 Great camera, very compact, beautiful screen and HD recording! |
| Review Date: February 25, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Francis Katoa, South San Francisco, California United States |
This camera is awesome.I have a Nikon SLR that I love but I get tired of lugging it around everywhere so I decided to look for a compact full featured point and shoot. Being a Nikon fan I was having a tough time deciding between the Nikon S8000 (which has 10x zoom and a 3.0 inch non-touch screen) and the Canon SD3500IS (because it was slightly more compact at the cost of a lower 5x zoom but it had a bigger 3.5 inch screen touch screen). It reminded me of trying to decided between a Honda(Nikon) and a Toyota(Canon), both are quality japanese products where you really can't lose either way, the honda feels more sporty but the toyota is more refined. Needless to say I went with the Canon SD3500IS because although a 10x zoom on a point and shoot would be nice my top priority was a compact camera with a proven track record. The Canon SD line has has been around a lot longer than the Nikon Cool Pix line so I feel Canon has much more refinement and experience in the point and shoot category. I think both are really good cameras but for my needs the Canon won out by a slim margin. I've had it for a few days now and here is what I've noticed so far.
Pros: 5x optical zoom, 3.5 inch screen, image stabilization (which seems to be standard now on most point and shoots), really good Auto mode (automatically detects the best out of 20 settings based on the current shooting conditions, save yourself the time of spinning a dial and trying to choose the best macro mode, just put it in auto and be convinced you picture will come out right), touch auto focus(touch what you want to focus on the screen and the camera will lock on the target even if you move the camera around), 24mm wide lens(everything fits in the screen).
Cons: I'm not sure if this is really a con but with the screen being so big and the camera so compact your thumb will definitely get all over the right side of the screen because there is not much extra space on the right to hold it, so make sure you get a screen protector! At the time I write this review the camera has only been out for about a week so I have yet to find a website listing screen protectors for the SD3500IS.
Summary: Great camera but you will want to be careful with the screen. |
A Great Lightweight Compact Camera
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| Review Date: February 22, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Fred L. Dimmick, |
This is a great camera and it replaces my SD 980 IS which I bought last year to use when I don't want to carry my Canon 5D Mark II around. Because of its size and weight it fits well in your shirt or pants pocket and as it suited for carrying all day long. You may even forget you have it. The 3.5" touch screen interface is sharp and bright. The menus are self explanatory and easy to use. The only physical controls are your shutter, on / off and playback buttons. A three position switch sets the auto, program, and movie mode. An easy to use dial around the shutter button adjusts the zoom level.
The HD video (1280 x 720) is a great option and you can record 10 minute clips that use about 2GB's of memory. Two standard definition video formats are also available. (640 x 480 and 320 x 240)
Image quality is good, and suitable for large prints.
Camera body color options are black, silver and pink.
If you are looking for an easy to use point and shoot, compact camera that is very light weight also shoots great video I think you will be happy with the SD3500.
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Nice Upgrade
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| Review Date: February 20, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Bruce Fan, Florida |
| I upgraded from my sturdy, reliable Canon SD1000. No regrets! The enlarged touchscreen is intuitive and all the bells and whistled perform as advertised. The 5X optical lens is awesome! |
Excellent or Acceptable Depending on your Usage
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| Review Date: February 28, 2010 |
| Reviewer: C. McCollum, San Antonio, TX |
Alright, so the basic features of this camera (minus the tilt shift and fish eye, and the resolution) are pretty much the same as a previous model i owned.
I knew what to expect from this camera but with only a few slight improvements. It was the exact same cost as the model I had before (which thoroughly impressed me), so I had no problem switching it out for this one.
The full touch screen made two-handed menu navigation much easier to get through versus having to use buttons with the right and thumb on the left. basically you can safely hold the camera and use both thumbs (or even fingers depending on how you hold it) to use the screen. I dig the fluff features like tapping the side to navigate the photos and clicking (think iphone/ipod touch).
One piece that I will touch on here is the quality of the presets. While there are certain scene settings you would use for certain situations (snow fireworks, etc) they do not do a thorough or specific enough job explaining when you'd want to use this versus the "P" (program). The low light scene setting is the most disappointing. You can't simply flip it on and expect fantastic pictures as if you had a good natural light source. The flash is a default with this, so if you're trying to get something close-up in a darker setting, beware. Otherwise, the setting is OK with a flash, so long as you are not right up on the subject or trying to capture something reflective. I simply have personal presets that I picked out to avoid using the flash at all. Generally for low light settings, I opted to program my own so I can choose the ISO that fits it the best. Just know that the higher you set the ISO, the grainer you pictures will become. This is something that is a universal thing, not just specific to this camera. The same goes with digital zoom. This is a point/shoot camera so it DOES have limitations; I'm well aware of that, so if I need something i know it can't do, I just use my highzoom Fuji or DSLR NikonD3000.
You can't have a single camera that is going to be able to do everything perfectly. But I will say that unlike some other reviewers I found the quality that comes from this model in generalized scene settings or even auto is actually quite good compared to other cameras i've used over the years.
As for the HD video. I have to agree on that point. There was more that could have been done with it. But you know what? People forget this is a still-shot camera FIRST, and a VIDEO camera SECOND. Video recording is an feature, not a function. You will have less options and control with it. same goes for video cameras that take still shots. Often the MPs are lower, and the quality leaves a lot to be desired. The only exceptions are some of the DSLRs with video features, but smooth zooming is often a problem for most people with those. Solution? If you want great HD video recording, get a video camera. There's nothing easier than that.
Battery life is acceptable and about average compared to other model cameras, but if you plan on taking out for an entire day, I suggest picking up a second battery as a back-up. Being forced to use the LCD screen for everything drains the battery fast, but it does have an auto shut-off to conserve energy. While some people don't use it, i will would have liked to have had a view finder, however the lack of one in now way kept me from buying this camera.
Be weary of putting a screen protector on the back. Unless you get one from Canon meant for this model camera, or from an authorized Canon dealer, you can damage the screen. Having a screen protector can interfere with the touch-screen interface.
This isn't the Magic Hat of cameras. Everyone is going to have their own personal view on it and find things they love or hate. My suggestion is if you can find a retail store with a working display, go look at it in person first. That's the best way to judge if its going to suit your needs or not. Or if you know someone who happens to have one, even better. I've already gotten some beautiful 16x20 prints, and 18x24 is pretty good too (however at this size, you need to make sure your picture quality is top notch).
If you're using a high ISO setting, or a longer shutter speed, use a tripod- the slightest shake in your shake WILL blur/ghost the image; again, that is something that happens to all cameras. They sell a variety of smaller tripod (the grypton ones are fun and versatile).
Perhaps in the future these limitations will be eliminated, but that remains to be seen.
All in all, I knew what I was getting from this camera. The price is exceptionally reasonable considering all you get.
I'm not disappointed by any means, because I figured out very quickly how to manipulate the settings to get better picture than the scene settings could produce. It definitely suits my needs for this category of camera; I really just needed this guy to take around the town and on nights out, because who really wants to tote a DSLR with telephoto lenses or a clunky highzoom to a bar ;) |
Great little camera
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| Review Date: February 27, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Kevin Hsu, San Francisco, CA |
My last camera was pretty ancient - a Canon SD630. I bought it some years ago, and it was top of the line. It still takes really good pics for a camera its size. But, I felt it was time to upgrade. When I took my first SD3500 picture, the first thing I noticed was that it did a great job with the colors, even with the flash at close quarters. My second impression was that the photo looked a tad soft compared to my SD630, so I fired up an image editor to look at the quality.
The SD3500 *seems* to favor color quality and accuracy over sharpness. My SD630 seems to prefer sharpness at the expense of color quality. I did a fair test by setting both cameras' flashes off and doing a timed tripod shot of the same subject. The SD3500 produced noticeably sharper images, so my fears that the optics weren't there were allayed. I think if there is softness, it comes from image processing and not from the actual optics.
Auto mode is really, really good. I truly feel confident in leaving it in that mode as it seems to find its footing every time. And when the flash goes off, though I expect to see a whitewashed foreground and a darkened background, I get a very color-rich and white-balanced image. Again, auto mode really works.
Video quality was good, not great. I can get pretty clear 720p video, but it's nothing that will astound anyone. Zoom during shooting is definitely digital, so pre-optical zoom before shooting.
All of my testing tonight has been in low light, so that could also explain some lack of sharpness. Can't wait to try this in the sun.
The touch screen is responsive enough, though I find the photo swiping and pan scrolling gestures to be a bit slow and laggy. Other gestures and button presses work pretty well. Not iPhone quality UI, but not bad at all. Photos and videos look really great as the screen res is very high and colors are very saturated.
Build quality - well, Canon always does a great job. The SD3500 feels to me just a hair lighter than it looks, which is a good thing I think. I like the less gawdy design than some of Canon's other designs.
Is this camera better than the SD980? I honestly don't know as my upgrade isn't from that camera. I do know that I really like this camera.
Pros:
- Seems to focus on color quality over sharpness
- Auto mode always produces good to great results
- Touch interface works great, overall, and the side tapping is useful
- Touch to focus, smile detector, blink detection, and all that stuff actually does work well.
- Image Stabilizer is not overdone, and still gives you responsiveness.
- The various shooting modes are fun to play with
- Great build quality
Cons:
- Some aspects of the touch interface could be more responsive
- No optical zoom during video shooting
- No high frame rate video modes
- HDMI and USB doors are a little hard to get open
- Mini HDMI cable is not included. Cmon Canon, it's like $2 from Amazon.
- Well, er, seems to focus on color quality over sharpness. |
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