Hard Rock apparel
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Reviews with images
Canon never disappoints!
I've just upgraded from a Canon A50, after toting it around for the past 4 years and putting it through loads of abuse. I've recommended Canon digital cameras to everyone I know and I've yet to hear a complaint. This camera was EVEN SMALLER than expected...easily HALF the size of my A50! They are not joking when they say it is the size of a deck of cards. Especially since my reason for upgrading was to have a small, yet powerful digital that I can carry along in a waist pack when I run the Honolulu Marathon next week.My limited tests can be seen in the customer image library above, but I am sufficiently impressed to write my review immediately. I did make sure to buy a new camera rather than a refurbished model because I did have two problems with my old Canon, which required the 1-year warranty (you only get 90 days with refurbished). Since the repairs on that old camera, I've not had a problem in the last 3.5 years...despite dropping it a few too many times. The S500 has the same solid construction and aluminum casing, which should also protect it from mild abuse from its owner (I'd also recommend getting a nice little neoprene case for it...they may not always be pretty, but they're amazing protection!).I've not had enough experience yet with it to speak about its battery life, but from past experience, Canons have better than average battery life, which I extend even further by limiting the use of the LCD screen. This models battery isn't much larger than a compact flash card, so I'm interested to see if it's as reliable as their other rechargable batteries. They did one major improvement in the battery charger that is worth noting...it doesn't have a cord. Much like the Apple Powerbook power cord, it has the prongs that fold out for charging and fold in for storage. Such a nice, tidy design for something that is normally cumbersome.I have my degree in photography from Art Center in Pasadena, CA, so I feel qualified to give two solid thumbs up to this camera. It's not professional grade, of course, and any camera with a built-in flash can often give you red-eye or harsh shadows, but it's perfect for snapshots, vacation photos, ebay shots and having fun without carrying around a ton of equipment. It seems that most digitals do their job best when you just use the flash as fill, rather than your only light source...or better yet, turn the flash off and let the ambient light do its job. I know this one has quite a few manual override functions for shutter speeds and such, but I haven't had time to explore them very much yet.My last suggestion would be to get a very large compact flash card in addition to the one that the camera comes with. I purchased a 1GB Ultra 2 from Sandisk (I found one for about $80), and it's very fast and will hold well over 100 uncompressed images. That will keep you from fiddling around with multiple cards when you're out and about. I felt a bit frivilous when I first ordered it, but now I am very happy I did.
