, and if you are looking into buying one, ...

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  Summary: its amazing, worth every penny, especially after owning a casio (for 3 days) this camera is a blessing. canon cameras are great, and if you are looking into buying one, this is a great choice.

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  3 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  "Cadillac" of all the cameras I've purchased

  by wrlongo on October 14, 2006

  Pros: Great photos, great handling, ease of use

  Cons: Heavier than expected for such a small camera, but still great

  Summary: This is the "Cadillac" of all six digital cameras I've purchased in the last 7 years. At an unbelivable 10 megapixels, it's easy to carry in any pocket, ...

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  Summary: This is the "Cadillac" of all six digital cameras I've purchased in the last 7 years. At an unbelivable 10 megapixels, it's easy to carry in any pocket, and incredibly easy to use, and very forgiving! What clever Canon engineers.

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  3 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  Lacks Image Stabilization and low light lens for dark scenes and action shots

  by meyermc on May 6, 2007

  Pros: Compact, simple use, sunny stabile scenes

  Cons: no Image Stabilization, low quality lens, contantly requires flash, flash blinding, mediocre zoom

  Summary: This is my first digital camera. I think I would have been happier with the Canon PowerShot SD800 IS. The SD800 has a better lens for low light and action ...

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  Summary: This is my first digital camera. I think I would have been happier with the Canon PowerShot SD800 IS. The SD800 has a better lens for low light and action shots. I would not suggest the SD900 if your intention is to use it at night, inside, or for moving objects. For the price it should have IS and the same lens as the SD800. My friends are frequently blinded by the flash forcing them to squint in party shots. I learned later that most online photo sites such as Flickr.com and Photos.Yahoo.com store photos at 3MP so the 7MP vs 10MP difference in cameras is irrelevant.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  nice camera BUT....

  by adupadhyay on April 21, 2007

  Pros: an all rounder

  Cons: HD video with ONLY 15fps

  Summary: its a good camera BUT the main draw back is that it only takes HD video in 15 frame per second rather then 30/60 fps. so the video does ...

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  Summary: its a good camera BUT the main draw back is that it only takes HD video in 15 frame per second rather then 30/60 fps. so the video does not run smoothly when you view it.
  SD 800 is better, with an image stabilizer and better lens. Though the 800 has only 7mp and sd 900 has 10mp.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 3 stars

  Again, Poor Audio Quality in Video Mode | Flash Too Strong for Macro

  by Peter-II on March 3, 2007

  Pros: Nice 10 MP Pictures | Nice Detail

  Cons: Poor Audio Quality in Video | Flash Washes out Photos in Macro

  Summary: Okay, let me just say this right off the bat: I'm tired of the negative replies some people have posted in reply to my otherwise helpful comment regarding the ...

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  Summary: Okay, let me just say this right off the bat: I'm tired of the negative replies some people have posted in reply to my otherwise helpful comment regarding the poor audio quality captured when shooting videos exhibited by some recent Canon cameras (I never bought their earlier cameras because they were so limited in their video capabilities when compared to Sony cameras.). I limit my comments to this issue because it isn't getting any attention from the professional columns out there, and because for me, it is an issue, so much so that I have returned both the SD 700IS and now the SD 900 because of this deficiency.
  
  If this problem doesn't matter to you, then you?ll probably not find the rest of this post relevant. And please don?t give into the temptation to resort to character attacks rather than focusing on the merits of this camera.
  
  Also, If you're going to post a reply stating that I should buy a camcorder, don't. I don't want to hear it! You may believe it's still necessary to lug around both a camera and a camcorder, but for most applications, it's not. The bottom line is that Canon just can't get it right, and it seems to me that for some of you out there, you just can't accept that fact.
  
  Whew! Now for my brief review:: This camera, like the SD 700IS suffers from sub-par audio quality when shooting videos. There is a LOT of background noise and recordings sound ?tinny.? Even the video mode of my Samsung SGH t809 phone rivals what these cameras can do.
  
  As for picture quality: this camera shoots fine 10MP pictures with a good deal of detail, but the flash doesn?t, in the words of one reviewer, ?throttle down? when shooting in macro mode. That sometimes leads to VERY washed out photographs.

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  3 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Great camera

  by gloriasan on December 28, 2006

  Pros: Small, compact

  Cons: A little confusing with the menu

  Summary: Best point and shoot camera that I've purchased thus far. I'm sticking with Canon.

  Summary: Best point and shoot camera that I've purchased thus far. I'm sticking with Canon.

  2 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  Awfull camera! E18 "lens error, restart camera" error.

  by elenakohler on October 9, 2008

  Pros: what I like about this camera, um...let me see...I like to smash it with a big hammer after Canon's repair price of 150.00 for this well known defect.

  Cons: Cons, what I don't like, Hmmmm...I don't like lens error E18 " lens error, restart camera". Canon is aware (WELL aware) of this problem because of class law suit which failed. They continue to sell this pathetic camera in spite of this. NO integredy!

  Summary: Make sure you get the extended warranty if you fall for this camera.

  Summary: Make sure you get the extended warranty if you fall for this camera.

• 10 stars

  Best Digital Camera In Its Price Bracket

  by edtaylor05 on April 24, 2008

  Pros: I use it all the time and I honestly cant think of any complaints.

  Cons: Absolutely none

  Summary: By far the best digital camera in its class. I have used a few Nikons that are in the same price bracket and this one blows them away. I cant ...

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  Summary: By far the best digital camera in its class. I have used a few Nikons that are in the same price bracket and this one blows them away. I cant say enough good things about this camera and all of its features.

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