Canon PowerShot SD1300IS 12 MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Brown)

This is my 3rd canon camera and I will not be buying more. My first canon lasted for 4 years and was good for an inexpensive camera. I was a photography major in school and Canon was a great brand back then. I bought this camera based on that experience. I have bought 2 cameras for my mother and two for myself. They are easy to use, but they just dont last. I am not a major picture taker any more, and for the little use these cameras recieved they die way too soon. This however, died after only a 1 year and 10 months. Also compared to my first camera the 1300 takes crappy little pictures. I should have known for the price. There are just too many versions of the same camera and it is difficult to tell what does what. A few less features and more time on basic picture taking would have been nice. Anyway I will be buying a more expensive and reliable camera and it will not be a Canon. Too bad!

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Be aware of picture quality issues with this camera: - Shots are often out of focus unless youre outside in daylight - Colors often arent true - Contrast is often off with light areas being over exposed and darks too dark. The pictures lose their detail and look unnatural. To qualify my comments above, Im comparing to a Canon SD800IS Ive used for many years. I also have a Canon Rebel T2i that Ive had for nearly a year. Both cameras take great pictures. I calibrate my monitor with an X-Rite i1 Display Pro. In the summer of 2010, I bought the SD1200 for my daughter and it takes decent pictures for its price. The size of the SD1200 and acceptable picture quality prompted me to buy the SD1300 so I could have a lighter point and shoot to carry in my pocket. Unfortunately, due the quality issues, I cant really count on the SD1300 unless Im just taking outdoor pictures in bright sunlight. I think the Digic 3 was a better processor than the Digic 4. The SD800IS, which used the Digic 3 processor, is superior to the Digic 4-based SD1200, SD1300, and the SD780 (which I bought for my mom). The SD1300 is the worst yet. Seems like Canon keeps tweaking and has finally reached a point that the ELPH now has no advantage over the poor quality cameras made by others. Im not sure my Canon loyalty will continue, at least not for point and shoot cameras.

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Canon elph camera build quality seems to have diminished a bit with this latest model. The camera still comes with a metal shell which is good but the controls are less durable. Pictures and movies look better than ever but I have two big problems with this model. One is that the mike for picking up sound compared to previous models is vastly inferior. I take a lot of movies and the sound is terrible. I need to press my ear against the camera speaker to hear the sound after a recording. The sound pick up on this camera is so bad that I do not even use it for movie recording. Previous Canon camera models did not have this problem. The other issue I am having is the control panel. The on screen feature selections and settings once again are no where near as good as previous model elph cameras. Because of this I cannot recommend this camera. I believe that Canon may have fallen into the same category of other companies that sacrifice quality of some aspects of their product for price. The pictures are great but overall not good camera for me. I have gone back to using my old camera and keep this as a secondary.

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Purchased my original SD1300 IS in December 2010 to replace a Canon I had been using mainly for underwater photography. Also purchased the Canon underwater housing (which is only good for that model and cost more than the camera). After a few uses of the camera, the lens jammed in the open position as the on button is a bit large and the camera turns itself on when it shouldnt. I contacted Canon and they gave me excellent service in replacing the camera as it was still in warranty. I also felt that I better get a backup camera for diving trips, and found that Canon no longer sold them directly, but found another new SD1300 on Amazon from Quality Photo (which cost more than the original). That one arrived quickly, but the lens jammed on the first day. I contacted Canon service again, and they sent me a replacement right away. So, now I have two working cameras (plus 4 batteries and chargers, as they came with the replacements). I like the camera, and will take extra special care to keep these from jamming, but can not recommend anyone else purchase this model, which is being phased out anyway. It is not a pocket camera.

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I previously had a Nikon point and shoot camera. The picture quality was acceptable, but it was extremely slow. So I decided to get a Cannon camera instead. Normally, a person can rely on Amazon reviewers and get a good results. Oddly, this does not appear to be the case with cameras. Most reviewers stated that the Nikon camera I had purchased was great, but most of the good reviews failed to mention how extremely slow that camera was in taking a picture. So I looked that this camera, the 1300IS, at the store. The camera turned on quickly and took the picture very quickly too. It seemed like a good camera so I bought it from here, Amazon, as it was on sale for around $110 at the time. I was in Las Vegas yesterday. I tried taking pictures of my family while there. I was surprised that the camera was so slow, as it had been real quick at the store. It seems that when focusing on faces / people, the camera slows because it tries to focus. So I took out my iPhone 4 (not even a 4s), and noticed that the iPhone was far quicker at focusing. Worse, the quality of the shots from my iPhone was far superior to that of the 1300IS. Some have predicted the end of point and shoot cameras because of smartphones. Im beginning to think that perhaps the predictions are true. Im reading that the S95 is an awesome camera, but its $300, and only shoots video at 720p. I can get a whole laptop for that kind of money.....

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I purchased this camera in brown about a year ago as a replacement for my SD1000. It was everything I expected from an Elph. However, after about a year, the camera got a permanent lens error, for seemingly no reason. (Usually lens errors occur when something obstructs the lens when it tries to extend, and theyre usually easily fixable. This was not the case.) Canon said it would cost $130 to repair/replace, because it was one month out of its warranty. Rather than replace it, I bought an SX230 HS instead. I was very disappointed with how long the camera lasted, especially with good treatment. If you ignore the lens error issue, here are my pros/cons: PROS -Small & Portable -Reasonable Battery Life (One charge was probably enough for an hour of mid-quality footage.) -Good Video, visually -ISO up to 3200 -Wide Angle Lens -Good color & Resolution -Great Macro -Inexpensive -Easy to navigate CONS -Sound in video mode is muffled -Bad in low light for video, reasonable for stills -No manual shutter speed/aperture adjustment -Flash pictures took unpredictable amounts of time** -Permanent lens error malfunction **When flash was enabled, it would often be up to 10 seconds before the picture went off, leaving subjects awkwardly smiling for quite some time. It was also a pain to take carefully-timed photos, because other times it would take the photo almost instantly. Over all, this camera is great for anyone looking to take photos recreationally, or for someone like me who wanted a portable camera to take places just in case the perfect picture moment arose.

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The camera simplifies some of the regular tasks but at the expense of its ability to take low light photos and shutter speed for action shots forcing you to miss shots. In ideal conditions it is a better camera, but that is a rarity for me. The video is far better than my old SD1000 camera with more frames per second with better resolution. I also loved the frame stepping option which was wonderful when taking video of lightning. However with photos, I was able to do far more with the SD1000 to adjust for shot conditions. The resolution is far better which helps when zooming (which in optical zoom simply crops the photo and enlarges using the unzoomed resolution) because of the 12.1MP is much better than the old 7.1MP with the SD1000. With shutter speed, it is best to take a picture first to prime the focus (and keep your finger on the button) then it will take pictures quickly. However, this does not help when you have to wait over 2 seconds for the initial photo forcing you to miss quick photo opportunities. I was able to adjust exposure but I found the light sensitivity poor compared to my SD1000. A night vision option would be a welcome improvement. A good option is the bulb like setting allowing the shutter to stay open. Overall I feel it is not an improvement over the SD1000 but it could have been if they only used the same features (except for video, use the SD1300) and improve the resolution to 12.1 or higher. Still a good camera but I will keep my SD1000 too and use this one for video, ideal condition photos and as a good back-up camera.

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I got this camera on good deal of ~90$ compared to market price of 179$. Camera look and feel is nice. Its small factor makes is easy to slide in your pocket. The new advanced auto feature is nice, i took the night shots inside the house in party and Its a BIG change/improvement from the IS780(~4yr old). I didnt select any mode and auto focus was able to capture the moments with good colors. I have to say that I surely felt the lag time when using the flash, its ~2-3sec delay time before you can take the next photo. I havent tried the camera outside yet and I bet on the sunny day, it will take nice crisp photos. I havent any bad reviews yet for this model and for the price i paid for the camera even if there is noise @ higher ISO i dont mind. It doesnt have HDMI out, which i would have liked but still the video is of good quality. If you are looking for a point and shoot in the market, this is a good buy.

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I purchased this camera as a replacement to my Canon PowerShot SD600. The main reason I chose to replace it was for the IS feature. When I purchased to SD600 it was on sale and the IS features on cameras were an expensive option on upgraded models. I have to say the feature performs as expected. Obviously its not going to do much if there is a lot of camera shake, but it does the job for what its intended to do. Picture quality is excellent. Low light does well despite the reviews Ive heard. Manual settings do just as well as auto settings. I like the playback button that lets you review pics rather than having to switch the camera into another mode. When taking multiple shots the lag time between pics is minimal. Videos work well with it but there is that pesky no in and out zoom during a video. Sound quality was surprisingly good with video mode as well. It takes outdoor video well with little wind noise. I was a bit cautious about buying a camera with no viewfinder as my last camera had one, but lets face it, I hardly used it when I had it. Insisting on a camera with a viewfinder also significantly limited my choices for point and shoots. Im satisfied with no viewfinder and this camera is exactly what I expect in a good point and shoot. I considered the SD1200IS since it was on sale and a little less expensive but I figured for a few extra features, its worth the extra $50. Battery life is great! Even under moderate to heavy use it lasted all night and part of the next day. Id suggest always having another battery pack as a backup though as you never know when you might need it. I would recommend this camera to anyone looking for a quality point and shoot. For the price I dont think you can ask for much more in a compact digital camera.

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I bought this camera for a relative that wanted a simple digital camera. I had bought my wife the previous model of this series and she loves it, small, compact, fast, and easy to use. So, when my wifes cousin asked for a recommendation for a camera this was the one I suggested. It still is a great little camera but there was one modification that Canon made that hurts, they did away with the little view finder, now you can only aim the camera using the LCD. The one thing that used to set Canon apart in cameras of this type and price range was the optical view finder, it was a great feature for people that take alot of pictures outdoors in sunlight. You didnt have to try to use the LCD which gets washed out in strong sunlight. Still a great little camera but Canon should have kept the view finder.

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