 960 vs. 970 vs. 780 |
| Review Date: July 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mark Twain, Boston |
| My old tiny Casio Exilim 5 MP camera died- I loved that thing because it was so tiny and I took many more pictures because it fit in my pocket- and I had to get something for my trip to France. First bought the 970 thinking, ooh, 5x optical zoom. For someone used to ultracompact, that thing was huge and I didn't notice much difference between the 5x and the 4x or 3x zoom. I returned it and got the 960, which I stuck with. It is much smaller than the 970 though bigger than my old camera (won't fit in pants pocket too comfortably), but the wide-angle zoom makes a huge difference to the photos. I travelled with someone who had the 780, and we frequently traded the same shot with both cameras, and the picture quality was much better with the 960, though it is larger than the 780. The controls were easy to navigate, the viewscreen very wide/ large on the 960. The video quality is amazing. Aside from the size, the only downside was that it is a little slow to take repeat shots in action situations. However, the motion control is excellent and you can take shots while jogging without blurring. Sadly, I lost my new 960 at the airport (thankfully, I had downloaded the photos). I decided to replace it with the 780 because I'm not a photographer, thought having the very small camera would make up for the difference in picture quality. After 250 photos on the 960, and 2 days with the 780, I miss the wide-angle zoom and am considering getting another 960. It's not that much bigger than the 780, and the picture quality difference is significant. |
Great Still Images, Excellent 720P for the price
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| Review Date: March 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Producer NY, New York, NY USA |
The true market for this camera is someone who wants to have one device that is compact, shoots excellent quality pictures, and has the capability of capturing 720P HD movies.
It's a Canon, so the image quality is a given. Tons of examples on Flickr if you simply search for "canon SD960" or "IXUS 110". Colors are true, not highly sharpened, low chromatic aberration, and rich with detail. Do not, however, mistake this power of the DIGIC IV processor to be perfect and free of noise at high zoom or ISO above 400. Compared to its class, however, the results are just great for the price point.
But the odds are you are looking at this camera not just for its stills ability, but the fact that it can also shoot HD movies.
So how does the HD perform. Here, the optical stabilization and optical zoom make this a far better choice than it's nearest hybrid competitor, the Flip HD. The Flip is a fun, very easy to use device, but the lack of image stabilization in camera makes the output very choppy and prone to a "jello" wobbling effect. The Canon has a much smoother output. A strong performer in low light (but expect more noise) and a really excellent result in natural light. For samples, my best recommendation is to search Vimeo -- they have the best HD streaming of uploaded videos, and looking at results on Youtube (even if "HD") doesn't do the camera justice.
In practice, Mac users will be happy to see that iPhoto can handle the whole offload process -- stills and movies. Launch iPhoto, turn on camera and load what you'd like. The movie files are H.264, and can be quickly edited in iMovie or Final Cut.
One worthy note on shooting movie and zoom. You frame your shot and set focus with a half push of the shutter button. Press all the way to record. Once you start recording, you are set at your original zoom level and can not use the OPTICAL zoom to pull closer. Instead, the camera uses DIGITAL zoom to get closer. In practice, I found this did not produce a terribly degraded result, but it is worthy noting before you purchase the camera.
Mono mic on the camera, which pics up sound very well -- even on the crowded/noisy streets of NYC.
The cheaper Canon SD780 is very nice also if you are looking to save $50. The newer jog wheel and extra zoom, however, was worth the upgrade (IMHO).
Budget for one of the 8G or 16G SDHC cards sold on Amazon for 50+ minutes of HD recording. And probably worth buying a 3rd party second battery to have on hand.
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Best Vacation Camera EVER
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| Review Date: August 9, 2009 |
| Reviewer: HGadget, Los Angeles, CA USA |
I brought the Canon 960is on a Mediterranean cruise this summer and there is no other camera, video or still, that I would have rather had. For my money this is simply a terrific little camera that will give you terrific stills and better video than you ever thought possible with a great-looking, no-hassle Point 'n Shoot. The stills were very sharp (the image stabilization is very good) and the colors were accurate and vivid. I sometimes choose the Vivid Colors or Positive Film setting for more color 'punch' and it never looked overly saturated or grainy. The Canon 960SI feels well balanced and yet solid in your hand, and is light enough to not make you feel weighed down when you easily slip it into your pocket. I also often choose to use the Wide Angle (16:9) format rather than the normal picture format because I shot a lot of vistas, and this worked out quite well.
OUTSTANDING VIDEO, BETTER THAN 'FLIP'
For me the true revelation of this camera though was the video. It shoots in 720p HD, no that's not 'true' HD and a 1080p camcorder will certainly shoot better video, but the video is still quite stunning, it will look wonderful on your large HD TV, and outshines the standard 480i DV camcorders of just a few short years ago. When I got back home I edited the movie clips to really sweet results that got lots of compliments. The biggest drawback over a dedicated camcorder is that the sound, while acceptable, is not outstanding and not stereo. However, if you are considering the very popular FLIP MinoHD or FLIP UltraHD this camera is by far the better choice. I bought the Flip Ultra and played with it for awhile but the lack of Image Stabilization made it nearly impossible to shoot any type of video without it being quite jittery-looking unless you used a tripod. The fact that the Canon 960is is a better choice for video and just happens to shoot outstanding stills makes this a no-brainer over any FLIP camera.
NICE TOUCHES
In the menu you'll find a setting called 'i-Contrast' which will give you good detail on faces even if they're strongly backlit. I found this very useful and hardly ever used fill flash. I kept it on i-Contrast and found the results on all photos pleasing, though if you're going for a dramatic contrast effect you'll want to turn i-Contrast off.
This is the 1st Point 'n Shoot I ever used where ISO 1600 produced viewable photos. Off course there's some grain and some artifacts, but much less than other cameras I've used and in extreme low light you'll get usable stills and movie footage.
I generally used P (program) mode as I like to tweak, but the 960 will do quite well left to it's own devices on Auto Mode, which is very good if you DON'T like to tweak. Auto Mode also automatically knew if I wanted to shoot a close-up and switched to Close Up Mode automatically.
The Canon 960 will go from Turned Off to Ready To Shoot in a little under a second. This was true for Movie Mode as well. Nice.
Battery Life was outstanding. I would generally take over a hundred pictures a day and shoot several minutes of video and I never felt the need to carry an extra battery. The battery also charges pretty fast, in a little over an hour.
If you explore Program Mode you'll find Long Shutter Mode which was especially good for taking dramatic night vistas. You'll need to have a small tripod though (like the Flip tripod) as the shutter will remain open for about a second. However you'll have wonderfully detailed night shots as your ISO can be as low as 80.
NO BIG COMPLAINTS
Continuous Shooting Mode was just OK, shooting about two frames a second. After all, it does have 12.1 megapixels to write. Still, this is the one thing that could stand improvement.
Some early reviews complained of the 960is's new menu as difficult to master, but this is no serious drawback. It did take perhaps an extra day for me to get comfortable enough with the menus to quickly adjust a setting, but now it's second nature.
I also had read about "purple fringing" -- again not a major issue for me as when I compared the pictures to those I shot with my Canon SD1000, the fringing on the SD1000 was far more noticeable and that camera was a former PC Magazine Editor's Choice. As of now, I consider it the Canon SD960is the ultimate Point 'n Shooter. |
Strongly recommend this camera to anyone
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| Review Date: June 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Trung Nguyen, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
The pictures are bright and clear.
The 720p videos I've made so far are just amazing, especially from a tiny camera like this.
I initially wanted to purchase the Canon SD780 but decided on this model for several reasons:
1. Wide angle lens.
2. Bigger size. The SD780 was too small for me.
3. Controls are easy to use once you get used to them.
4. Widescreen LCD.
5. Battery life. I don't know about the battery life on the SD780 but the battery life on this one is long. Easily lasts 3-4 days.
If you're doing a lot of videos, I recommend getting a class 4 or class 6 16/32 GB SDHC card and a mini-HDMI cable. You'll be amazed at how sharp and vivid the videos are on a 1080p TV or monitor.
For the ones who have bad things to say about this camera, please take into consideration the price of it and the features you're getting. |
Excellent Point/Shoot HD camera
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| Review Date: May 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: H. DOAN, Oakland,CA |
I work in a graphics shop with professionals who deal with high res 1TB files. They have keen eyes. Everyone who saw the HD footage video from this camera was impressed.
I already have a Canon DSLR but this is a great pocketable device that takes excellent P&S photos. It doesn't compare to my DSLR but that is not the point, it gives you fabulous images for anything under $500 in the size of a cellphone.
In fact, the price of the camera is about the same price of a decent wide angle lens for my DSLR. Hence, the price of this camera was a no-brainer. 2.8 arpeture, 28mm wide angle lens. Enough said.
The HD video worked great with my Mac workflow. Final Cut Pro handled the files with no problems. Again, I showed the footage to my friends in the professional broadcast industry and everyone was impressed.
I second the recommendation that you should search Vimeo for some HD examples. Better yet, search for Cabel's review on the internet and download his original 720P Quicktime file.
I only stumbled over this camera after watching 4-5 hour footage of Sonny Webby, VADO hd, Flip HD and Mino examples. I was not impressed with any of them except for the Vado. A single purpose HD camera or a HD/12 megapixel point-n-shoot?
The other alternative is the Canon SD780IS bit for a little more money, you get a wide angle lens.
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